New York voters do not have the opportunity to vote for NYS Supreme Court judges in primaries -- endorsement on a party line is determined by Judicial Delegates representing each Town Democratic Committee. NYS Supreme Court judges are trial judges and normally the selection process does not generate much voter activism. This year Judge Charles Wood, a sitting judge with a history of controversial rulings, has changed parties and is seeking the Democratic Party endorsement. Citizens For A Democratic Judiciary have prepared a letter urging Democratic Party leaders to consider the many other qualified judicial candidates for endorsement. Please consider signing on and have your voice heard:

Dear Friends and Fellow Democrats,

Please consider signing on below to the attached open letter, which requests that Westchester Democrats not designate Judge Charles Wood to the Democratic Party line in the November 2023 general election. The letter argues both against Wood and for the general support of candidates with strong Democratic credentials. It's being circulated to provide input now, as Westchester’s town and city committees meet with the candidates ahead of the August convention.

Though he's seeking a second term on the NYS Supreme Court, this would be Judge Wood's first time running as a registered Democrat. He last ran as a Republican/Conservative/Independence candidate in 2009, a year when two Democrats were defeated.

This isn’t just a matter of Wood being a formerly registered Republican. He was long and quite actively involved in State and local Republican politics, including:

• From 1998 to 2005, Wood served as Counsel to Republican State Senator Nick Spano; Spano was also the Westchester GOP chair during this time.
• As Wood told the Scarsdale Democratic Committee on 4/20, he also served on the Spano campaign’s legal team in the 2004 election, in which they argued against the counting of 550 contested ballots preceding Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ 18-vote loss that year.
• His switch to Democratic enrollment came just a few years ago, in 2019.

We as Democrats need to take judicial elections as seriously as our Republican counterparts do. The designation process is a political one, and it’s our role to ensure that our candidates are as solidly Democratic as they are qualified.

Here is the link to the letter. At the bottom of the letter is a place to click to sign on.

Thank you for your consideration.

Please email back any questions you may have.

Thank you,

Citizens For A Democratic Judiciary