Who is running to be a judge in Queens?
/
There are 15 candidates running for eight spots in Queens’ courts. Learn more about them here. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Jacob Kaye
Voters in Queens will begin casting ballots this weekend in races for governor, state comptroller, attorney general, the state legislature and Congress.
They’ll also vote in a handful of judicial races.
There are eight spots on the borough’s bench up for grabs in November’s general election – early voting in the race begins on Saturday. There are three open spots on Queens’ Supreme Court, two boroughwide Civil Court seats and three races for Civil Court district seats.
All but one of the races include both a Democratic and Republican nominee.
Here’s a look at the candidates hoping to win their respective races and don a judicial robe come January.
Supreme Court (Three vacancies)
Edwin Novillo (Democrat)
Edwin Novillo currently serves as the supervising judge of Queens Criminal Court. Nominated by the Queens County Democratic Party to run for a spot on the Supreme Court on the party’s line, Novillo is a longtime fixture of Queens’ legal community.
Leading the borough’s Criminal Court since 2024, Novillo got his start as an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, representing defendants in both Queens and Brooklyn over a 14-year career.
He was appointed as an interim Civil Court judge by former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018. Novillo was the first judge of Ecuadorian descent to be appointed to the bench in the city.
Novillo immigrated to New York City from Ecuador with his family when he was a young child, and grew up in Jackson Heights. The judge has previously said his experience growing up in a working-class family is what motivated him to go to law school and what eventually drove him to the bench.
Oma Phillips (Democrat)
Like Novillo, Oma Phillips was nominated to run for the Supreme Court by the Queens County Democratic Party.
The CUNY Law School graduate with over 30 years of legal experience currently serves as a Civil Court judge in Queens, but hasn’t for long – she was elected last year and began serving in January.
Phillips began her career as an assistant district attorney for the Bronx DA’s office. She has also worked as an attorney for the Department of Correction and the U.S. Postal Service, as well as a court attorney in courthouses across Queens and Brooklyn.
Phillips’ campaign website says the candidate will “advocate for equal justice and fairness” and that she is “dedicated to upholding the law with integrity.”
Gail Adams (Democrat)
Like Phillips, Gail Adams has served as a Civil Court judge in Queens since the start of the year.
Adams, who was nominated to run for the Supreme Court by the Queens County Democratic Party, has over 20 years of experience working on both sides of the courthouse.
She got her start as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, representing defendants in criminal cases. She eventually moved on to the private sector, where she worked for various law firms specializing in family, real estate, matrimonial and tenant law.
Adams joined the Unified Court System in 2012 when she became the principal law clerk to Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Fern Fisher. She eventually became a court attorney for the city and transferred to Queens Supreme Court, Civil Term, in 2024 before being elected to the bench the following year.
Gary Muraca (Republican)
Gary Muraca was nominated by the Queens County Republican Party to run for the Supreme Court.
A perennial judicial candidate, Muraca is an attorney who has been practicing law in the five boroughs and Long Beach since 1983.
He attended St. John’s University and CUNY Law School, and his brother, Felice Muraca, is a judge on Long Island.
Muraca ran for Supreme Court in 2025, 2024 and 2023, finishing either last or second-to-last each year.
He does not have a campaign website.
David Bellon (Republican)
Like Muraca, Bellon was nominated to run for the borough’s trial court by the Queens County Republican Party.
Bellon is also an attorney and has been practicing law since 2006.
He ran for U.S. Senate in New York in 2024 before being disqualified from the race by the New York State Board of Elections.
Bellon also previously ran for Supreme Court, finishing last in a seven-way race in 2018.
The candidate also does not have a campaign website.
Civil Court, boroughwide (Three vacancies)
Jasmine Valle-Bueno (Democrat)
Jasmine Valle-Bueno, a longtime member of Queens’ legal community and its courts, is running on the Democratic Party line for one of the three vacancies on the borough’s Civil Court. She did not face a primary challenger.
A Queens native, Valle-Bueno currently serves as the principal law clerk to Administrative Judge Marguerite Grays, who leads Queens’ Supreme Court, Civil Term.
She previously served as the senior law clerk to Justice Lourdes Ventura, a Queens judge who was elevated to the Appellate Division, Second Department in 2023.
Valle-Bueno also previously worked as a court attorney in Bronx Criminal Court and in Brooklyn Housing Court. The Queens court employee is a member of the borough’s Equal Justice in the Courts Committee and has held leadership roles in the Queens County Bar Association, the Queens County Women’s Bar Association and the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens.
Edmond Wong (Democrat)
Edmond Wong, a St. John’s University School of Law graduate, received the most votes in the four-way Democratic primary race for two Civil Court vacancies in June. He was endorsed by the Queens County Democratic Party.
He currently works as a court attorney referee in Queens Surrogate’s Court. He began in the role in January.
It’s not his first job in the courts. From early 2024 through the start of this year, Wong worked as an associate court attorney to Queens Civil Court Judge Evelyn Gong.
Before joining the courts, Wong ran a private practice, where he represented clients in small claims court disputes and in other Civil Court proceedings.
He’s spent more than a decade working in private firms, all in Queens.
Michael Mossa (Republican)
Michael Mossa was endorsed by the Queens County Republican Party in his race for Civil Court.
