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Endorses Manning

The race

A special election for the unexpired term — ending February 9, 2029 — of Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Donna J. Carr, who retired May 31, 2026. The Ninth District covers Summit, Medina, Wayne, and Lorain counties. Roster verified against the CSV's compilation source and the Akron Beacon Journal: Nathan Manning (R), appointed to the seat by Gov. Mike DeWine in July 2026 and therefore the appointed incumbent, against Tavia Galonski (D), the Summit County Clerk of Courts. One framing note from the Beacon Journal that applies to both Ninth District races: these are officially nonpartisan contests — no party label prints beside the names — although party primaries and party committees determine the candidates.

Nathan Manning — Incumbent (appointed July 2026). Twenty years practicing law, including service as a prosecutor for the City of North Ridgeville and Put-In-Bay, then the Ohio legislature: elected to the House, where he chaired Criminal Justice, and to the Senate, where he chaired Judiciary — the two committees that write Ohio's criminal and court law — and was in his second Senate term, term-limited out of another, when DeWine appointed him. The controversy in his file is fully documented and fully litigated, and we print both halves: Manning had won the 2026 Republican primary for Ohio House District 52; after his appointment he withdrew that candidacy, and a Republican district committee selected him for the appellate vacancy. Summit County Democrats challenged his eligibility under R.C. 3513.31(I); the county board split 2–2, Secretary of State Frank LaRose ruled he stays, and on October 9, 2026, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the challenge, holding the statute does not bar a party committee from selecting a candidate for an unexpired judicial term who had been nominated for a different office and timely withdrew. The dirt, such as it is, is a ballot-access fight his opponents brought and the state's highest court decided in his favor — proven conduct on all sides, priced exactly that way. No ethics or service scandal surfaced.

Tavia Galonski — Challenger. Summit County Clerk of Courts — the first Black person to lead a countywide charter office in Summit County — maintaining the records of the courthouse and of this very Court of Appeals, issuing vehicle and watercraft titles, and launching a pending-civil-filings website in 2024. Before that: an Ohio state representative for Akron-area districts (Ellet, Firestone Park, Goodyear Heights, Kenmore, Middlebury, much of Barberton), a former Teamster, and — the strongest item in her file for this office — a common pleas magistrate for over 15 years, including service in Summit County domestic relations and juvenile courts. Credits are real: a decade and a half deciding cases as a magistrate is judicial work, and her clerk's office administers the records of the court she seeks to join. The doctrinal limit: her legislative career was as a Democrat in the Akron delegation with no documented break record retrieved, and no stated textualist philosophy appears in any source in the deep pass.

Pros and cons

Manning: Pros: The law-and-order committee chairmanships in both chambers — he helped write the criminal code he would now apply — two decades of practice including prosecution, a governor's appointment to this seat, and an eligibility challenge resolved for him by the Ohio Supreme Court itself. Cons: He has sat on this bench only since July; his appellate judging is months old and unproven at this level — a watch posture. The House-primary-then-appointment path, while ruled lawful, is the kind of insider sequence voters are entitled to weigh. Galonski: Pros: Fifteen-plus years as a magistrate is the most directly judicial experience either candidate had before this summer; a countywide elected administrator who knows this court's operations from the clerk's desk. Cons: A Democratic legislative record with no documented restraint break; magistrate work is trial-level and subordinate, not appellate judging; no philosophy record voters can test.

Record gaps

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse Nathan Manning. The evidentiary basis: Manning's record is law-and-order in service at every level the state offers before the bench — prosecutor, Criminal Justice chair, Judiciary chair — followed by a gubernatorial appointment to this exact seat, and the one documented attack on his candidacy was tested in court and rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court on the statute's text. That is a textualist outcome produced by the process working as written. Galonski's magistrate experience is genuinely judicial and we credit it; it comes with a Democratic legislative record and no documented break, which under our doctrine does not earn an endorsement against a Republican with Manning's file. His few months on this bench are an unproven-watch note, not a demerit. Vote Manning.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

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Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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