SERAPHIN - 105,779 - 50.16%
ABREU - 105,090 - 49.84%
(In Florida, a recount of the ballots takes place if the vote margin is 0.5 percent or less. The County Elections Canvassing Board will conduct the recount).
10:30. With 96% of the votes having been counted it's:
SERAPHIN - 104,537
ABREU - 104,142
10:00. We are ready to call all but the Seraphin v. Abreu race.
Judge-Elect Del Ray over former Judge Bloch
Blumstein v. Perez-Medina in a runoff. Gordon and Scanziani out
Breece v. Rodriguez-Fonts in a runoff. Aponte out
Judge Luck over Roberson
Judge Sarduy over Tauler (YES Tauler)
Judge Newman over Martinez
Judge-Elect Luce over Aponte, BIG, Really, Really Big
Judge Graham over Jimenez
With 92% of the votes counted, Judge Seraphin leads Abreu by 249 votes.
And North of the Border, headed for a run-off Barbara Duffy (29%)and Abbe Rifkin (24%). Mike Satz (52%) over Teresa Williams (48%) for State Attorney.
9:30 Yawn. We are going to sleep. Big early morning sunrise hike scheduled. Basically the returns are what they are below- it's a total toss-up between Abreu and Seraphin Just checked and with 723 out of 783 precincts reporting, Seraphin pulled ahead by 249 votes, but the race is still way too close to call, and Bloch has probably lost but we can't say for sure. Maybe the Captain will post later but will won't be near a computer until we return around noon. Good night.
9:15 update- with 697 out of 793 precincts reporting Milena Abreu has a 76 vote lead over Judge Seraphin with almost 205,000 votes cast. Meanwhile Judge Bloch remains 9,318 votes behind.
Fifth Call of the night: 8:54 PM= Jodie Breece (40%) and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts (35%) will make the runoff in a circuit court seat.
Fourth Call of the night- 8:51 PM- The Biggest winner of the night, vote wise, is your new county court judge LINDA LUCE who leads Ruben Alcoba by more than 55,000 votes. This is a landslide.
Third Call of the Night-8:48 PM- up by 22,000 votes, it's....SARDUY!!!
Second call of the night-8:35 PM- after an initial scare in the early returns, your county court judge Wendell Graham, confortably ahead by 25,000 votes and with 630 of 783 precincts reporting, will be re-elected and returned to the bench! Congrats to Judge Graham!
Meanwhile things are looking for grim for Bloch- Del Rey continues to hold on to a 9,300 vote lead, and there are less and less places on the map where Bloch can make it up.
There are 36,000 votes to tally and that makes his comeback a very very slim possibility at this hour.
Bloch needs to win 26,500 out of the 36,000 to pull even. And that's assuming Bloch is listed on every ballot, which is an incorrect assumption. This could well be the end for his current judicial career.
Meanwhile, in the tightest race of the night, Milena Abreu is clinging to a 665 vote lead over Judge Seraphin with a total of almost 200,000 votes cast. WOW.
Our first call- Looking at the returns, based on the map and the precincts left, prior voting patterns, and leading by 15,000 votes....ROBERT J LUCK has been returned to the bench and will
continue to be a circuit court judge.
Interesting observation- Both Luck and Block took the south and Homestead area. But when you move into the Pinecrest, Gables, South Miami areas, Luck won that as well, but Bloch did not and that is shaping up to be the difference here between these two incumbents.
Early Returns: 7:30
No precincts have fully reported, so take this with a grain of salt.
Graham has pulled ahead of Jimenez 55-45.
Luck is maintaining a 55-45 lead over Roberson as is Sarduy over Tauler. While Newman and Abreau lead Martinez and Seraphin 51-49 each.
But in the biggest and most closely watched race of the night, Judge Bloch trails Del Rey 51-49 and by a total of about 9500 votes.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ELECTION CENTRAL - 2016 JUDICIAL PRIMARY
Welcome to our bi-annual Blog Post on Election day. Today is the day where as many as nine of the names listed below will be hired (or rehired) by the voters of Miami-Dade County to the position of Circuit or County Court Judge. The job interview began for many of these candidates more than a year ago and the process has been long and arduous. These candidates have had pastelitos for breakfast in Homestead, arroz con pollo for lunch in Hialeah, and matzah ball soup and corned beef for dinner in Aventura, as they trekked across our very large County selling themselves to the voters.
