Key Points
Ninth Judicial Circuit candidate Temika Hampton-Johnson and Orange County Clerk of Courts candidate Roberta Walton Johnson won their respective runoff races by large margins on Tuesday night. Read below for more information on each race.
Ninth Judicial Circuit, Group 1
Hampton-Johnson, partner at Hampton Law, won the Group 1 runoff with 348,869 votes, or 65% of the vote, according to results available on ClickOrlando.com.
“I’m looking forward to getting on the bench and just bringing that justice-with-integrity mentality and my hard work to the bench every day to make sure that we can make it a place where people feel heard, seen, and understood, and that they are treated fairly in our court system,” she said in a Tuesday night phone interview with The Apopka Chief.
Her opponent, Charles Hart, won 191,027 votes, or 35% of the vote. Hart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hampton-Johnson will replace incumbent Mikaela Nix-Walker, who lost to Hampton-Johnson and Hart in the Aug. 18 primary.
Orange County Clerk of Courts
Walton Johnson won the Orange County Clerk of Courts race with 312,269 votes, or 65.83% of the vote, according to unofficial results from Orange County. She is currently the general counsel for the Orange County Clerk of Courts.
“For over a decade, I have worked inside the Clerk’s Office protecting public records and expanding access to justice with integrity,” Walton Johnson told the Chief in a July questionnaire. “The clerk’s office is the gateway to our justice system. My experience affords me a firsthand opportunity about how important this office is to the daily lives of our community.”
Her opponent, Dev.G9 Digital owner Terrell Thomas, won 131,727 votes, or 27.77% of the vote.
“Tonight, while the election results were not what we had hoped for, my heart is filled with gratitude, humility, and appreciation for every person who believed in me and the Clerk Forward vision,” Thomas said in a Tuesday night Facebook post. “I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Roberta Walton Johnson on her victory. She ran a respectful and dignified race, and I commend her for that. I wish her tremendous success as she prepares to lead the Orange County Clerk of Courts.”
Walton Johnson will succeed Tiffany Moore Russell, who won the Orange County mayoral election Tuesday night.
“As the inaugural Operations Manager tapped to carry out Clerk Russell’s vision for the Self Help Center, I will certainly expand upon the initiative to help residents navigate complex legal and quality of life issues to further position the clerk’s office as the first stop for residents who are overwhelmed by the court system,” Walton Johnson previously told the Chief. “Additionally, I will expand on both virtual and in-person opportunities like ‘Saturday Service’ and ‘Operation Greenlight’ to help residents address the life issues that often bring them into contact with the court system among a few other transformative initiatives to bridge justice and community.”