Passaglia McCarthy wins race for Sonoma County judge, 2nd race too close to call

Laura Passaglia McCarthy will be the newest judge on the Sonoma County Superior Court bench, prevailing Tuesday in a landslide over her opponent, defense attorney John LemMon.

As of Wednesday morning, early returns showed the 42-year-old court commissioner had 81.89% of the vote to LemMon’s 18.11%, with 50,545 votes counted.

“One hundred percent of the votes is what matters, but it looks like we’re trending well,” Passaglia McCarthy said late Tuesday following a celebration at CIBO Rustico Pizzeria in Santa Rosa.

She said she planned to spend the rest of the night keeping tabs on results from home with her family.

A second Sonoma County judicial race was too close to call.

Defense attorney Joseph Passalacqua, 60, is pitted against civil litigator Oscar Pardo, 49, and the two are almost even.

According to early results from the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, Passalacqua had 50.76% of 49,762 votes to Pardo’s 49.24%.

That’s a difference of 760 votes, a margin that widened slightly late Tuesday in favor of Passalacqua.

He’s a member of a well-known family that includes his brother, Stephan Passalacqua, a former Sonoma County district attorney. Acknowledging this, Pardo said he was “proud and happy” that he's in a tight race with a prominent opponent.

“Whatever happens at the end of this race, I’m proud of it,” Pardo said just before 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Passalacqua did not immediately return a voicemail Tuesday night.

Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Deva Proto projected turnout of about 50% among the county’s 304,022 registered voters. That represents approximately 152,000 ballots.

Ballots counted so far are from early in-person voting and ballots received by Monday.

Judicial races are rare and typically reach ballots when a vacancy coincides with a general election, according to the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters office. Sonoma County’s last election to fill a seat on its superior court bench was in 2010.

Superior court judges, who can also be appointed by the governor, serve six-year terms and must then run for reelection.

Tuesday’s races are for seats vacated by judges who did not run for reelection. And each had two candidates.

Pardo, who has handled contract disputes, class-action lawsuits, civil sexual assault cases and civil rights claims, also participated in community organizations such as Los Cien Sonoma County.

Passalacqua has been a trial attorney for 34 years, primarily focusing on criminal defense. His experience also includes family law, juvenile law and personal injury law. He founded the Shoes 4 Kids nonprofit, which finds footwear for children in need.

Passaglia McCarthy was sworn in as a Superior Court commissioner in October and has presided over misdemeanor cases in the criminal division. She has experience prosecuting domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking cases in Alameda County and later Sonoma County.

LemMon was a member of the Sonoma County District Attorney’s staff and Deputy City Attorney in Sonoma before launching his practice for civil and criminal defense cases. He was also a temporary Sonoma County judge from 1993 to 2011.

He ran unsuccessfully for election to the bench in 2000 and 2010.

In early 2014, LemMon was arrested for soliciting sex during a prostitution sting carried out by Santa Rosa police. The sting involved a police detective posing as a fictional woman on an adult website, police said. The operation led to the arrest of 10 people in addition to LemMon.

Later that year, LemMon completed a diversion program for first-time offenders and the charges were dismissed.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi