Chandra Baker

This page was last updated during the official's most recent election or appointment. Please contact us with any updates.

Chandra Baker

Do you have a photo that could go here? Click here to submit it for this profile!

---

Nonpartisan

Michigan 3rd Circuit Court

Tenure

2021 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

4

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of Michigan

Law

Wayne State Law School, 2003

Personal

Birthplace

Cleveland, Ohio

Religion

Non Denominational

Profession

Assistant prosecuting attorney, Wayne County

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Instagram

Chandra Baker is a judge of the Michigan 3rd Circuit Court. She assumed office on January 1, 2021. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Baker ran for election for judge of the Michigan 3rd Circuit Court. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Baker completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Chandra Baker was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Wayne State Law School in 2003. Baker’s career experience includes working as the assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne County and as a civil attorney in the labor and employment discrimination group at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC.

Elections

2020

See also: Municipal elections in Wayne County, Michigan (2020)

General election

General election for Michigan 3rd Circuit Court (2 seats)

Mary Beth Kelly and Chandra Baker defeated Nicholas Hathaway and Shakira Lynn Hawkins in the general election for Michigan 3rd Circuit Court on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary Beth Kelly (Nonpartisan)	27.7	279,106
✔	Submit photo	Chandra Baker (Nonpartisan)	24.9	250,575
		Nicholas Hathaway (Nonpartisan)	24.8	250,204
		Shakira Lynn Hawkins (Nonpartisan)	21.5	217,113
		Other/Write-in votes	1.1	11,011

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 1,008,009
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Michigan 3rd Circuit Court (2 seats)

The following candidates ran in the primary for Michigan 3rd Circuit Court on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary Beth Kelly (Nonpartisan)	24.0	110,998
✔		Nicholas Hathaway (Nonpartisan)	20.7	95,867
✔	Submit photo	Chandra Baker (Nonpartisan)	19.4	89,943
✔		Shakira Lynn Hawkins (Nonpartisan)	15.7	72,827
		Frank Simone (Nonpartisan)	11.0	50,763
	Submit photo	Deana Beard (Nonpartisan)	8.6	39,754
		Other/Write-in votes	0.6	2,652

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 462,804
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Dennis Donahue (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

To view Baker's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Chandra Baker completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Baker's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Chandra W. Baker and I have been a trial attorney for nearly 20 years. I graduated from Wayne State University Law School and I attended University of Michigan where I received my BA. I am also an alumni of Cass Technical H.S. I am currently a Lead attorney with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office heading the Wayne Arson Reduction Unit (WAR). My unit prosecutes arson for-profit crimes of real property (insurance fraud) and arsons where someone has been killed or injured. I was awarded Prosecutor of the Year 2017-2018 by the International Association of Arson Investigators for my work in combating arson in Wayne County. Prior to joining the Prosecutor's Office, I was an Associate with Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. assigned to the Labor and Employment Discrimination section. I am running for judge because I want to make a difference in the lives of others. I joined the Prosecutor's office because I wanted to make victims whole. However, I realized that by being fair and just, I was also able to make a difference in the lives of the defendants. As a judge, I would have the opportunity to make a difference on a wider scale. I have been endorsed by the 14th Congressional District; the Black Slate, Inc.; Grosse Pointe Democratic Club; Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee; Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy; Wayne County Sheriffs' Association and a host of other Wayne County elected officials and religious leaders.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I will be fair and make sure that everyone is treated fairly under the law regardless of race, nationality or social economic status, etc.
• Mental health is a serious issue in our criminal justice system and I would like to work with organizations in order to make treatment more available to defendants.
• The Wayne County Circuit Court is a trial level court and I have nearly 20 years of trial experience and I am prepared for ths position.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Mental health and the criminal justice system.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Not only do I admire Justice Marshall for the ground breaking cases he handled during the civil rights movement but well before Brown v. Board of Education he was fighting for black people who had been wrongly accused of crimes. At one point, he was the only lawyer for the NAACP crossing the country to handle those types of cases. He was under continued threat of his life considering many of those cases were in the Jim crow southern part of our country.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to leave a legacy that while I was on this earth I helped someone to have a better life.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. I love this book. Although it is extremely funny, it weaves in important information about life under the apartheid system that used to exist in South Africa that I did not know.

Is there a particular judge, past or present, whom you admire?

Yes, Justice Thurgood Marshall. However, since I have already expounded on him in another answer, the other person I admire is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I admire her for her courage in taking up the cause of sex discrimination that was woven into our society.

Do you believe that empathy is an important quality for a judge?

Yes

Why are you running for this particular court seat?

I want to make a difference in the lives of others. I became a prosecutor because I wanted to make victims of crime whole. However, I realized that by being a fair prosecutor who seeks justice and not a win, I was able to make a difference in the lives of defendants as well. As a Judge, I will be able to do that on a wider scale. I will be able to make sure that the law is applied fairly.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

Coronavirus Weekly Updates Documenting America's Path to Recovery The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Michigan 3rd Circuit Court

Website

Instagram

Footnotes

Michigan courts

---

Federal courts:

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan

State courts:

Michigan Supreme Court • Michigan Court of Appeals • Michigan Circuit Court • Michigan Court of Claims • Michigan District Courts • Michigan Municipal Courts • Michigan Probate Courts

State resources:

Courts in Michigan • Michigan judicial elections • Judicial selection in Michigan