Judge David Branstool will hold onto his Licking County Common Pleas Court judgeship after a contentious challenge by Matt Kunsman, a magistrate in the Licking County Common Pleas Court, according to preliminary election results from the Licking County Board of Elections.
Branstool earned 60.70% of the vote.
“I’m excited. Humbled. I’m grateful,” Branstool said after the election results were released Tuesday night. “I feel grateful that the folks of Licking County have put their trust in me.”
Branstool, 57, has been a judge in Licking County for 21 years and has emphasized empathy and alternatives to incarceration throughout his career. Branstool said that most judicial candidates take a pledge to be fair and impartial to apply the law fairly. And that’s what he intends to do, whether people voted for him or not.
Read more: Branstool emphasizes alternatives to jail in Court of Common Pleas reelection bid
“My campaign was based on the experience that I had in the job, the innovative programs that I’ve helped bring in to help treat some of the people who suffer from addiction. I think that resonated with people,” said Branstool. “I think people want to see accountability. It opened and some sort of progress [was] made on the issue of drug addiction and crime and punishment.”
Branstool brought the drug court program to the common pleas court in 2010 as an advocate for addressing repeat offenders.
“One of the things I do that other judges in this county don’t do is that I run the drug court. I developed two drug courts,” said Branstool. “And those programs take hard cases and try to provide offenders with the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves, to get sober, to stay off of drugs.”
Branstool said the reason the drug court exists is to concentrate resources and people with expertise in certain areas to help people succeed in overcoming substance use disorder, poverty, housing issues, and other events in the criminal justice system. The drug court assists individuals in getting their driver’s license, employment, career and technical education needed to enter the workforce.
“People never grow up wanting to be a drug addict or wanting to be a prisoner,” said Branstool.
Throughout the next six years of his term, Branstool said his priority would be to operate the drug court and try to help people who are ready for treatment and to do what the public expects and the constitution demands. Branstool believes that one of the best parts about his job is that he gets to participate in the “purest form of democracy.”
“The purest form of democracy that there is to have ordinary people assemble as a jury…where ordinary citizens come in. And they’re asked to decide some of the most important issues in people’s lives, profoundly important determinations,” said Branstool.
His opponent in the race, Matt Kunsman, 49, is a magistrate for the domestic relations division of the Court of Common Pleas in Licking County, and pitched himself as the “tough on crime” conservative Republican in the nonpartisan race.
Kunsman said he’s thankful for support from voters throughout his campaign. Currently, he is undecided on whether he will run for office again.
“We’ve been all over the county. Licking County is a big place. We’ve been happy to make connections in every community around the country,” Kunsman said.
In the contentious race, Branstool reported more than $27,000 in donations, while Kunsman reported $40,195 monetary contributions.
Donna Chang and Mia Fischel write for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.