Sonoma County court Commissioner Ken English leads in race for judge’s seat

Ken English, a Sonoma County Superior Court commissioner, was poised Wednesday to win a seat on the Sonoma County Superior Court bench.

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, with 60,146 votes counted, English overwhelmingly lead the contest for the seat with 68.8% of the vote over defense attorney Omar Figueroa, who had 31.2%. English had 41,404 votes and Figueroa had 18,742 votes.

“I think we’re mathematically there,” English said just before Tuesday night.

But, unsure how many people voted in the election — Sonoma County has just over 300,000 registered voters — he was reluctant to declare victory.

He and Figueroa are vying for the seat held by Sonoma County Judge Brad DeMeo, who is retiring on Jan. 5, 2025, after 14 years on the bench.

It was one of the two contested races for judge in Tuesday’s election. The other pits defense attorney Kristine Burk against family law attorney Beki Berrey.

English, a Penngrove resident, attended law school at George Washington University before working in Napa and Sonoma counties, where his practice included civil litigation, wine law, and criminal defense.

He joined Sonoma County court in 2011 as a supervising research attorney and became a managing attorney in 2018, overseeing the temporary judge program. English was appointed to Judicial Council educational committees before becoming a commissioner in 2020.

Figueroa is a Sebastopol resident and father of two. He studied law at Stanford University. His case work has varied, including defense of activists, and medical cannabis cultivators and patients.

He was previously director for both the National Cannabis Industry Association and the International Cannabis Bar Association.

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