County to have 2 new judges in 2026
County voters will have the opportunity in the municipal primary to nominate candidates to replace a retiring common pleas court judge and fill a new seventh judge position.
With the last day to circulate and file nomination petitions coming Tuesday, March 11, for the May 20 primary, three attorneys have announced their plans to enter the primary for the judicial offices.
One of the judge positions open in the election is currently held by Judge Timothy McCune, who is retiring at the end of the year. The second position will be the new, seventh judge.
The seventh judge position was created by Senate Bill 361, which was signed into law as Act 58 in 2023. The law added common pleas court judge positions in six counties, including Butler, to reduce the caseloads of the existing judges.
The last expansion of the Butler County Common Pleas Court bench came in 2006, when McCune took office as the sixth judge, after winning the election in 2005.
Clarion County public defender Jake Roberts; Matthew McCune, an attorney with the Conlon Tarker law firm in Butler and Timothy McCune’s son; and John Scialabba, the husband of state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, R-12th, and a partner at Frank, Gale, Bails & Pocrass, have announced their candidacies.
Common pleas judges are state employees, not county employees, whose starting annual salaries are $227,411 for 2025. Judges are elected to 10-year terms in office.
A judge’s staff, which includes an administrative assistant and a law clerk, are county employees.
Nomination petitions for common pleas judges are submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of State, and petitions for local primary races are submitted to the county elections bureau, said Chantell McCurdy, director of the county elections bureau.
Casting of lots in the local primaries to determine the position of names on the ballot will be held at noon, March 19, in the UL conference room in the government center annex.
“We’re accepting petitions for local offices daily,” McCurdy said.
The local offices open in the primary include county row offices, school directors, township supervisors, Butler mayor, and city council members, tax collectors and constables.
The row offices are the sheriff, clerk of courts, controller and coroner; each serves a four-year term in office. Sheriff Mike Slupe has announced his reelection bid.
Nominations for four school director positions with four-year terms will be on the ballots in the Butler Area, Karns City Area, Knoch, Freeport Area, Mars Area and Moniteau school districts; and one director with a two-year term will be on the ballot in the Mars Area and Moniteau school districts.
The Slippery Rock Area School District ballot will have two directors for four-year terms in Region 2, one director for a four-year term in Region 1, one director for a four-year term in Region 3 and one director for a two-year term in Region 1.
Voters in the Seneca Valley School District will nominate one director for a four-year term in Regions 1, 4, 5, 8 and 9.
In Butler, the ballot will have the mayor, two council positions and the controller. Each serves four-year terms.
As of Feb. 12, the county’s 141,352 registered voters included 82,174 Republicans, 38,776 Democrats, 839 Libertarians and 19,563 other voters. Only Republicans and Democrats can vote in the primary.
May 5 is the last day to register to vote in the primary, and May 13 is the last day to apply for mail-in and civilian absentee ballots.
