Jennifer Kinsley

Jennifer Kinsley (Democratic Party) is a judge of the Ohio First District Court of Appeals. She assumed office on February 9, 2023. Her current term ends on February 8, 2029.

Kinsley (Democratic Party) ran for election for judge of the Ohio First District Court of Appeals. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Kinsley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jennifer Kinsley's professional experience includes working as a law professor. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida in 1996 and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1999.^[1]

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Jennifer Kinsley defeated incumbent Robert C. Winkler in the general election for Ohio First District Court of Appeals on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jennifer Kinsley (D)	52.0	155,976
	Robert C. Winkler (R)	48.0	143,730

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 299,706
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Jennifer Kinsley advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio First District Court of Appeals on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jennifer Kinsley	100.0	31,825

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 31,825
= 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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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Robert C. Winkler advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio First District Court of Appeals on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Robert C. Winkler	100.0	40,463

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 40,463
= 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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Campaign finance

Endorsements

To view Kinsley's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Jennifer Kinsley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kinsley's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Jennifer Kinsley is one of the nation’s leading constitutional law practitioners and scholars. For more than 22 years, she has represented a broad range of clients, from successful business owners to people living in poverty, to ensure that their rights are protected and their voices heard. Jennifer is currently a practicing lawyer and tenured Professor of Law at the Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law, where she teaches courses in constitutional law, criminal law, and practical lawyering skills. Her work focuses on the First Amendment right of free expression as it is applied within the context of criminal cases and related criminal justice reform. Her teaching has literally spanned the globe, as she has trained judges in Turkey and lawyers in Russia on the American right of free speech and American constitutional traditions.

Jennifer has handled more than 80 cases in appellate courts across the country, including the First District Court of Appeals, the Ohio Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court, and the federal courts of appeals for the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits.

Jennifer believes that the law can be an agent for positive change in the community and wants to ensure that the courts are fair, equitable, efficient, and accessible for all people.

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?

If elected, I will reduce delay in decision making by identifying the drivers that contribute to the over 180-day average decision timeline. Six months is too long for people to wait for decisions that impact aspects of their daily lives and legal rights.
If elected, I will enhance access and transparency by launching a public education program to share the work of the court of appeals with the general public. I will work with community partners like the public library system and K-12 education systems to better inform the public on how the decisions of the appellate courts impact everyday Ohioans.
If elected, I will ensure that the court reflects the community it serves by creating a program to prepare the next generation of appellate court judges for service. I will leverage my relationships with local law schools to develop judicial pipeline programs for students interested in pursuing careers in the judiciary.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Judges do not advance public policy. They hear cases based on the facts and decide them based on the law. The only aspects of public policy that impact judges are those that pertain to how the courts perform their work, not how judges decide cases. Courts can be more accessible to the public by taking advantage of technology to reach parties and lawyers away from the courthouse. Courts can be more environmentally friendly in the consumption of products and the operation of court systems. Courts can also be more responsive to data that reveals disparities in outcomes. I am passionate about ensuring that court systems are equitable for everyone, not just those who can afford to access them.

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

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Candidate

Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Officeholder

Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 10, 2022

[bio-1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 10, 2022

[1]

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Jennifer Kinsley

Contents

Biography

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Ohio First District Court of Appeals

Campaign finance

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

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