Republican Mary Wertz and Democrat Kristopher Kritzer will face off in November to be the next judge of Brown Circuit Court.
After more than two decades as judge in Brown County, Judge Judith Stewart will step down from the bench at the end of 2018.
Kritzer won the Democrat nomination over Greg Bowes by 203 votes. Vote totals were 638 for Kritzer and 435 for Bowes.
“I am incredibly excited. I am really, really happy and very excited to have the opportunity to move forward in this process and hopefully will be able to do a lot of good work for this community after the general election,” Kritzer said.
Wertz won the Republican nomination over two other candidates, Brown County deputy prosecutor Tracey Yeager Stogsdill and public defender Jacob Moore. Vote totals were 1,103 for Wertz, 885 for Stogsdill and 365 for Moore.
Wertz has been a trial attorney for 27 years. She was chief deputy prosecutor in Brown County for 16 years under former prosecutor Jim Oliver. She is currently the deputy prosecutor in Bartholomew County.
“I am very happy, very pleased with the support of my family and my friends. My husband and I and our group worked very hard,” Wertz said.
Kritzer worked as the deputy prosecutor in Hendricks County before moving back home to Brown County and running for judge. He is also trained as a domestic mediator and a guardian ad litem.
Bowes worked as a lawyer for 32 years, many of them in the Indianapolis area. He recently moved his practice to Nashville.
“Kris is a great candidate. He’s a smart guy. I believe his heart is in the right place,” Bowes said.
Yeager thanked her family and friends for helping her with her campaign and working the polls.
She is currently a deputy prosecutor focusing on child support cases in Brown County. Prior to that, she worked in private practice for more than 25 years.
Moore, the longest-serving public defender in Brown County, came in third place for the Republican nomination for judge.
“It’s disappointing, of course, but the people have spoken and you have to respect that,” he said.
Read more in the May 16 Brown County Democrat.
