Early voting in New York City starts in several minutes, today, Saturday, Oct. 24th. This is the second of a few blog posts I’m publishing sharing my research and thinking and making endorsements. In this post I cover judicial candidates.

[Edited afternoon of Oct. 24 to fix formatting for navigability.] [Edited evening of Oct. 26 to add Queens County Bar Association evaluations, more info about the Queens race for Judge of the Civil Court - County, and a few other comments and annotations.] [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add LGBT Bar Association of New York ratings.] [Edited Nov. 2 midday and then evening to add Thomas D. Barra party details.]

Setting expectations

The candidates' financial disclosures

• Manhattan
• Bronx (no competitive races)
• Brooklyn
• Queens
• Staten Island

My methods (including a statement on avoiding generative AI), and a donation link

Setting expectations

In this post, I cover all eleven competitive races across the city this election (more candidates than seats), with 41 candidates total. I think all of these are also in the Times-Union’s list of races; they also, handily, link to each candidate’s website and New York State Board of Elections campaign finance info. There are also 15 non-competitive races, with 25 candidates total. I mention but did not research these, but Soft Power Vote makes recommendations for every single race in New York City, which is a staggering task that they've done in every election since 2020. They post to Instagram (viewable through Imginn proxy) and Substack, and they'll publish today, I believe. [Edited Oct. 24 afternoon to add:] The Soft Power Vote guide is up! Short version on Instagram (viewable through Imginn proxy); detailed version up as a Google Sheet. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] The textual version of SPV's 2026 general election voter guide is now up on Substack.

This isn’t as thorough as I’d like for a few reasons. I had a minor injury this week; I was waiting for the Bar Associations to publish their evaluations to help me make choices in some races, and some of the Bar Associations still haven’t released them; and I wound up on a bit of a wild goose chase around candidates’ financial disclosures, as I’ll explain.

So: this is going to be messier, more bullet-point-y and less prose-y, and more of a living document than usual. If you need to vote this weekend (Saturday or Sunday, October 24 or 25), here’s what I have. After I hit Post, I'll fix up some formatting to make it easier to navigate. Monday, the LGBT bar association will publish its evaluations and I’ll add those. I don’t know whether Brooklyn Bar Association or Queens County Bar Association are doing evaluations at all this cycle; if so, I’ll add those when I get them.

And between now and Election Day, I may poke some more at candidates’ past political donations (searching past campaign contributions at the federal, state, and city levels), skim more of Scrutinize.org which provides analysis of sitting judges' records, get friends to read and summarize more paywalled articles I currently can’t read in the Brooklyn Eagle and the New York Law Journal, and request and read financial disclosures I don’t have yet. Please feel free to do some digging, especially along those lines, and leave info in the comments.

And: I am one volunteer and these are my personal recommendations. They aren't the endorsements of the local Indivisible chapter, or the other people who help sit at my weekly outreach table, or anyone but me. Please feel free to leave links to other good resources in the comments - or your own thoughts, including disagreement or corrections, as long as you're being productive and not just insulting or dismissive.

The financial disclosures

The New York State Unified Court System has a rule that "Judicial Candidates for elective positions must file a Financial Disclosure Statement for Judicial Candidates within 20 days of becoming a candidate" with NYS UCS’s Ethics Commission, covering the previous calendar year. And those are available for public inspection upon request; the Ethics Commission redacts a little private info before providing them.

So, last week, I emailed and requested the disclosure forms for all 41 of those candidates in competitive races. Then, this week, the Commission only gave me statements for 12 of them, saying of the other 29, “The Ethics Commission does not have financial disclosure statements for the following judicial candidates you requested”.

But that doesn’t mean they didn’t file!

UCS employees, such as judges, have to file a yearly financial disclosure whether or not they’re running for anything. And UCS chases them down for it if they don’t file in time, with a “Notice of Delinquency” and eventually putting their name on a list of delinquent filers. (In contrast, the Ethics Commission isn’t hooked up to the county and state Boards of Elections, so they don’t have a list of candidates who are on the hook to file a financial disclosure, so the Ethics Commission can’t send them reminders.) If a judicial candidate already works for UCS and filed through that system, they don't have to file a fresh disclosure as a candidate: "compliance ... shall not be necessary where a judge or non-judge already is or was required to file a financial disclosure statement for the preceding calendar year pursuant to Part 40..."

