With no other candidates filed as of the Friday deadline, Katie Dearing and Collins Cooper will be elected judges in the 4th Judicial Circuit on Aug. 28 in the statewide primary election.
Dearing is a private practice attorney who will become president of the Jacksonville Bar Association on July 1. She will succeed her father-in-law, Circuit Judge Peter Dearing, who reached the mandatory retirement age for judges in 2016 after being re-elected to a six-year term in 2012.
Also to be elected without opposition is Collins Cooper, a 4th Judicial Circuit assistant state attorney. He is the son of civil attorney William Cooper and Senior Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper.
One seat on the 4th Circuit bench will be decided by voters when Charles McBurney and Maureen Horkan face each other on the August ballot.
McBurney is managing partner in The Law Offices of Charles McBurney Jr. and a former member of the state House of Representatives. Horkan is a family law attorney at the Jason K.S. Porter law firm.
Eleven incumbent judges in the circuit will be re-elected in August without opposition: Suzanne Bass, Thomas Beverly, Kevin Blazs, Mark Borello, Karen Cole, Robert Dees, John Guy, Don Lester, Eric Roberson, Steven Whittington and Gary Wilkinson.