Elena Condes

Elena Condes is a judge of the Superior Court of Alameda County in California. She assumed office on January 4, 2021. Her current term ends on January 4, 2027.

Condes ran for election for judge of the Superior Court of Alameda County in California. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

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

Elections

2020

General election

General election for Superior Court of Alameda County

Elena Condes defeated Mark Fickes in the general election for Superior Court of Alameda County on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Elena Condes (Nonpartisan)	55.9	372,070
	Mark Fickes (Nonpartisan)	43.6	290,416
	Other/Write-in votes	0.4	2,993

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 665,479
= 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 Superior Court of Alameda County

Elena Condes and Mark Fickes defeated Lilla Szelenyi in the primary for Superior Court of Alameda County on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Elena Condes (Nonpartisan)	41.2	147,168
✔		Mark Fickes (Nonpartisan)	38.2	136,387
	Submit photo	Lilla Szelenyi (Nonpartisan)	20.7	73,855

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 357,410
= 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.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

Elena Condes completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Condes' 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.

As a defense attorney with over 26 years of courtroom experience, Elena Condes is running for Superior Court Judge in Alameda County to ensure that all people encounter a level playing field when entering the courtroom. She been active both personally and professionally in Alameda County for decades and has worked with some of the most vulnerable populations.

The legendary Hon. Carol Brosnahan (who was classmates with Ruth Bader Ginsberg) is retiring after 40 years on the bench. Judge Brosnahan was committed to providing programs that allowed for alternatives to incarceration and has endorsed Elena to fill her seat to continue the work towards a more compassionate justice system.

Elena brings the most experience in the Alameda County Courts and fighting for the voiceless and marginalized. It is a bonus that as a Latina, lesbian, mother and sole-practitioner, Elena will bring important and much needed diversity to the Alameda County Superior Court.

Elena has also been endorsed by more than 25 judges of the Alameda County Superior Court, as well as, Congressman Eric Swalwell, Supervisor Richard Valle, East Bay Women's Political Alliance, LiUNA! Laborers Local 304, Iron Workers Union 378, Asian Pacific Labor Alliance, Wellstone Democratic Club, John George Democratic Club, High School Democrats of California, Courage California, Green Party of Alameda County, The East Bay Times and many others.

For more information visit www.ElenaCondesforJudge.com

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?

EXPERIENCE - An accomplished attorney with over 26 years of courtroom experience fighting for the most vulnerable people in Alameda County.
INTEGRITY - Endorsed by over 27 sitting judges who know the quality of her commitment to equal access to justice for all.
DIVERSITY - Elena is the first Latinx to run for Judge in Alameda County. The Court should reflect the community it serves.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Access to justice - to work to remove barriers for people accessing the justice system. Over 50% of litigants are in court without a lawyer because they cannot afford one. Making the Courts and the process more accessible and understandable is important to maintain legitimacy for the community it serves.

Alternatives to incarceration - to work towards implementing programs that provide access to treatment, mental health care, education and vocational programs so that people have alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenses.

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

Professionally, I look up to the Judge that is retiring making the seat open for this election, Judge Carol Brosnahan. I have appeared in Judge Brosnahan's court for my entire 26 year career. As a new lawyer, Judge Brosnahan was in the Berkeley Courthouse and handled the criminal calendar. I was impressed by her familiarity with just about every person that came into her courtroom. She knew which person had drug problems, which ones had untreated or un-medicated mental health issues and addressed their case with those issues in mind. She created a courtroom and atmosphere that let the person before her feel seen, understood and deserving of dignity and respect. She genuinely celebrated their successes and was compassionate when they failed. Judge Brosnahan demonstrated through her commitment to the mental health court her compassion and understanding of the person before her and their family who are also experiencing the collateral effects of someone with mental health issues. I believe that compassion and accountability are not mutually exclusive and I know much of that has been formed from my experience in Judge Brosnahan's court.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Richard Nixon's resignation. I was 12 years old. I didn't understand it completely at the time, but I was understood how important it was by the amount of attention my parents gave it by watching it on television and talking about it.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was in construction. I worked for a small construction contractor in Tucson, Arizona. I learned how to level ground for concrete slabs, lay concrete block, lay brick, and framing. I also worked landscaping for the same contractor. I really enjoyed the work and the collaborative effort to create something by the end of the day. I had that job for about 9 months because the contractor fell ill, and as a small business owner, did not have the ability to bid on new work.

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.

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Superior Court of Alameda County

Website

Facebook

Footnotes

California courts

Federal courts:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California

State courts:

California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts

State resources:

Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California

	v • e State of California Sacramento (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? \| Elections in 2025 \| How to vote \| How to run for office \| Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? \| U.S. President \| U.S. Congress \| Federal courts \| State executives \| State legislature \| State and local courts \| Counties \| Cities \| School districts \| Public policy

Elena Condes

Contents

Elections

2020

General election

General election for Superior Court of Alameda County

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Superior Court of Alameda County

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

SITE NAVIGATION