It took me way too long (including multiple conversations with the Ethics Commission, and looking at patterns in the PDFs I’d been given) to figure out that the Ethics Commission had only looked people’s names up in one of their systems and not the other. Judicial candidates have to send in the statement on paper; UCS employees file it using an electronic system. The Commission hadn’t sent me any of the financial disclosures that candidates who are judges, law clerks, etc. had filled out as court employees. On Thursday, I verified this by spot-checking one of the 29: I filled out a new form and requested the financial disclosure statement that Lola Waterman, a judge in Kings County Family Court, had filed. And indeed, the Ethics Commission sent it to me straightaway.

So, my current assumption is: if someone on that list of 29 works for UCS, they almost certainly have filed the disclosure. But if they don’t work for the courts, then they never filed it, which makes them a scofflaw. And for me that counts against someone’s candidacy.

[Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Scroll down to the comments to read my extremely data-nerd-y speculation on my intuition that that a significant proportion of candidates are skipping this requirement, and how researchers could figure out the size of the problem.

Manhattan

(“New York County”)

Competitive: Justice of the Supreme Court - 1st Judicial District [all of Manhattan], # to be elected: 6

11 candidates:

1. Shlomo S. Hagler: Democratic
   1. Currently a justice. So: Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NY Women’s Bar Association
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   5. controversy over whether he should have recused himself on something
   6. ruled that the MTA can’t discriminate against disabled people
   7. no Reddit gossip
   8. Campaign finance: tiny and sedate
   9. I suggest: Yes
      
2. Amy S. Taylor: Working Families
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? NO
   2. law lecturer at Columbia University
   3. also sought to run for Governor this year on WFP line?
   4. volunteers with Make the Road, which advocates for immigrants
   5. did not participate in NY Women’s Bar Association eval
   6. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   7. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   8. couldn’t find Bsky/Reddit gossip
   9. no campaign finance filing
   10. I suggest: No
       
3. Manuel J. Mendez: Democratic
   1. currently a justice, appellate division. So: Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NY Women’s Bar Association
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   5. Several opinions that made the news: Johnson & Johnson has to pay consumers; Macy’s ought not demand payment from suspected shoplifters; NYPD has to release records of undercover surveillance of Black Lives Matter; granting injunction against DraftKings & FanDuel; just this month was part of a panel that judged in favor of a same-sex couple against a clothing seller
   6. no Bsky gossip
   7. Campaign finance: tiny and sedate
   8. I suggest: Yes
      
4. Joshua E. Goldfein: Working Families
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? NO
   2. lost in 2020, worked at Legal Aid at that time
   3. also sought to run for Lieutenant Governor this year on WFP line?
   4. was not approved by NYC Bar
   5. still working at Legal Aid
   6. did not participate in NY Women’s Bar Association eval
   7. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   8. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   9. Bsky and Reddit just turn up quotes from him advocating for immigrants through his work at Legal Aid
   10. no campaign finance filing
   11. I suggest: No
       
5. Saliann Scarpulla: Democratic
   1. a sitting judge in the appellate division. So: Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NY Women’s Bar Association
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Highly Approved
   5. has served on several prominent cases: the NYPD officer who killed someone by throwing a cooler at him; Fyre Festival; Trump fraud stuff; Hochul v. Cuomo re: ethics panel (Bsky)
   6. Campaign finance: very sedate
   7. I suggest: Yes
      
6. Sienna M. Fontaine: Working Families
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? NO
   2. Make the Road General Counsel
   3. further description of her work
   4. did not participate in NY Women’s Bar Association eval
   5. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   6. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   7. no Reddit gossip
   8. no campaign finance filing
   9. I suggest: Yes
      
7. Hasa A. Kingo: Democratic
   1. judge, Manhattan Supreme Court (Scrutinize). Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NY Women’s Bar Association
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Highly Approved
   5. Campaign finance: more than $20,000 to campaign manager Suzanne Jacobson; got probably at least $10K in contributions from various law firms; direct donations from campaign to several Democratic clubs; like $9,000 in catering. One of the more lavish campaigns.
   6. I suggest: weak yes
      