At least seven of the contests will be decided by the close of the polls tonight. There could very well be a run-off in two Circuit Court contests.
Good luck to all of the candidates. We will begin reporting the results shortly after 7:00 PM.
Here are your contested judicial races:
CIRCUIT COURT
Circuit Group 9 - Incumbent Jason Bloch v. Marcia Del Rey
Circuit Group 34 - Mark Blumstein v. Renee Gordon v. Denise Martinez-Scanziani v. Luis Perez-Medina. (Judge Gill Freeman retiring).
Circuit Group 52 - Rosy Aponte v. Carol "Jodie" Breece v. Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts. (Judge Michael Genden retiring).
Circuit Group 66 - Incumbent Robert Luck v. Yolly Roberson
Circuit Group 74 - Incumbent George "Jorge" Sarduy v. Elena Ortega-Tauler
COUNTY COURT
County Group 5 - Incumbent Fred Seraphin v. Milena Abreu
County Group 7 - Incumbent Ed Newman v. Lizzett Martinez
County Group 15 - Ruben Yury Alcoba v. Linda Luce (Judge Judith Rubenstein retiring).
County Group 35 - Incumbent Wendell Graham v. Antonio "Tony" Jimenez
NORTH OF THE BORDER .....
We will also keep our eyes on the election in Broward's Circuit Court Group 15 where incumbent Judge Matthew Destry has his hands full with four challengers including our own ASA Abbe Rifkin. Good luck to Abby.
A NEW WEB SITE FOR THE 11TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT .....
Holy hotcakes, Batman. Did you say that our Circuit actually has a new web site. Why yes, Robin, we understand that Miami-Dade bigwigs went straight to the founder of the Internet, former VP Al Gore, and, with his help, they have developed a state of the art, first of it's kind, never before seen, website for the ages.
You can peruse the new web site by going here.
CAPTAIN OUT ......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
Last NOVA County Court Poll has Milena holding a very slim lead over Seraphin- women making the biggest difference, and Newman crushing his opponent.
ReplyDeleteDestry is the biggest piece of shit in the world. Shouldn't be allowed sit on a park bench much less allowed to defile one in court.
ReplyDeleteIT'S NEWMAN IN A LANDSLIDE!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's like the 72 Dolphins all over again. In sampling over 65 precincts in exit polling, Newman was perfect- winning them all.
Newman didn't play on '72 team.
ReplyDeleteSupreme Court JNC Appointments announced.
ReplyDelete"Daniel E. Nordby, of Tallahassee, is an attorney and partner at Shutts and Bowen, LLP. He previously served as the General Counsel for the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2014, and as General Counsel for the Florida Department of State from 2011 to 2012. He received his bachelor’s and law degree from the University of Florida. Nordby is reappointed for a term beginning August 30, 2016, and ending July 1, 2020.
Nilda R. Pedrosa, of Pinecrest, is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Attorney General Pam Bondi. Previously, Pedrosa served as Chief of Staff for Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart from 2009 to 2010, and as Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator Mel Martinez from 2005 to 2009. Pedrosa received her bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and her law degree from New England Law. She is reappointed for a term beginning August 30, 2016, and ending July 1, 2020.
Israel U. Reyes, of Coral Gables, is the managing partner and president of The Reyes Law Firm, P.A. Reyes previously served as a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit from 2003 to 2011 and a County Judge for Miami-Dade from 2002 to 2003. From 1998 to 2002, he was an Assistant State Attorney for the Office of the State Attorney, Eleventh Judicial Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and his law degree from Nova Southeastern University. Reyes is reappointed for a term beginning August 30, 2016, and ending July 1, 2020. "
New Fla. SCT JNC appointments;
ReplyDelete"Daniel E. Nordby, of Tallahassee, is an attorney and partner at Shutts and Bowen, LLP. He previously served as the General Counsel for the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2014, and as General Counsel for the Florida Department of State from 2011 to 2012. He received his bachelor’s and law degree from the University of Florida. Nordby is reappointed for a term beginning August 30, 2016, and ending July 1, 2020.
