Political Notebook: Transgender judicial candidate claims first place

Transgender judicial candidate Victoria Kolakowski came in first in her historic bid for a seat on the Alameda County Superior Court in Tuesday's primary. She now advances to a fall runoff election and is one step closer to being the first out transgender person elected as a trial court judge in the country's history.

Across the bay deputy public defender Linda Colfax , an out lesbian, won her bid outright for a seat on the San Francisco County Superior Court in Tuesday's primary, while openly gay attorney Michael Nava blocked sitting Judge Richard Ulmer from retaining his seat on the court this week and forced him into a runoff race this fall.

"On both sides of the bay it was a very good night for LGBT judicial candidates and our community. We did very well," said Kolakowski.

In her second campaign for the bench Kolakowski, an administrative law judge for the state Public Utilities Commission, garnered 60,254 votes or 45 percent, according to unofficial returns with all precincts reporting. She will face off against Alameda County Deputy District Attorney John Creighton, who received 42,950 votes or 32 percent of the total.

Landing in third place was Louis Goodman , a criminal defense attorney and former Alameda County prosecutor, with 29,422 votes or 22 percent of the total. The challenge now for Kolakowski, the wife of Bay Area Reporter news editor Cynthia Laird, is to attract Goodman's supporters to her campaign.

Going in to the June 8 election Kolakowski expected to win the majority of progressive voters while her opponents split the votes of the more conservative electorate. Combined, the two male candidates netted 72,372 votes, enough for one of them to have won the race outright this week.

In Kolakowski's favor is the fact that Alameda County voters have not elected a sitting deputy DA to the court in more than 30 years. Nor do they elect white men; they have, instead, favored female and minority candidates. Also, the fall election is expected to attract more Democrats and independents to the polls, which could aide Kolakowski.

"The electorate or people voting in November will be a different segment of the total public. With contested Republican primaries, they had higher turnout. A lot of independent voters didn't vote at all," she said.

Her election will be a key race for LGBT groups this fall. Equality California, the statewide LGBT lobbying group, has already made it a top priority, while her first place finish this week is sure to boost attention to her campaign from the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

Nava's race against Ulmer in San Francisco is sure to be another high-profile campaign for EQCA and the LGBT community. According to unofficial returns Wednesday, Nava took first place with 34,327 or 46 percent of the total with Ulmer coming in second with 31,630 votes or 42 percent.

A third candidate, openly gay attorney Daniel Dean , garnered 8,964 votes or 12 percent. Ulmer said he always knew he would have to beat Nava and expected it to be a close primary with progressive voters in the city drawn to the polls due to the race for seats on the Democratic Party's governing body.

"We are looking forward to doing a direct one-on-one comparison of our qualifications now, which we weren't able to do before," said Ulmer, a former GOP member who was appointed to the bench last summer by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I think progressive forces in San Francisco turnout well for every election but in the fall it will be a different electorate."

Nava said Ulmer "is dreaming" if he thinks his chances will be better this fall considering it was Republicans with the majority of contested races on Tuesday's ballot. He also said that had Dean not been in the race, he likely would have won outright this week.

"I won yesterday and Ulmer lost so that is going to make fundraising significantly easier for me," he said. "San Francisco voted for diversity again."

Colfax pulled off a surprise victory outright Tuesday night considering she was in a four-person race. According to the unofficial results, she captured 40,725 votes or 53 percent of the total, winning a clear majority to avoid a runoff election.

Her closest opponent was Assistant District Attorney Harry Dorfman, who received 23,863 votes or 31 percent. Trial attorney Roderick McLeod took third with 6,892 votes or 9 percent, while openly gay attorney Robert Retana trailed in fourth place with 5,559 votes or 7 percent.

Colfax said Wednesday morning she had yet to adjust to being called "judge." She said she was shocked that she won the judicial seat outright.

"Most of the people who are in the business had braced me for the fact with four people in the race there likely was going to be a runoff. I was cautiously optimistic and thrilled and surprised when I saw the results," said Colfax, who credited her win to the grassroots support she received.