Sykes, Savage Hold Leads for Multnomah County Circuit Judge Seats

It was an unusually competitive year for seats on the Multnomah County Circuit Court bench, with two of the races going to November runoffs.

Early results, as of 8:30 pm, show that Elizabeth Savage is poised to defeat her opponent Joseph Hagedorn, 55.5% to 43.85%, to be elected to the 4th District’s Position 14, which is assigned to family law cases. And Diane Sykes appears to be edging out her opponent Laura Maurer Rowan, 55.6% to 43.7%, for Position 2, which hears criminal and civil cases.

Both of those races are runoffs from the May primaries, when none of the candidates surpassed 50% of the vote.

Savage is a part-time judge pro tem in Washington County and practices family law. Before becoming a lawyer, she served in the Peace Corps in Cameroon and taught high school in the Mississippi Delta.

The seat is vacant due to Judge Amy Holmes Hehn’s retirement in June. Position 14 oversees matters such as divorce, child custody disputes, juvenile delinquency cases, and restraining orders.

Her opponent, Hagedorn, is a full-time judge pro tem in Multnomah County Juvenile Court. Hagedorn got the endorsement of the entire Multnomah County family law bench.

The Position 2 race has also been a lively campaign, with levels of name recognition and lawn signs rarely seen in local judicial contests. The candidates are vying to fill the seat vacated by longtime Judge Nan Waller, who spent 25 years on the bench, the last eight presiding over the Mental Health Court.

Sykes has argued primarily civil rights and employment cases in her 13 years in private practice. Before that, she worked for Legal Aid Oregon and the Oregon Law Center, plus set up the first-ever civil rights unit at the Oregon Department of Justice.

Her opponent, Maurer Rowan, is a senior assistant attorney general at the Oregon Department of Justice. Prior to that, she worked as a deputy city attorney in Portland, where she offered legal advice to the Portland Police Bureau during the 2020 protests and riots.

Sonia Montalbano, the incumbent for Position 6, will hold on to her seat after running unopposed. Judges on the circuit court serve six-year terms.