8. Bob Cohen: Working Families
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? No.
   2. perennial candidate; Policy Director at Citizen Action of New York
   3. did not participate in NY Women’s Bar Association eval
   4. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   5. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   6. basically not possible to check for gossip on Bsky and Reddit [edited Oct. 24 to add:]: because he has such a common name
   7. no campaign finance filing
   8. I suggest: No
      
9. Kathleen Waterman-Marshall: Democratic
   1. judge, New York County Supreme Court, Civil Term. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Multiple people whose matrimonial cases she oversaw have accused her of misconduct (NBC News investigation, August 2024); there’s someone maintaining a blog about that
   3. Approved by NY Women’s Bar Association
   4. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   5. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Highly Approved
   6. Campaign finance: a heck of a lot of money received and spent, more than a lot of other candidates in this or similar races…. why $5,329.85 paid to the soul food restaurant Sylvia’s in August? And it feels unusual that this campaign directly made so many donations to individual Democratic clubs, and paid $8,750 to a public relations & crisis management firm (Derek Perkinson at Bluejacket Strategies).
   7. no interesting results in paywalled news database search
   8. I suggest: No
      
10. Jeffrey W. Rizzo: Working Families
    1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? No.
    2. criminal defense lawyer
    3. did not participate in NY Women’s Bar Association eval
    4. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
    5. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
    6. couldn’t find Reddit/Bsky gossip
    7. no campaign finance filing
    8. I suggest: No
       
11. Christopher Chin: Democratic
    1. acting justice of the Supreme Court, New York County. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
    2. Approved by NY Women’s Bar Association
    3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
    4. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
    5. couldn’t find Reddit/Bsky gossip
    6. One of the more expensive campaigns. Paid at least $15,000 to campaign manager Anne Strahle, made campaign donations to Democratic clubs, etc.
    7. I suggest: weak yes
       

Judge of the Civil Court - County - New York, # to be elected: 3

Judge of the Civil Court ‑ District ‑ 1st Municipal Court District - New York, # to be elected: 1

Judge of the Civil Court ‑ District ‑ 3rd Municipal Court District - New York, # to be elected: 1

Judge of the Civil Court ‑ District ‑ 4th Municipal Court District - New York, # to be elected: 1

Judge of the Civil Court ‑ District ‑ 7th Municipal Court District - New York, # to be elected: 4

Judge of the Civil Court ‑ District ‑ 9th Municipal Court District - New York, # to be elected: 2

Bronx: no competitive judicial elections

Justice of the Supreme Court - 12th Judicial District [all of Bronx County], # to be elected: 1

Judge of the Civil Court - District - 1st Municipal Court District - Bronx, # to be elected: 1

Judge of the Civil Court - District - 2nd Municipal Court District - Bronx, # to be elected: 1

Brooklyn

(“Kings County”)

Competitive: Justice of the Supreme Court - 2nd Judicial District [all of Kings County], # to be elected: 4

1. Betsey Jean Jacques: Conservative, Republican, & Democratic
   1. Already sitting on Supreme Court, so: filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   4. no gossip on Bsky or Reddit
   5. Campaign finance: $19,570.90 in expenditures and no contributions. More than $15,000 to a mysterious “Progressive Political Solutions” that’s years overdue for its NYS Department of State biennial filing. At least $500 to “Friends of Frank Seddio”. Just odd and kind of shady.
   6. I suggest: very weak yes
      
2. Hemalee J. Patel: Republican & Democratic
   1. civil court judge as of 2025; was appropriately horrified in April 2025 at someone being arrested and arraigned for something already dealt-with appropriately. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Not Approved [this is very unusual!!! this means that they did evaluate the candidate and were unsatisfied!]
   4. Independent Neighborhood Democrats campaigned for her in 2017 when she ran for Civil Court judge
   5. was a Board of Elections lawyer; her petitions got challenged but that happens to a ton of candidates
   6. no Reddit gossip
   7. As you would expect from someone who’d worked at the Board of Elections, campaign finance is sedate and small.
   8. I suggest: Yes [edited Oct. 27 to change] Very weak yes
      
3. Sherveal Mimes: Conservative, Republican, & Democratic
   1. A judge on Civil Court. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   4. no Reddit or Bsky gossip
   5. Campaign finance: seems entirely self-funded; no detail on what the expenses were, which is odd.
   6. I suggest: weak yes
      