Nilda R. Pedrosa, of Pinecrest, is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Attorney General Pam Bondi. Previously, Pedrosa served as Chief of Staff for Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart from 2009 to 2010, and as Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator Mel Martinez from 2005 to 2009. Pedrosa received her bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and her law degree from New England Law. She is reappointed for a term beginning August 30, 2016, and ending July 1, 2020.
Israel U. Reyes, of Coral Gables, is the managing partner and president of The Reyes Law Firm, P.A. Reyes previously served as a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit from 2003 to 2011 and a County Judge for Miami-Dade from 2002 to 2003. From 1998 to 2002, he was an Assistant State Attorney for the Office of the State Attorney, Eleventh Judicial Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and his law degree from Nova Southeastern University. Reyes is reappointed for a term beginning August 30, 2016, and ending July 1, 2020. "
IT'S NEWMAN IN A LANDSLIDE!!!
ReplyDeleteVery early returns looking decent for Bloch, Luck doesn't need any- going to win in a walk-a-way.
I'm here at election central and I just got off a conference call with a bevy of election consultants who have closely analyzed the returns and reported that there is much for Bloch to be happy about, as the current returns more emphasize the Hispanic areas of town and that when Aventura, North Miami, the Beach and the Gables fully report, if Bloch is within 12,500 he will comfortably pull it out.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the crowd is definitely pro-Newman and every time there is a picture of him on the screen several dozen people start chanting "tough on the field, tough on the bench, and tough on the ballot!!".
You don't tug on superman's cape
ReplyDeleteyou don't spit into the wind
you don't pull the mask off the ol'Lone Ranger
and you don't mess around with Big Ed
(right, hector? right? Learned your lesson by now? 0-2, right? )
Wow is someone going to call the shumie for Bloch? That would totally suck.
ReplyDeleteBloch got worked by Marcia Del Rey. Boo hoo! Go cry over your $37M trust fund, little mean boy.
ReplyDeleteI'm praying for La Rubia!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy for Ed Newman. He is a good man!
ReplyDeleteBloch lost - welcome our new judge Del Ray!
ReplyDeleteDestry is smoking a turd! My only regret is that I couldn't be there to heckle him while he watched the returns.
ReplyDeleteHow badly is the entire county screwed? We have one judge under investigation for a criminal act that any other ordinary person would never have just been allowed to walk away from, let alone get a pass on turning themselves in to law enforcement based on a vacation. And now we have one on the bench that had to lie on her resume and buy her way onto it ( yes we are talking about "La Rubia" though you all know she's not really blond, right?)
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it seems what counts is $$$$ not brains or experience in these elections. The selections this year were just bad......
Calling the shumie for Bloch. He's done.
ReplyDeleteHe's BIG. He's bad. And heeeessssss BACK
ReplyDeleteED NEWMAN
SIX MORE YEARS
SIX MORE YEARS
SIX MORE YEARS
Loving Easy Ed on the Bench. A good guy who put you know who in his place twice now.
Dude didn't know what an arraignment was; welcome ms sex hotel. Two awful candidates, one awful winner
ReplyDeleteI have no clue what kind of Judge La Rubia will be. She can't be any worse than Miranda, Gordo, Brennan or Bronwyn-Miller. I can tell you that I do not like the way Jason Bloch ran his campaign and quite frankly he deserves to lose. He has the money to run a proper field operation, a proper television, and social media campaign and blast the county with advertising. instead, he chose to ask lawyers who are barely scraping by to fund his campaign and put up posters of himself with John Walsh all over town; not so subtly telling the community he is tough on crime. He is reaping what he sowes.
ReplyDeleteBronwyn Miller is the worst. Very nasty to her staff. And yes Bloch is sooooo cheap.
DeleteFrom Del Ray's party last night:
ReplyDelete"I know I don't have the lawyers support, but I don't care"
From her son:
"This proves that my family isn't bad, we're not bad people"
In essence, her father funded this campaign to legitimize the family. First he bought her way into St Thomas and now he buys her a seat on the bench.
God help us all.
But she is highly rated by her clients. :)
ReplyDeleteThe campaign experience is humbling. It was a long and difficult journey. I cannot say thank you enough to those who helped me with the campaign.
ReplyDeleteThrilled with:
ReplyDeleteLucky Luck retaining his seat- same for Special Ed, Sarduy, and Seraphin. (Yes, Seraphin is getting a recount- but he's got this.)
