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4th District, Position 38
Jeff Auxier
The road to filling this vacancy has been rough. Although Multnomah County circuit judgeships typically attract a flock of highly qualified candidates, none of the five candidates seeking to replace Judge Amy Baggio, who moved up to the federal bench in August, submitted a Voters’ Pamphlet statement.
That’s a problem because rules limit judges from personally raising money, except from family members. Without money, they can’t advertise. That makes the Voters’ Pamphlet more important for judicial candidates than for those running for other offices. The issue rarely comes up because Oregon judges generally follow an unwritten rule of resigning before their terms expire so the governor, rather than voters, selects their successor.
So what happened? Baggio’s seat fell through the cracks. President Biden appointed her to the federal bench on Nov. 27, 2023. The U.S. Senate then confirmed her appointment Feb. 6 to replace U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez, who chose to take senior status Aug. 21. In other words, people in the legal world and Kotek’s office should have known Baggio’s seat would be available that day—and they should have known six months before the vacancy.
But Kotek didn’t appoint a successor, even though one of the greatest powers Oregon governors enjoy is the power of appointment. (For context, Kotek’s predecessor, Gov. Kate Brown, appointed 112 judges.) And nobody at the Oregon State Bar or the Secretary of State’s Office said anything about the vacancy, so no candidate made the Aug. 27 deadline for the Voters’ Pamphlet. On Sept. 4, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade declared an emergency, inviting candidates to file for Baggio’s seat—but they had only until midnight the next day.
So that’s the windup for this most unusual of races. Five candidates seized the opportunity and filed: Jeff Auxier, a Multnomah County prosecutor, and Tom Dwyer, Jennifer Myrick, Rachel Philips and John Schlosser, all criminal defense lawyers.
In the rare instances we endorse in judicial races, we seek experienced candidates who can be impartial, efficient referees.
Dwyer, 31, has only practiced law for five years. He’s sharp and humble—all good qualities for a judge—but he needs seasoning.
Myrick, 41, has worked both as a prosecutor and a defender. That’s a good balance, but her admission that she left the U.S. Attorney for Oregon’s Office because Donald Trump got elected raised questions about her judicial temperament.
Schlosser, 45, is the only candidate in the field with any civil law experience, but he finished that work long ago and is still building his reputation as a defender.
The choice comes down to Philips, 58, a highly experienced defense lawyer and investigator who has also represented crime victims, or Auxier, 44, who has sandwiched six years as the Columbia County district attorney between a dozen years’ work in the DA’s offices for Marion and Multnomah counties.
Both make good cases for the perspectives they’ve gained in the past two decades practicing law, but ultimately the vast number of lawyers and judges who’ve endorsed Auxier—including prominent defense lawyers—give him the edge. He boasts endorsements from both departing DA Mike Schmidt and the man who unseated him, Nathan Vasquez. We’ll join them with our nod.
What Auxier was known for in high school: Spending as much time as he could in Portland, rather than Sherwood.