Summit County voters will have the chance this election to weigh in on judges who will preside over some of the most important criminal and civil cases in the county. In the court’s general division, three of the 10 judicial seats are up for grabs, but only two of the seats are contested.
Incumbent Jennifer Towell is facing off against relative newcomer Joseph Darwal, while incumbent Susan Baker Ross is trying to fend off a challenge by attorney and former Common Pleas Judge Susan Steinhauer. Judge Kathryn Michael has no challenger on the ballot and no organized write-in campaign against her.
Get live election updates throughout the day and results after polls close at 7:30 p.m.
RACE: Judge, Court of Common Pleas – General Division (term starts Jan. 2)
INCUMBENT: Jennifer Towell, Democrat
CHALLENGER: Joseph Darwal, Republican
WIth strict restrictions on what they can say publicly about their personal views, and with most of their important work unseen by the general public, knowing which judge to vote for can be difficult.
Incumbent Common Pleas Court Judge Jennifer Towell said the Akron Bar Association’s bipartisan panel of 28 local attorneys who vet candidates on their integrity and abilities, among other categories, is a great way to assess a candidate.
“It’s good to look for yourself and see what their peers think of that individual,” said Towell, who was again rated “excellent” by the ABA, the highest of four ratings. “(The ratings process) is super thorough, it’s one of the scarier things you’ll ever do.”
Towell has been a common pleas judge since she was elected in November 2022. She was previously an Akron Municipal Court magistrate and started her legal career as a criminal defense attorney in the Navy.
She said ensuring that people who face her in court feel respected by the process is a priority for her.
“I feel really strongly about customer service because we work for them,” Towell said. “That servant-leader mentality is not something you always get from all judges. To me, that’s very important and that they feel like they’re treated fairly and impartially.”
She’s been endorsed by labor unions, Sheriff Kandy Fatheree, and Democratic politicians such as U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes. Towell said she was “just truly blown away” by Sykes’ endorsement.
“It was really just a thrill,” she said.
Towell’s challenger on the ballot is Joseph Darwal, an attorney in the litigation unit of Medina County-based Westfield Insurance. The state’s attorney directory lists his title as claims specialist.
Darwal’s campaign doesn’t appear to have a website or a social media presence. He has not provided questionnaire answers to sites like Ballotpedia and Judicial Votes Ohio, as other candidates have. Darwal told Signal Akron he was not available to be interviewed for this article before the deadline.
Darwal told the Akron Beacon Journal that he wants to give back to the community and the best way to do that is to be a judge. He said he’s coached the University of Akron debate team for the past decade and that his experience as a defense attorney and a plaintiff’s attorney helps him understand both sides of cases.
Darwal was rated as “good” by the Akron Bar Association Commission on Judicial Candidates, the only one of the four judicial candidates in contested races to not reach the highest marks. According to state records, Darwal is a University of Akron School of Law graduate who was admitted as an attorney in 2014.
Prior to joining Westfield Insurance earlier this year, his LinkedIn profile lists his previous positions as a trial attorney for the Obral, Silk & Pal law firm (2019-2024), an attorney for the National Interstate Insurance Co. (2016-2019), an attorney with his own private practice (2016-2019), and an attorney with Sutter O’Connell (2013-2016). He listed that he was a real estate agent from 2013 through 2019 (though state records indicate his real estate license expired in 2016).
🗳️For more on this year’s November election, visit our Election Signals 2024 page.
RACE: Judge, Court of Common Pleas – General Division (term starts May 17)
INCUMBENT: Susan Baker Ross, Democrat
CHALLENGER: Susan Steinhauer, Republican
The race between an incumbent judge and a former judge, both rated “excellent” by the Akron Bar Association, pits two well-known and experienced jurists against each other.
Judge Susan Baker Ross is hoping to keep her seat on the bench, where she’s served since May 2019. She has been the common pleas court’s presiding judge — selected by other judges to oversee jury and grand jury proceedings, among other responsibilities — since 2023. She also oversees the Valor Court, which hears cases featuring criminal defendants who are military veterans and gives them access to special programs and treatment plans.
Baker Ross did not respond to Signal Akron’s request for comment through her campaign. Her website lists endorsements from trade unions and Democratic politicians.
“I love my job serving Summit County as a Common Pleas Court Judge,” Baker Ross wrote for the Ohio State Bar’s Judicial Votes Count website. “I will continue the work of helping those who have entered the system due to addiction and mental illness while also protecting the rights of the victims in the court system. I give each case thoughtful consideration and seek to help all of the parties to our court cases if possible.”
Susan Steinhauer is looking to unseat Baker Ross and return to the court, this time in the general division. In 2021, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed her as a domestic relations judge, replacing Judge Katarina Cook. Steinhauer had previously spent a decade working in a law firm with her father, John Steinhauer. She also spent three years as the chief legal officer of charter school operator White Hat Management and as an “as needed” magistrate in the common pleas court.
In 2022, she lost her seat in an election facing off against Judge Kani Harvey Hightower, though she out-performed the other two Republican judicial candidates on the ballot, who both also lost. The relatively close race against Hightower featured Hightower suing Steinhauer for defamation after each candidate accused the other of running attack ads with false information. (Steinhauer’s insurance company chose to settle with Hightower for an undisclosed amount of money late last year; a legal battle over the enforcement of the settlement and attorneys fees is still ongoing.)
In 2023, after losing her judicial race, Steinhauer became a partner at the Roderick Linton Belfance law firm in Akron but said she is eager to return to the bench.
“I really enjoyed it when I worked as a magistrate there, and I really enjoyed being a judge,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the law firm where I’m at, but there’s the sense that you are able to contribute and help (as a judge)… I enjoy it, I think I’m good at it, and I feel like I can help.”
Steinhauer said she wasn’t seeking endorsements for her campaign but was proud to have supporters from both political parties and the ABA’s “excellent” rating.
“I think people, if you asked them to describe me, would say that I’m fair, and that I’m empathetic, but also stern when I need to be,” Steinhauer said.
RACE: Judge, Court of Common Pleas – General Division (term starts Jan. 1)
INCUMBENT: Kathryn Michael, Democrat
CHALLENGER: None
With no opponent, Judge Kathryn Michael will be reelected to the seat she first won in 2018. Before becoming a common pleas judge, she spent 13 years as a judge in the Akron Municipal Court.
According to her biography at the common pleas court, after Michael was elected, she became the presiding judge of the Domestic Violence Intervention Court, a program for multiple-time domestic violent offenders aimed at “breaking the cycle of generational domestic violence.” While a judge with the municipal court, Michael led the Family Intervention Court program, also aimed at addressing domestic violence.
With no opponent, Michael has no rating from the Akron Bar Association for this campaign. She did not respond to an interview request.
Michael’s re-election campaign features not much more than a simple slogan: “EXPERIENCE MATTERS.”