In January 2023, Cincinnati Republican Joe Deters traded his long-time job as Hamilton County prosecutor for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court but rather than run to hold the seat the governor appointed him to, Deters is challenging a colleague.
Deters opted to run for a full six-year term against Justice Melody Stewart, a Cleveland Democrat. Stewart is irritated but Deters is amused.
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“I think it’s kind of funny because somebody’s going to run against her. I don’t know what they were thinking. Somebody was going to run,” he said. Had Deters run for his appointed seat, he would’ve had to run statewide again in two years when the unexpired term ended.
Despite this intra-court race, Deters said the justices are professional and collegial and have made him feel welcome in the new job.
Deters became the first Ohio Supreme Court justice in 30 years to join the court without prior experience as a judge.
“I bring a prosecutor’s perspective to the court, and I think a trial lawyer’s perspective,” Deters said. “There may be people on the court that had trials before but if you combined everybody’s trial experience, I think I still have more than all of them combined.”