Claire Bradley, Kitsap County’s chief deputy prosecuting attorney, will soon be Kitsap County’s newest District Court judge.

Bradley was elected to the court on Nov. 4. As of 8:15 p.m., she had received 24,282 votes to lawyer Tracy Flood’s 17,963. Bradley will succeed Judge James Riehl, who is retiring.

County Elections Supervisor Dolores Gilmore said her department had another 20,000 ballots to count, and expected to collect another 10,000 deposited in drop boxes on Election Day. But historically, vote leads of at least 5 percent tend to trend and hold, she said.

Kitsap County District Court judges are elected at-large and serve four-year terms. They are paid $144,544 a year.

The District Court has jurisdiction over misdemeanors and gross misdemeanor crimes which carry a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail and/or a $5,000 fine. The court also has jurisdiction over unlawful harassment petitions, protection orders, and traffic infractions. District Court services include probation, small claims not exceeding $5,000, and civil actions not exceeding $75,000.

Bradley and Flood positioned themselves as best for the job based on their experiemce: Bradley, a career prosecutor; and Flood, an attorney with judicial experience.

Bradley, Seattle University School of Law 1997, interned as a public defender in Bremerton Municipal Court then joined the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in 1997. She became a senior deputy prosecutor in 2004 and chief deputy prosecutor in 2009.

“I have tried dozens of cases before a jury, from misdemeanors to aggravated first-degree murder,” Bradley said during the campaign. “As a result of my trial experience, I have the trust of the judges I have appeared before. Every trial judge in Kitsap County — all 16 of them — has endorsed me.”

Flood, Seattle University School of Law 1999, is an adjudicator and judge pro tem. She felt that as a Navy veteran and single mom who worked her way from an associate’s degree at Olympic College to a JD at Seattle U, she was a reflection of Kitsap County.

“A lot of the conversation I have encountered has been along the lines of, ‘You’re just like us. You’re part of the community. You worked your way through,’” Flood said. “They identified with me. That’s one of the things I heard from everyday people — the parents in the school, people I encountered in the malls — that I’m easy to talk to, I’m not your average politician.”

Flood said she has served “for two years now” as a King County District Court judge pro tem in Auburn, Renton and Shoreline. Since January 2012, Flood has served 35.25 hours on the Kitsap County District Court bench, according to that court.

From July 1, 2008 to Jan. 22, 2009, she served 315.5 hours on the bench for the state Office of Administrative Hearings in Olympia, according to that office. In 2007-08, she served as a pro tem judge in Port Orchard Municipal Court four times; she is no longer on that court’s list of pro tem judges, according to that court.

“As a pro-tem judge, I have conducted hearings in criminal misdemeanor cases, traffic infractions, and small claims, and for the State of Washington Office of Administrative Hearing for child support cases,”  she said during the campaign. “My experience includes issuing sound and timely decisions, conducting high quality and timely hearings that include pre- and post-hearing issues.”

She added, “I have a passionate voice for ensuring everyone is treated fairly and my career has been dedicated to representing the voiceless through pro-bono work and my commitment to service. Voters need to know that they have a choice of two candidates with very different backgrounds and experiences.”

Earlier in the campaign, Flood said that as judge she would host a quarterly night court so “individuals who have court issues don’t have to be burdened with missing a day of work to have their day in court.” She also wanted to implement Street Law for Adults, a program to educate the community on relevant topics and provide some tools to help people navigate the courts.

Bradley’s priorities were more succinct: Listen to the parties, research and follow the law, and give a reasoned, understandable ruling. “The litigants, their attorneys and the community deserve a fair, impartial and knowledgeable judge to hear their cases,” she said.

During the campaign, she said, “As a judge, I will listen to every person that comes before the court, whether it is a lawyer, defendant, victim or witness. Carefully listening to the parties accomplishes two goals: it helps the judge understand the issues in the case, and it gives the parties confidence that their side of the story is being considered.

“As a judge I will carefully read the briefs filed by the parties and do my own research on the law. Not every case presents a clear legal outcome. I will take time to research the law to make the right decision … When making a ruling, I will articulate the ruling, so it is understood by the parties. While every party may not agree with my ruling, they will leave the court knowing what the ruling is and my reasons for making the ruling.”