10 candidates in the run for eight Wyandotte County judgeships. Here’s who they are
Eight judges are up for reelection this year in Wyandotte County, including one of the longest tenured judges and the newest judge, who both face primary challengers.
The other six judges are running unopposed.
Division 16 Judge Wes Griffin was elected in 2008. He is facing challenger Candice Alcaraz, an assistant district attorney with the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office.
Division 12 Judge Tony Martinez was elected in 2019. His opponent is David Patrzykont, an attorney and firefighter in Wyandotte County. If elected, he has said he would relinquish his firefighter duties.
The winners in Tuesday’s race will become the next judges as there are no opposing candidates running in November’s general election.
In all, 10 candidates will be on the Aug. 2 primary ballot for district court judge.
The six judges running unopposed are:
Tim Dupree (Division 3)
Bill Klapper (Division 6)
Kathleen Lynch (Divison 10)
William Mahoney (Division 7)
Aaron Roberts (Division 5)
Delia Maira York (Division 15)
Here is a breakdown of the four candidates who are facing off including a background of who they are and what they hope to accomplish if elected.
Candice Alcaraz
Alcaraz has worked with the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office since 2016 as an assistant district attorney. When she was first hired in 2016, she said, she walked to the third hallway of Wyandotte County’s courthouse and looked at portraits of all the past judges. Something stood out: Wyandotte County had never had a Black woman elected as a district court judge.
“I kind of just tucked that away in the back of my brain and said, ‘That’s kind of something that you could do later on,’” she said.
In the six years since she was hired by the DA’s office, Alcaraz has worked her way up from prosecuting low level crimes and juvenile cases to felonies, including homicides. It has taught her how the criminal justice system operates.
“I began to realize the system works a certain way,” she said. “There are certain things that we just repeatedly do over and over and there’s really no rhyme or reason to it.”
She wants to change some of those things if she’s elected. One action she would take, she said, is to bring back community service. She said she would not immediately sentence someone to prison on cases that involve misdemeanors.
“I feel like there’s a lot of, ‘Let’s just do the normal thing and expect something different to come out of it,’” she said. “So it’s very important because if you can show people that you care enough about misdemeanor cases, it will show people that you’re going to be just as careful when you do their felony cases.”
Wes Griffin
Like many district court judges, Griffin first worked at the district attorney’s office. He served as the first full-time municipal court judge for Kansas City, Kansas, according to his campaign page.
He has been the judge for the Wyandotte County drug program since 2010. He has been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 4 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 53 union.
He started working for the Wyandotte County district attorney’s office in 1980 and served as a prosecutor for several decades.
“When you have a serious matter in front of a judge, you want someone who’s been there and done that,” Griffin said at a July 14 public forum hosted by the NAACP at the Kansas City, Kansas West Branch public library.
Griffin said at the forum he has enjoyed his time serving as judge.
“It’s very difficult at times, it’s hard to make the right decisions, but you do your best,” he said.
Tony Martinez
Before being elected as a judge in 2019, Martinez was a private attorney in Kansas City, Kansas. He thinks it was important to be out in the community and get to know people who he might one day see in the courtroom.
“I truly believe there is a disconnect between the judiciary and the community,” Martinez said. “And I think if I can help with that, I can promote a public understanding and more confidence and trust in the administration of justice.”
He also wants the public to feel like they are going to be treated fairly in his courtroom.
Martinez feels like he is different from several of the judges because he doesn’t not come from the district attorney’s office — an avenue several of the current district court judges have followed.
“I worked for the people,” he said. “I bring a different perspective. I worked for people that needed my help in all kinds of matters, whether it be civil, criminal or probate.”
If he is reelected, Martinez said he would continue working to make sure people accused of low-level crimes can get out of the criminal justice system as quickly as possible.
“People’s whole economy, their whole ability to make money to support their families depends sometimes on what happens in court,” Martinez said. “But the sooner we can get people out of the system, the better.”
David Patrzykont
Like his opponent, Patryzkont has worked as a private attorney and is with the Eldridge & Patrzykont law firm in Kansas City, Kansas.
He started working with the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department 17 years ago and is a captain.
Once he went back to law school, he never thought he would run for a judgeship.
One topic Patrzykont spoke on at the July 14 forum at the West Branch library was his problem with the cash bond system in Wyandotte County.
“I would like to see a change to the bond system where people with low-level offenses didn’t have to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get out,” he said.