4. Lola Waterman (site at lolawaterman.com no longer up; archive): Conservative, Republican, & Democratic
   1. 2024: elected to Civil Court as a judge; currently judge for Family Court in Kings County. Filed a financial disclosure statement? YES, as Lola Oguntunde-Waterman.
   2. 2020 questionnaire: “currently serve as Principal Law Clerk to the Honorable Lisa Ottley in the Kings County Supreme Court”
   3. VP of the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association
   4. member of lots of bar associations
   5. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   6. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   7. no Reddit or Bsky gossip
   8. Campaign finance: zero receipts, $2,225 in expenditures, which include “Friends Of Frank Seddio” and a bunch of district leaders. The wording makes it seem like it’s just direct payments to those district leaders rather than their campaigns, which feels weird.
   9. I suggest: very weak yes
      
5. William D. Spain Jr.: Conservative
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? No.
   2. also ran? running? for county executive in Putnam County, which is not in New York City
   3. no Bsky/Reddit gossip
   4. A paywalled news article about a lawsuit includes: “The plaintiff, William D. Spain, Jr., alleged that Richard Williams, Sr., and Ginny Nacerino, referred to as Ginny Doe in the case, made…” so go ahead and let me know in the comments if you can read that article and think it’s noteworthy.
   5. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   6. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   7. I suggest: No
      

Judge of the Civil Court - County - Kings, # to be elected: 4

Judge of the Civil Court - District - 2nd Municipal Court District - Kings, # to be elected: 1

Judge of the Civil Court - District - 3rd Municipal Court District - Kings, # to be elected: 1

Competitive: Judge of the Civil Court - District - 4th Municipal Court District - Kings, # to be elected: 2

1. Anthony W. Vaughn Jr.: Democratic
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   2. Immediate Past President of the Brooklyn Bar Association
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   5. no Reddit or Bsky gossip
   6. couldn’t find anything in paywalled news databases
   7. I suggest: Yes
      
2. Xavier Carr: Democratic
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   2. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   4. was a Brooklyn Democratic Party pick for something a few months ago, which is a bad sign
   5. no Reddit gossip
   6. nothing in paywalled news databases
   7. I suggest: weak yes
      
3. Aaron Franklin: Conservative & Republican
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   2. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   4. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   5. couldn’t find anything in paywalled news databases
   6. I suggest: no
      

Judge of the Civil Court - District - 6th Municipal Court District - Kings, # to be elected: 2

Judge of the Civil Court - District - 7th Municipal Court District - Kings, # to be elected: 1

Competitive: Judge of the Civil Court - District - 8th Municipal Court District - Kings, # to be elected: 1

1. Susan A. Liebman: Democratic
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   2. One profile says “current role: offering pro bono legal services to domestic violence survivors through Mount Sinai’s victim services program”
   3. Also ran last year; New Kings Democrats summarized her at that time in their voter guide; “Frank Seddio held a fundraiser for Liebman recently”
   4. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   5. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   6. Mailer in June 2025 was paid for by “Friends of Frank Seddio” – red flag
   7. her flyer last year had her posing with Andrew Cuomo – red flag
   8. But: I heard from a friend that she’s endorsed by District Leader Mark Hanna, whom I have met and who is a lawyer for the reformers trying to overthrow Seddio, Bichotte-Hermelyn, and their crowd, so that’s good.
   9. I suggest: weak yes
      
2. Etan C. Harris: Conservative & Republican
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   2. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   4. no Reddit or Bsky gossip
   5. I suggest: no

Queens

Overview: “Who is running to be a judge in Queens?” Jacob Kaye, Queens Eagle, Oct. 23, 2026

[Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association emailed me their ratings today, so I've added those to the candidates in the Queens section. Scroll down to the comments for the explanation of what "Well Qualified" and "Qualified" mean, and the distinction between "Not Approved" and "did not appear before the committee and were not rated".

You can meet a few of these candidates next week! On Wed. Oct. 28th, 7:30pm, the JFK Democratic Club will host a few speakers at Community United Methodist Church, 81-10 35th Ave. in Jackson Heights, Queens. Meetings usually last about 90 minutes. Scheduled speakers include:

• Gail A. Adams (Candidate for NYS Supreme Court),
• Janet Ellen Keller (Candidate for NYC Civil Court, 2nd Municipal Court District)
• Jasmine I. Valle-Bueno (Countywide Candidate for NYC Civil Court)
• Edmond Wong (Countywide Candidate for NYC Civil Court)
  

Competitive: Justice of the Supreme Court - 11th Judicial District [all of Queens County], # to be elected: 3. Democrats profiled in this Aug. 11th piece.

