Chris Wagner seeks re-election to Hamilton County bench

Judge Chris Wagner is seeking re-election to the Hamilton County Common Pleas bench in the Tuesday, Nov. 3, general election. The race is nonpartisan.

Wagner has served on the Common Pleas court since January 2021, according to his campaign website. He has been practicing law since November 2000.

Editor's note: Wagner did not respond to the Anderson-Mariemont Journal's candidate questionnaire. The information below is drawn from his campaign website and public election records.

Candidate information

Office sought: Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge, General Division (Term Commencing 1/4)
Party: Nonpartisan
Education: Bachelor's degree, Xavier University; juris doctor, University of Cincinnati College of Law
Family: Married to Nora Burke Wagner. They have two sons and one daughter.
Raised: West side of Cincinnati. Graduate of St. James White Oak Elementary School and St. Xavier High School.

Experience and public service

Wagner's legal career spans prosecution, federal service and court administration, his website says.

He served as a judicial clerk at the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in the chambers of Judge Ann Marie Tracey. He later worked as a major trial prosecutor at the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office and as a special assistant United States attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

Wagner served as managing attorney at the Ohio Attorney General's Office, Cincinnati Regional Office. He then served as chief legal officer at the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts under Aftab Pureval. He was president of the Cincinnati Bar Association in 2020.

On the bench, Wagner was elected to serve one term as presiding judge of the Common Pleas court. He says he has presided over 4,000 cases.

On the issues

Wagner highlights jury reform and veterans' services on his campaign website.

He says he and the other Common Pleas judges reformed jury service, cutting the number of days jurors must serve in half and increasing juror pay. Wagner also presides over the Hamilton County Veterans Treatment Court. The court serves veterans. It provides services and treatment to U.S. military veterans charged with felonies who are suffering from addiction, PTSD, homelessness and other trauma, Wagner says.

He says he presided over the first serious mental illness capital murder case in Ohio, removing the death penalty as a punishment without objection by the prosecution and pursuant to Ohio law.

The Southwest Ohio Trial Lawyers Association named him the 2023 Trial Judge of the Year, according to his campaign website.