CLEVELAND, Ohio-Two Black judges lost their seats election night on Tuesday, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Wanda C. Jones losing to assistant county prosecutor Rick Bell for one of several open seats on the court, and 8th District Court of Appeals Judge Ray Headen, who is also Black, losing to Democrat Lisa Forbes as he sought to retain his judicial seat.

One of four Black judges on the 34-member general division common pleas bench in the county, Jones is losing to Bell, who is White, 58 percent to her 42 percent, with 68 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections reveal,

Headen fell to Forbes, who is White, with Forbes getting 71 percent of the vote to his 31 percent, both Jones and Headen losing an uphill battles as Black Republicans in a heavily Democratic county.

Both were serving out unexpired terms after court appointments by former gov John Kasich, a Republican and 2016 presidential candidate

In another closely watched race, Democratic Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Emanuella Groves, also Black, cruised to victory over Black Republican Pamela A. Hawkins for one of five open seats on the 12-member 8th District Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County, a 29 percent Black county that includes the largely Black city of Cleveland.

In that race Groves was winning over Hawkins 58 percent to her 42 percent.

With Headen leaving the state appeals court in the state's second largest county after losing to Forbes, and Groves coming aboard, the court loses one of its four Blacks, Headen losing to a White woman, and Groves replacing the retiring Patricia Ann Blackmon, who is Black like Judges Larry Jones and Anita Laster Mays, both of them winning reelection Tuesday night without opposition.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper  and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.