1. Edwin I. Novillo: Democratic, Maspeth
   1. currently a sitting judge; on Scrutinize. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Profile in AMNY, profile in Queens Eagle
   3. résumé
   4. no Reddit or Bsky gossip
   5. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   6. I’ve met this guy! [Edited afternoon of Oct. 24 to clarify: at a local Democratic club.] When he was a young teen, a friend was arrested, and he discovered the Legal Aid Society, and decided he wanted to become a public defender, and then did so. Later, he thought about being able to affect more people’s lives as a judge than as an attorney, and formed the ambition of becoming a judge. He trains and supervises a lot of people in his current role. He called me “young lady” which was an eyebrow-raiser, but overall I think he was fine.
   7. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: "Well Qualified" (the highest rating)
   8. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   9. I suggest: Yes
      
2. Oma D. Phillips: Democratic, South Richmond Hill
   1. currently a court attorney in UCS. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   4. no results in news database searches
   5. I have met her! [Edited afternoon of Oct. 24 to clarify: at a local Democratic club.] She seems okay. She says she enjoys being a judge and it’s the “best job in the world”. I asked what working groups, committees, or commissions she’d like to get on, and she mentioned Equal Access to Justice as well as AI. I asked why the latter, and she said it’s the future and she wants to be in the forefront of it.
   6. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: Qualified
   7. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   8. I suggest: Yes
      
3. Gail A. Adams: Democratic, Jamaica
   1. I believe she is currently a sitting judge (confusingly, she is not called “Hon.” in the Bar Association list where other judges are). Scrutinize. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. résumé
   3. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   4. Not approved by NYC Bar Association. Unusual for a sitting judge!
   5. no results in news database searches
   6. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: did not appear and thus was not rated. I think this implies she also didn't appear before the NYC Bar Association; NYC Bar doesn't distinguish between "we evaluated this person and they don't pass" and "we did not evaluate this person". Still unusual for a sitting judge, to my knowledge!
   7. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   8. I suggest: weak yes; this may change after she speaks on Oct. 28th
      
4. Gary Muraca: Republican, "New York, NY"
   1. endorsed by Queens Republican Party
   2. was “not approved” by NYC Bar when he ran last year
   3. nor in 2024
   4. attorney in private practice, “an attorney who has been practicing law in both the five boroughs as well as Long Beach since 1983.”
   5. person nominating him enthusiastic about being tough on crime; according to this Reddit comment, Muraca’s brother is a Long Island judge who’s more on the punishment side of things.
   6. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? NO
   7. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   8. no Bsky gossip
   9. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: did not appear and thus was not rated.
   10. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   11. I suggest: No
       
5. David A. Bellon: Republican, Flushing
   1. endorsed by Queens Republican Party
   2. “ran for U.S. Senate in New York in 2024 before being disqualified from the race by the New York State Board of Elections…also previously ran for Supreme Court, finishing last in a seven-way race in 2018”
   3. donated to fraudster Jonathan Rinaldi [Edited afternoon of Oct. 24 to clarify:] As of that article, which was like a week before Election Day last year, Bellon was the ONLY ONE who was on the record as having donated to the political campaign of a Queens candidate who was flooding social media with bizarre AI-generated misinformation.
   4. attorney in private practice
   5. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? NO
   6. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   7. no Reddit or Bsky gossip
   8. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: did not appear and thus was not rated.
   9. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   10. I suggest: No
       

Competitive: Judge of the Civil Court - County - Queens, # to be elected: 3

1. Edmond Wong: Democratic, Little Neck
   1. I have met him! [Edited afternoon of Oct. 24 to clarify: at a local Democratic club.] I described and recommended him in the primary and I continue to do so.
   2. Endorsed by Queens Democratic Party
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. rated Qualified by Queens County Bar Association
   5. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   6. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   7. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: Qualified
   8. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   9. I suggest: Strong yes
      
