Judge Daniel Hawkins is a bit of a political unicorn: He was the only Republican elected to the Franklin County Common Pleas Court in 2018 as the county turns increasingly blue.
“It’s obviously getting harder and harder for Republicans to win in Franklin County, but I think I have a good reputation here and I’ve had a lot of support from both Democrats and Republicans,” Hawkins said.
He served as an assistant district attorney, handling violent crime cases as head of the special victims unit, then served as a municipal court judge focused on environmental issues such as landlord negligence and dilapidated properties. Voters elected him to his current job six years ago.
Now Hawkins has his eye on the Ohio Supreme Court, running against 8th District Court of Appeals Judge Lisa Forbes for an open seat.
Ohio Supreme Court Elections 2024: Who is Judge Lisa Forbes?
Why is there an open spot? Justice Joe Deters, who was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, decided to challenge his colleague, Justice Melody Stewart, for a full six-year term.
The winner of the Hawkins-Forbes race will serve only two years and then decide in 2026 whether to seek re-election.
This is the first statewide campaign for both Forbes and Hawkins. In post-primary campaign finance reports, Hawkins had $255,242 on hand, while Forbes had $41,422.
Supreme Court decisions affect how much Ohioans pay in taxes, whether utilities can add fees to taxpayers’ bills, how insurance and business laws are interpreted, which government documents will be publicly available and more. The court also interprets constitutional amendments, such as the Reproductive Rights Amendment, which voters approved in November 2023.
Who is Judge Dan Hawkins?
Hawkins, now 48, grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Columbus. His father worked for Ohio Bell and as a school bus driver, and picked up extra shifts as a janitor to make ends meet.
His parents were not overtly political, but stressed the importance of God, country and family, he said. Hawkins grew up in the Ronald Reagan era and came of age when Republicans took control of Congress, which is how he came into contact with the GOP.
He went to Bowling Green State University thinking he wanted to be a police officer, but then decided to become a prosecutor. He earned his law degree from Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
Instead of running for his current seat, Hawkins decided to run for the Ohio Supreme Court. He said the high court’s ruling on what judges must consider when setting bail conditions fired him up.
In a 4-3 decision in January 2022, the court ruled that excessive bail is unconstitutional and that when setting bail, judges must consider only whether the defendant poses a flight risk, not the seriousness of the crime or public safety concerns.
Deters, Attorney General Dave Yost and others campaigned for a constitutional amendment requiring judges to consider the seriousness of the crime when setting bail conditions. Hawkins and Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan, a Republican running for the Ohio Supreme Court, both wrote columns supporting the constitutional amendment.
Voters approved it in 2022.
Cases Hawkins handled
When asked what cases typify the type of judge he is, Hawkins cited two from his time in municipal court.
Motel One, a notoriously troublesome property on Columbus’ east side, was closed in April 2012 after prosecutors say police had been called to the property more than 500 times since 2006. The owner had ignored a court order to demolish the property.
More than a year later, Hawkins, on the bench, ordered a prison sentence for the recalcitrant owner. When bulldozers demolished the motel, neighbors celebrated with a pizza party, Hawkins said.
Another high-profile case was Hawkins’s 2014 agenda. The city of Columbus sought a temporary restraining order against UberX in a case over whether the ride-sharing service was complying with the city’s taxi regulations. Hawkins denied the city’s request, saying it appeared as if the city and Uber were resolving their differences and that granting a restraining order would put Uber at a disadvantage compared to its competitor, Lyft.
Abortion cases
Abortion cases are now more likely to end up in the Ohio Supreme Court, as the Dobbs ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court says abortion restrictions are up to the states to decide. Also, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2023 that includes reproductive rights, so any legal questions about how that amendment should be interpreted and applied will likely be decided by the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Democrats running for Supreme Court are backed by Planned Parenthood, while the Republicans are backed by Ohio Right to Life.
All six candidates pledged to abide by the constitution and the law.
Applying the law
Hawkins and his opponent Lisa Forbes both say they apply the law as it is written and do not seek a specific, predetermined outcome in legal cases. This is often described as “making law from the bench.”
“I’m not an ideologue. I’m one of those judges who just calls the balls and strikes, looks at the law, applies the law before them and sometimes makes decisions that are unpopular and difficult to make,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins describes himself as a strict textualist, who bases his decisions on the plain language of the law, the Constitution, and written contracts and who tries to make his reasoning clear in his rulings.
“I’m just going to do my best to ignore the noise, because that’s what I’ve done as a judge and as a prosecutor,” he said.
Criminal conviction data
The Ohio Sentencing Commission canceled a contract it had with the University of Cincinnati, which was supposed to have judges use the same form to write their criminal convictions. Ultimately, the goal was to create a database of criminal convictions so courts and researchers could identify trends, biases, and areas for improvement.
Some judges were not enamored with the idea of a searchable database and raised questions about the use of the data.
The commission, chaired by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, will now decide on next steps.
Hawkins said he generally believes more information helps judges make better decisions. But, he said, sentencing decisions are based on the individual facts of a case.
Are judicial elections nonpartisan?
Something like that. Ohio’s state and municipal court races are nonpartisan, but a new state law requires partisan labels in general elections for appellate and Supreme Court candidates.
The party labeling law is expected to help Republican Supreme Court candidates this year with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. Trump won Ohio twice.
Judge Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, is suing to overturn the law requiring partisan labels. Brunner lost her bid for chief justice in 2022 to Republican Sharon Kennedy, the first election cycle in which the partisan labeling law was in effect.
Republicans have held a majority of the seven seats since 1986 — nearly four decades. Democrats began making gains on the court in recent years, but then lawmakers changed the law to require party affiliation.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations in Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Elections: Who Is Judge Lisa Forbes’ Nominee for Supreme Court?
