Judge running for reelection as a Republican after holding seat as a Democrat

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Legal threats are flying in the race for Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals over questions about the incumbent's party affiliation.

Presiding Judge Patricia Delaney is running against Delaware Common Pleas Court Judge David Gormley to retain her seat. Since the pair both entered as Republicans and there are no Democratic candidates, they are going to head-to-head in the primary on March 19, and one will move uncontested to the November general election. Despite both running under the same party affiliation, Republicans in one of the district's counties are targeting the incumbent over her past.

DemocratDelaney.com was launched by the Licking County Republican Party -- one of 15 counties in the Fifth District -- to show Delaney's previous ties to the Democratic Party. Included on the website is her voting record, showing Delaney voted in Democratic primaries seven times from 2010 to 2022. In Ohio, voters who participate in a party's primary automatically become registered as a members of that party. The only way to register with a different party is to vote in that party's primary in a later election. As it stands, Delaney is a registered Democrat.

The judge's connection to the party goes beyond what the GOP claimed on the website. Election records spanning more than a decade from the Ohio Secretary of State's office show how Delaney ran in at least two previous elections to keep the seat she's held since 2006. In ballots for the 2012 and 2018 primaries, Delaney was listed as a Democratic candidate for the appellate court.

Before 2021, nominees running for judge appeared on general election ballots without a political party affiliation listed. But that year, Ohio Senate Bill 80 changed the law. If a candidate ran for the Ohio Supreme Court or a state court of appeals as a Republican, Democrat or other party member, that affiliation followed them to the ballot for the general election. In November, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner sued the state to remove party affiliations alongside judicial candidates' names on ballots. However, the law still stands.

In Delaware County -- one of the other counties in the appeals court's district -- residents filed legal challenges against Delaney's right to vote and file as a Republican. Three legal challenges were placed at the Delaware County Board of Elections, with all three resulting in deadlocked votes that were submitted to Secretary of State Frank LaRose for review. On two of the votes, LaRose had no authority to take further action, and on the final vote, he found that the election board had not taken necessary steps to get to the merits of the challenge, voting "aye" to break the tie and keep her on the ballot.

LaRose commented on his rulings and Delaney's status on the Republican primary ballot.

“While I respect the concerns expressed by the protester about the candidate’s political identity given a long history of voting in another party’s primary elections, I am duty-bound by the evidence presented to me and the law as it relates to this matter," LaRose said. "The protest to Judge Delaney’s candidacy was not properly before the Delaware County Board of Elections, and I am unable to take any further action.”

However, the legal disputes didn't end at LaRose's office. Lawyers hired by Delaney sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Licking County Republican Party, threatening to sue over the website highlighting her past as a Democrat. The letter, as well as a response from Chairman of the Licking County Republican Executive Committee Matt Dole, went up as additions to the party's website attacking her.

Delaney's legal team did not respond to emailed questions from NBC4 and declined to comment in a phone call Wednesday night. However, in the original cease-and-desist letter signed by Stacie Roth, they accused Dole and the party of lying.

"It has been brought to our attention that your Executive Committee paid for and published blatantly false information regarding the party status of Judge Delaney."

Dole described the basis behind the dispute.

"There's only one way in Ohio somebody can become a Republican or a Democrat, and that is by voting in a partisan primary," Dole said. "We have a voter record going back to 2010, and she's only ever voted in Democrat partisan primaries."

Dole admitted that Delaney would become a Republican if she were to draw a ballot and vote in March's Republican primary, but that what was presented on the website is completely truthful. He thinks Delaney can't call herself a registered member of the GOP.

"And that's, I think, where the difference of opinion has developed," Dole said. "We're pointing out that she's a Democrat, and running in a Republican primary, which again, she has the right to do, but it's nefarious from my position as a Republican chairman."

The Fifth District includes several central Ohio counties, although the largest city in it is Canton in northeastern Ohio. Inside the district are Ashland, Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Guernsey, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Perry, Richland, Stark and Tuscarawas counties.