2. Jasmine I. Valle-Bueno: Democratic, Ridgewood
   1. kudos for an actually informative campaign website!
   2. I have met her! [Edited afternoon of Oct. 24 to clarify: at a local Democratic club.] Her experience in high-profile civil litigation comes with a huge volume of work, and she appreciates the need for efficiency. She says she has always wanted to be a judge. As a teen, she participated in sting operations where she went into shops to buy cigarettes so authorities could bust shopkeepers who sold them to her. She batted away my question as to whether she’d read Courts of Contempt or might do so. When I asked her thoughts on AI, she said, inaccurately, “Everyone is using it. It’s here.” and approved of an affirmation requirement, as “All we can do is be vigilant.”
   3. endorsed by Queens Democratic Party
   4. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   5. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   6. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   7. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: Qualified
   8. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Highly Approved
   9. I suggest: Yes
      
3. Michael Mossa: Republican & Conservative, Howard Beach
   1. 2023: ran to try to unseat Katz as DA; wants to end Sanctuary City policies; seems against bail reform – was Not Approved by NYC Bar Association
   2. 2003: ran for City Council, loves school vouchers
   3. weird situation where (circa 2021-2022?) he shared an office with and received some transferred cases from a judge who was removed for unethical behavior
   4. thinks it is a mistake to “empower tenants at the cost of landlords, allow low-level crimes like shoplifting to go unpunished” and we should keep Rikers Island jail open
   5. endorsed by Queens Republican Party
   6. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   7. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably not [although Ethics Commission may have misspelled his name; they told me they didn’t have anything for “Michael Modssa”.]
   8. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   9. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: did not appear and thus was not rated
   10. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   11. I suggest: Strong no
       
4. Thomas D. Barra: Republican & Conservative, Bayside
   1. endorsed by Queens Republican Party
   2. in 2025, “not approved” by NYC Bar Association
   3. in 2025, "failed to appear" for LGBT Bar Association
   4. criminal defense attorney
   5. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? No.
   6. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   7. can’t find Bsky or Reddit gossip due to common name
   8. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: Did not appear and thus was not rated
   9. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] I've now spoken with some more people with knowledge of Queens courts and legal circles, and this guy (bio at his law firm's website) is actually looking better and better. Per this AMNY article, Barra "has nearly thirty years of experience as a Queens-based criminal defense attorney" and "seemingly runs an Instagram account under the handle @lawyersgunswhiskey where he posts short, frequently front-facing videos offering legal advice or responding to commonly held legal questions, like whether police can lie during an investigation and how to handle orders of protection in criminal court." I watched some of it (via the Imginn proxy), and this is a guy who warns the public that cops lie using deceptive interrogation techniques, advises us not to consent to a search, and so on. In 2009 he was defending a group of young Latino folks who said they'd just been hanging out in a park from a charge of unlawful assembly. One defense lawyer specifically said they've seen that Barra really cares about his clients; I think he used to be an employee of Legal Aid Society, based on his presence in 2019 and 2022 listings. I also liked what he said last year about why he wanted to become a judge, in an interview with amNewYork Law: "As a trial attorney, I have been before some judges who have never even seen the inside of a courtroom prior to becoming judges. I believe it is important that we have judges who are knowledgeable in the law, but also in all the procedures, issues and the whole process of a legal matter pending before them."
   10. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] So: why is he running as a Republican?? This is where the gossip and inference comes in. Basically, one strong possibility is that he's didn't want to be a machine guy, neither with the dominant Democratic party machine nor with the odious Hiram Monserrate and his cronies, so running on the Republican/Conservative lines was kind of the only other plausible approach available. But I imagine it still felt like enough of a long shot that he didn't bother submitting questionnaires to the various Bar Associations, nor filing the financial disclosure (boo). Was or is he even registered as a Republican?? I'm trying to look into this now; based on who he's donated money to, I think he's supported both Democrats and a Republican who he probably knows personally as a Bayside pal. Mr. Barra, if you read this, please return my call!
   11. [Edited Nov. 2 midday to add:] Yes, public voter registration records do reflect that he is currently registered as a Republican. However, as far as I can tell, he is not in any way committed to the Republican platform. I've requested info from the Board of Elections about his past party affiliation on voter registration records, but might not get it till after Election Day, as they are (reasonably) concentrating on actually administering the election. [Edited Nov. 2 evening to strike through the previous bit and add:] Actually they did reply a few days ago and I just didn't get it till now. He registered as a Democrat in October 1991, then voted pretty regularly in general elections through 2001. Then I believe he changed his address to Nassau County and was voting there till 2024; thus the New York City Board of Elections purged his registration in July 2008. Then, in June 2025, he reregistered in New York City, as a Republican. (This was the year he first ran for a Civil Court judge position.) At this point, if I get his Nassau County registration records to inspect his 2002-2024 party affiliation, that would be out of pure stubborn curiosity, as there's no way I'd get them before the end of tomorrow. But I suspect he was a Democrat!
   12. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   13. I suggest: Maybe? YES, even though he is running as a Republican. Because the top three will win, and we don’t want:
       
