Holly Hancock
Holly Hancock is a judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. She assumed office on January 2, 2023. Her current term ends on January 8, 2029.
Hancock ran for election for judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Hancock completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2022
See also: Municipal elections in Los Angeles County, California (2022)
General election
General election for Superior Court of Los Angeles County
Holly Hancock defeated Renee Yolande Chang in the general election for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Holly Hancock (Nonpartisan)  | 58.6 | 1,114,500 |
 | Renee Yolande Chang (Nonpartisan) | 41.4 | 786,868 | |
| Total votes: 1,901,368 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County
Holly Hancock and Renee Yolande Chang defeated Randy Fudge, Eric Alfonso Torices, and Matthew Vodnoy in the primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Holly Hancock (Nonpartisan) | 46.7 | 604,725 |
| ✔ | | Renee Yolande Chang (Nonpartisan) | 31.8 | 412,307 |
| Randy Fudge (Nonpartisan) | 9.0 | 116,217 | ||
| Eric Alfonso Torices (Nonpartisan) | 7.1 | 91,757 | ||
| Matthew Vodnoy (Nonpartisan) | 5.4 | 69,534 | ||
| Total votes: 1,294,540 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2018
General election
General election for Superior Court of Los Angeles County
Tony Cho defeated Holly Hancock in the general election for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tony Cho (Nonpartisan) | 55.6 | 1,271,940 | |
| Holly Hancock (Nonpartisan) | 44.4 | 1,015,621 | |
| Total votes: 2,287,561 | |||
| = 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 Los Angeles County
Tony Cho and Holly Hancock defeated Ben Colella in the primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Tony Cho (Nonpartisan) | 45.8 | 506,865 | |
| ✔ | | Holly Hancock (Nonpartisan) | 37.8 | 418,553 |
| Ben Colella (Nonpartisan) | 16.3 | 180,587 | ||
| Total votes: 1,106,005 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Selection method
- See also: Nonpartisan election
The 1,535 judges of the California Superior Courts compete in nonpartisan races in even-numbered years. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the June primary election, he or she is declared the winner; if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two candidates is held during the November general election.[1][2][3][4]
If an incumbent judge is running unopposed in an election, his or her name does not appear on the ballot. The judge is automatically re-elected following the general election.[1]
The chief judge of any given superior court is selected by peer vote of the court's members. He or she serves in that capacity for one or two years, depending on the county.[1]
Qualifications
Candidates are required to have 10 years of experience as a law practitioner or as a judge of a court of record.[1]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Holly Hancock completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hancock's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Much of Holly’s career has been spent as a trial deputy in misdemeanors and felonies. She has tried 65 jury trials. She has won all but two of the misdemeanor trials and has won acquittals or reduced charges in 80% of the felony trials she has tried.
She is currently in a supervisory position as Deputy In Charge of the Criminal Record Clearing Unit of the Public Defender Office. In this position, Holly trains community organizers She prepares and organizes expungement events for those who are unhoused or housing insecure in Los Angeles County.
Holly graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in Rhetoric and then, Holly served the public and her co-workers in her capacity as a flight attendant and as an elected official for the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA).
- Deputy Public Defenders are solution oriented. We are the ones who do the heavy lifting. We work directly with community members for the best outcome for their family and neighbors.
- Background informs behavior and this is why it's important to have different perspectives on the bench. Unfortunately, for far too long the bench has been monolithic in its approaches.
- I will abide by the laws of the State of California. The voters have passed many Measures and Propositions which many judicial officers ignore in their discretion. I hope to be involved in the Homeless Courts of Los Angeles County which give alternatives to incarceration and provides wrap around services for the unhoused.
California citizens have voted for laws and propositions such as diversion programs, alternatives to incarceration, and mental health programs. These programs benefit all parties involved. These options actually improve safety in the community, whereas the short-term solution of removing the person from the community can perpetuate the problem in the long-term. I will respectfully listen and seek to create long-term solutions to the issues before her, as the law permits.If elected, I would continue to serve the community as I have done throughout my career. This is what has driven me throughout my career and life. I will remain unaffected by any political influence.
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.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Holly Hancock participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on May 31, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Holly Hancock's responses follow below.[5]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | 1. To treat people who come before the bench with dignity. 2. To consider Alternative Sentencing whenever apropriate. 3. To abide by the California 'Humphrey' decision regarding release from incarceration without cash bail before trial/plea/or sentencing.[6][7] | ” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | I am passionate about making our communities whole again. We need to look at the incarceration rates and the filing of criminal acts as excessive. Every person who comes before the bench came from a family and a community and barring the most extreme cases, they will return to that community. I would like to have the person return with the tools to be a full giving and working member of that community. The judiciary needs to be more diverse. The bench should reflect the community at large. But in addition, the bench should reflect a diversity of viewpoints.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[7]
|
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Holly Hancock answered the following:
How would you describe your legal philosophy?
| “ | My legal philosophy is to first serve the community. I believe that the law is a breathing living instrument that should reflect the will of the people. I intend to serve in my office to improve people's lives, to return the person to the community better than when they entered the courtroom.[7] | ” |
| “ | A judge should have knowledge, experience in the law and the compassion or empathy to implement that law and sentence.[7] | ” |
| “ | The judicial officers manage the budget for the courts. They can choose to request grants from the state for additional funding for special courts. I would like to see an effort to open more homeless courts in Los Angeles County and a mental health diversion court. In this court the mentally ill would get treatment and then, if compliant, they would have their case dismissed.[7] | ” |
| “ | I have been rated "Qualified" by the Los Angeles County Bar Association.[7] | ” |
| “ | I believe that this is a peer review system by which the Bar Association rates your abilities as an attorney and how those abilities would translate to a beginning judicial position.[7] | ” |
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: California," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Safeguarding California's judicial election process," August 21, 2011
- ↑ California Elections Code, "Section 8203," accessed May 21, 2014
- ↑ California Elections Code, "Section 8140-8150," accessed May 21, 2014
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Holly Hancock's responses," May 31, 2018
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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