Disgusted:
Blondie beat Bloch; although his habit of trying to get the state and defense to agree rather than rule is super frustrating, he's s decent guy and a decent Judge who lost his seat in an unfairly stacked race.
As for Marcia, she now has to deal with ethics complaints, a JQC investgation, and a bar complaint. As a person, she's charming and lovely, as a member of the bar, she's screwed!!
Dude, she may end up being a good judge. Let's wait and see how she does. La Rubia 2016!
ReplyDelete@8:26:00, do you only compare female judges to other female judges, and males to males? Is this an apples to apples kind of thing, or has your sexism simply shone through?
ReplyDeleteI never wanted this for you.....
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuWkcKbBQkg
-GB
Yeah she will care in time.Let her keep saying that come re election time. Remember Judge Adrian. And actually this just proves what low lives the whole family are. it's a centuries old gig trying to "buy" legitimate and respectful standing. it never works.
ReplyDeleteBloch is a cheap ass who ran a horrible campaign. He got 162k in contributions and loaned himself 300k, yet only spent 338k. He spent 12k to hire the law firm for his bogus lawsuit which lasted all of three minutes. This past weekend, I saw a media truck with a ten foot sign to vote for Del Rey. As opposed to Bloch, who gets signs with John Walsh. Cheesy and desperate.
ReplyDeleteGuy isnt the sharpest knife in the drawer. But I'm still jealous of his millions. If he had any balls, he'd drop a cool million into a campaign fund and run against Del Rey in six years.
Oh well Jason, on January 2nd, you'll have plenty of time to surf.
Why is the word "sufficit" in the motto at the top of Justice Building blog misspelled? Is this an inside joke?
ReplyDeleteQuestions from a non-lawyer trying to understand the Florida judicial system:
ReplyDeleteWhere do incumbent judges who lose their campaigns for re-election go to work on leaving the bench? Do a fair percentage of them hire onto established law practices?
Are there cases in which those law practices represented clients whose cases were handled by the same judges while the judges were still serving on the bench? If the answer is yes, isn't that a serious conflict of interest?
And how is it not a serious conflict of interest for attorneys, and law firms, to make campaign donations for judges who have handled cases of clients represented by those attorneys, or who are likely to handle cases of those attorneys' clients on their election/re-election?
embarrassing that such an unqualified candidate as la rubia wins; Dade County for you. Bloch contributed to his own disaster however as 8:26 points out. On the other hand most of the other better candidates won, so at least the sky is not falling.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Del Rey will be assigned to criminal out of the gate...
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteNORTH OF THE BORDER:
Today is Judge Dale Ross' final day on the bench. He is officially retired.
CAP OUT .....
@ 8:26 said "She can't be any worse than Miranda, Gordo, Brennan or Bronwyn-Miller"
ReplyDelete1. She'll be just like Veronica Diaz: she won't know sh1t about criminal law, she'll wing it and when in doubt, she'll side with the State.
Actually, let me add: she'll be a mix of Diaz and Miranda. Won't know what she's doing and won't care because she's loaded and doesn't need to be bothered by being in court past 11am.
ReplyDelete8:26 here. I mentioned those female judges because they are horrible judges, who happen to have family money. La Rubia, while we don't know what kind of judge she will be, is another judge who is only a judge because of family money. It has nothing to do with their gender. As for Veronica Diaz, she might not know much about criminal law, but at least she makes an effort to do the right thing. She isn't vindictive or mean. The prior rich kid judges are mean spirited.
ReplyDelete@3:04 brownwyn Miller is very knowledgable and as impartial as they get. Not sure why anyone would say such a thing.
ReplyDeleteI am the only one who was hoping that Seraphin lost? Given his background, he should be a humble and caring judge. Instead, he comes off as a conceited prick who had a breakfast of lemons. Perhaps this is the wake up call he needs: life is good Fred. Be happy! Enjoy the people who appear before you and who you spend your day with. Treat them and your staff with the respect that your family in Haiti deserved when you were a child.
ReplyDeleteDearestBronwyn, tell to judge tinkler who is trying case for third time because you edit jury instruction to screw defendant. Third dca reversed first degree murder because you help state. How many time third dca do this?
ReplyDeleteMay we all continue pushing our own boulders uphill. Perhaps one day it won't roll back down.
ReplyDelete