5. Julie M. Milner: Republican & Democratic, East Elmhurst
   1. A BAD CHOICE, as I asserted during the primary.
   2. I barely skimmed her campaign finance info but her campaign has literally made a payment to the Queens Republican Party
   3. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. did not appear before Queens County Bar Association for evaluation
   5. No new info from Bsky gossip; here she is on Reddit defending herself
   6. this comment points out a dogwhistle she said about conservative jurisprudence
   7. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES. From that, I learned that she received $7,000 from Republican Jason Murillo as “campaign consulting” income in 2025; Murillo, candidate for City Council last year, wants to end NYC’s sanctuary city policies, thinks our bail laws are too lenient to defendants, and so on. And we already knew she was a crony of the odious Hiram Monserrate, as she's endorsed by his Democratic club, she co-petitioned with him, and she gave to his political campaign. (My article from June discusses exactly how and why he's such a stain on anyone associated with him.) But also, Julie Milner's 2025 financial disclosure says she earned $3,000 as income from Hiram's 2026 Senate campaign, for campaign consulting.
   8. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: did not appear and thus was not rated
   9. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   10. I suggest: a very strong no!

The text above comes from question 13 on page 8 of the judicial candidate financial disclosure form: "List below the nature and amount of any income in EXCESS of $1,000 from EACH SOURCE for the reporting individual and such individual's spouse for the taxable year last occurring prior to the date of filing." (and then a bunch of further clarification). Under "Self/spouse; source; nature; category of amount", Milner wrote:

self; Murillo4CD2; Campaign Consultation; $7,000 total

self; Hiram26; Campaign Consultation; $3,000 once

Competitive: Judge of the Civil Court - District - 2nd Municipal Court District - Queens, # to be elected: 1

1. Janet Ellen Keller: Democratic, Forest Hills
   1. I have met her! [Edited afternoon of Oct. 24 to clarify: at a local Democratic club.] She’s been a lawyer for the City for many years. She saw a flyer years ago asking for volunteers to work as small claims court arbitrators, then started doing that, and to me that feels like reasonably good experience to prep you for being a judge. She said her parents said she would be a judge, and she’s wanted to be a judge since she was a child. In law school she read a case decision by Cardozo and loved how beautifully written it was, and the way he described things made her want to be a thorough jurist like him. Evidently at least one Councilmember’s office has honored her with a Proclamation (I have now learned that the texts of these Proclamations are surprisingly hard for a stranger to get copies of).
   2. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association. She also gave me her email address, personally sent me scans of the approvals she’s gotten from the Queens County Bar Association and the LGBT Bar Association, and answered my questions promptly.
   4. no Reddit or Bsky gossip
   5. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: Qualified
   6. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   7. I suggest: Yes
      
2. Stephen C. Dachtera: Republican, Flushing
   1. 2024 news article
   2. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? No.
   3. Not approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. you may enjoy people making fun of him on Bsky for what he said in an interview with law.com
   5. via Reddit: he’s a former comedian turned lawyer? And as such had a cameo in Marty Supreme?!
   6. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: did not appear and thus was not rated
   7. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   8. I suggest: No
      

Competitive: Judge of the Civil Court - District - 3rd Municipal Court District - Queens, # to be elected: 1

1. Michelle Ann McSweeney-Ortiz: Democratic, Flushing
   1. used to be a Spanish teacher, which I like
   2. endorsed by Queens Democratic Party
   3. unobjectionable short campaign video and showed up at a local meet-and-greet
   4. currently Principal Law Clerk to a Judge at Supreme Court
   5. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   6. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   7. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   8. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: Qualified
   9. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   10. I suggest: Yes
       