A one-time candidate for Queens District Attorney, Mossa is a criminal defense attorney with over 20 years of experience in the courts.
Mossa also previously unsuccessfully ran for City Council.
Julie Milner (Democrat/Republican)
Julie Milner, a civil rights attorney from Western Queens, received the second-most votes in the four-way Democratic primary race for two Civil Court vacancies in June, securing a spot on November’s ballot.
Unlike Wong, she was not endorsed by the Queens County Democratic Party.
Milner currently works as both a dissertation advisor at Long Island University and as a pro bono arbitrator for the attorney fee dispute resolution program in Queens Civil Court, according to her campaign’s website.
The City University of New York School of Law graduate’s victory over the summer came after she lost races for the seat in 2025 and 2024.
The Eagle reported in 2024 that an X account under Milner’s name had featured a number of posts supporting issues championed by the far-right, including bans on LGBTQ+ books – which she called “filthy, pornographic smut” – in school libraries.
On at least two occasions, Milner appeared to call for the execution of former President Joe Biden on her X account.
“Impeach, remove, indict, execute,” Milner tweeted twice in January 2023 in response to posts about Biden’s alleged improper handling of classified documents.
Thomas Barra (Republican/Conservative)
Thomas Barra is running on both the Republican Party and Conservative Party ballot lines in the race for Civil Court.
He works as an attorney at The Law Offices of Sanjay Sukhdeo.
Barra has been a criminal defense attorney for nearly 30 years. He’s litigated hundreds of hearings and trials and is admitted to practice law in New York State 2nd Department, US District Courts of the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York, as well as The United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 11th Circuits.
Barra appears to run an Instagram account named @lawyersgunswhiskey, where he dispenses legal advice and posts information about the courts. He began posting to the account in July.
Civil Court, 2nd Municipal District (Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, Sunnyside, Woodside and parts of Forest Hills)
Janet Ellen Keller (Democrat)
Janet Ellen Keller is backed by the Queens County Democratic Party in the race for the 2nd Municipal District’s vacancy in the Civil Court. She did not face a primary challenger and advanced to November’s election unopposed.
The St. John’s University School of Law graduate has over three decades of experience litigating cases throughout the city’s courts.
The candidate’s website says she believes “in integrity, equality and fairness and brings these values to all matters.”
Stephen Dachtera (Republican)
Stephen Dachtera is backed by the Queens County Republican Party. He was originally running for a boroughwide Civil Court seat but switched over to the race for District 2.
Like his opponent, Dachtera also graduated from St. John’s University School of Law.
He is an attorney based in Richmond Hill and primarily practices real estate law.
The lifelong Queens resident said on his campaign website that he "believes strongly in applying the law as written, without regard to external factors or influences.” The Republican judicial candidate also said his “strong Catholic faith” informs his life, including his legal practice and pro bono activities.
Civil Court, 3rd Municipal District (Maspeth, Ridgewood, Glendale, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach)
Michelle Ann McSweeney-Ortiz (Democrat)
Michelle Ann McSweeney-Ortiz, who was endorsed by the Queens County Democratic Party, advanced to the general election in the race for the Civil Court seat in the 3rd Municipal District after going unchallenged in the primary election.
McSweeney-Ortiz currently works as a principal law clerk, serving under Court of Claims Judge Joseph Risi.
Before joining the courts, McSweeney-Ortiz was a solo practitioner, primarily working in Surrogate’s Court. The St. John’s University School of Law graduate has been working as an attorney for 20 years. The bulk of her career has centered around estate planning.
McSweeney-Ortiz is the past president of the Queens County Columbian Lawyers Association and a member of the Queens County Bar Association, the Queens County Women’s Bar Association and the Catholic Lawyers Guild.
William Shanahan (Republican)
William Shanahan was endorsed for Civil Court by the Queens County Republican Party. A perennial judicial candidate, Shanahan has unsuccessfully run for a spot on Queens’ bench every year since 2021.
He currently runs a private practice and has also worked as a senior litigator with Allstate Insurance.
Shanahan has consistently been rated “qualified” for the bench by local bar associations.
He came close to winning a judicial race in 2023, when he finished four percentage points behind the Democratic candidate in the Civil Court’s 6th Municipal District.
Civil Court, 4th Municipal District (Jamaica, Rochdale, Springfield Gardens, Cambria Heights, Hollis, Queens Village and Glen Oaks)
Edward Irizarry (Democrat)
Edward Irizarry, who was endorsed by the Queens County Democratic Party, is the only candidate running for the 4th Municipal District’s vacancy in the Civil Court.
He originally was running for the Civil Court in the boroughwide race but was defeated in the primary by Milner. The Democratic Party nominated him for the 4th District vacancy after his defeat.
Irizarry, who has over 30 years of experience in New York’s legal system, currently serves as a court attorney to Judge Maria Gonzalez, who was elected to Queens’ Civil Court in 2022.
He ran a private practice before joining the judge, focusing on criminal defense, guardianships and real property. As a private attorney, he also served on the borough’s 18B panel.
Irizarry, who earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, started his career as a prosecutor, working in the Queens district attorney’s office from 1991 until 1996.