2. William David Shanahan: Conservative & Republican, Whitestone
   1. endorsed by Queens Republican Party
   2. runs frequently and is usually evaluated as “Qualified” by bar associations
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? No.
   5. no Bsky or informative Reddit gossip
   6. [Edited Oct. 26 evening to add:] Queens County Bar Association rating: Qualified
   7. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   8. I suggest: Weak no (as in, he probably wouldn’t be awful if he won)
      

Judge of the Civil Court - District - 4th Municipal Court District - Queens, # to be elected: 1

Staten Island

(“Richmond County”)

Competitive: Justice of the Supreme Court - 13th Judicial District [all of Richmond County], # to be elected: 1

1. Kelvin Richards: Democratic
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   4. A former refugee.
   5. no Bsky gossip; couldn’t find Reddit gossip because of name conflict
   6. I suggest: Yes
      
2. Michael J. Pinto: Republican
   1. a sitting Richmond County Civil Court Judge
   2. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   3. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   4. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   5. no Bsky gossip; couldn’t find any Reddit gossip
   6. I suggest: Weak no
      

Competitive: Judge of the Civil Court - County - Richmond, # to be elected: 1

1. Tashanna Golden: Democratic
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. currently a Housing Court Judge
   3. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   4. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   5. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Highly Approved
   6. campaign finance: a surprising amount of out-of-state money
   7. I suggest: Yes
      
2. Glenn A. Yost: Republican
   1. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? YES
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   4. no Bsky or Reddit gossip
   5. 2018 podcast interview back when he was an Assembly candidate (he also ran for Assembly in 1998). I skimmed the autotranscript YouTube provided and then watched a few minutes to verify; he seems to have been in favor of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court, and admires Trump for persevering in the face of people’s disbelief in his candidacy – like historic figures like Churchill or Ben Franklin. Ugh.
   6. SI Live profile: Former undercover NYPD detective, spent 20 years with NYPD, did an antiracism program with youth, later taught criminal justice and history for a few years, opened his own law firm in 2007, now 63 years old and a grandfather of eight.
   7. campaign finance: a little bit of out-of-state money
   8. I suggest: No
      

Competitive: Judge of the Civil Court - District - 1st Municipal Court District - Richmond, # to be elected: 1

1. John A. Vitucci: Democratic
   1. works for UCS (I think as principal law clerk for a “Staten Island Supreme Court Justice”). Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Approved
   4. Some folks sued and tried to get him thrown off the ballot; did not succeed: “Kevin P. Ford and others sought to invalidate Vitucci's nomination. The petitioners argued that the nomination process was flawed and that Vitucci should not appear on the ballot”
   5. Campaign finance: donors include a few people outside Staten Island, including in New Jersey, but nothing that seems really unusual for a lawyer who probably knows people and serves clients in nearby areas; no names jumped out at me
   6. no Bsky results, pretty much nothing on Reddit
   7. I suggest: Yes
      
2. Carrie Ann Low: Republican & Conservative
   1. works for UCS as a Principal Law Clerk. Filed a judicial candidate financial disclosure statement? Probably.
   2. Approved by NYC Bar Association
   3. [Edited Oct. 27 midday to add:] LGBT Bar Association of NY rating: Failed to Appear
   4. Campaign finance donors all seem to live in Staten Island; no names jumped out at me
   5. no Bsky results, nothing on Reddit that seems relevant to her
   6. I suggest: Weak no
      

My methods (including a statement on avoiding generative AI), and a donation link

[Edited the afternoon of Oct. 24th to add this section, which is nearly identical to the similar section in my post about the ballot proposals.]

I tried to avoid generative AI

I did my research manually and did not use generative AI to analyze stuff, write stuff, develop ideas for research sources, etc. It could be that someone whose work I read used generative AI along the way; I can’t know for certain. It’s possible that I used a copy of Whisper on my own laptop to make a machine-generated transcription of one or two podcast episodes, then skimmed it for anything noteworthy, then went to go listen to the audio to verify before believing it and incorporating it into my analysis; my files don’t show that I did this for the general election research, but in retrospect, I should have mentioned that I did this with about 4 podcast episodes when making primary election endorsements in June. Other than that, I did my best to avoid the genAI that companies are shoving into various applications and search engine results.

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