Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

	Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals
	Court information
Judges:	4
Salary:	Associates: $178,108
	Judicial selection
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	6 years

Districts of the Ohio District Courts of Appeals

The Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals is one of 12 Ohio District Courts of Appeal. It is based in Youngstown, Ohio, and presides over Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Jefferson, Mahoning, Monroe and Noble counties.^[1]

Published opinions of the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals can be found here.

Judges

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Carol Ann Robb	November 4, 2014 - Present	Elected
Cheryl Waite	February 10, 1997 - Present	Elected
Mark Hanni	February 9, 2023 - Present	Elected
Katelyn Dickey	April 10, 2024 - Present	Richard Michael DeWine

Salary

See also: Ohio court salaries and budgets

In 2025, the associate judges of the court received a salary of $178,108, according to the National Center for State Courts.^[3]

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Ohio

The judges of the Ohio District Courts of Appeal are selected through partisan primaries and partisan general elections. Previously, these judges were selected through partisan primaries and nonpartisan general elections, known as the Michigan method.^[4]^[5] The number of judges on the court of appeals varies by district over time, based on district size and caseload. Each district has between four and 12 judges.^[6]

All judges serve six-year terms, after which they are required to run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court. District courts of appeal candidates are chosen in their respective appellate districts.^[7]

Qualifications

To serve on the Ohio District Courts of Appeals, a judge must:

have at least six years in the practice of law;
be licensed to practice law in the state for at least one year preceding appointment or commencement of the judge's term;
a judge of a court of record in any jurisdiction in the U.S.; and
be under the age of 70.^[8]

Presiding judge

The manner in which the presiding judge is chosen for each appellate district varies among the districts.^[9]

Vacancies

In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement. The appointee serves until the next general election taking place 40 or more days after the vacancy occurred. If re-elected, the judge serves the remainder of his or her predecessor's unexpired term.^[7]

Elections

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Katelyn Dickey (R) won election in the general election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Katelyn Dickey (R)	100.0	184,858

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 184,858
= 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.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary scheduled for March 19, 2024, was canceled.

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Katelyn Dickey (R) defeated Mary DeGenaro (R) in the Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on March 19, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Katelyn Dickey	69.3	38,125
	Mary DeGenaro	30.7	16,897

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 55,022
= 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.

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Mark Hanni (R) defeated incumbent Gene Donofrio (D) in the general election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Mark Hanni (R)	58.6	110,739
		Gene Donofrio (D)	41.4	78,243

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 188,982
= 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.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Gene Donofrio (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gene Donofrio	100.0	22,111

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 22,111
= 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.

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Mark Hanni (R) advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Mark Hanni (Write-in)	100.0	821

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 821
= 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.

Waite's seat: Term February 10, 2021

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Cheryl Waite (Nonpartisan) won election in the general election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cheryl Waite (Nonpartisan)	100.0	170,104

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 170,104
= 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.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Cheryl Waite (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on April 28, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cheryl Waite	100.0	34,367

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,367
= 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.

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for April 28, 2020, was canceled.

Robb's seat: Term February 9, 2021

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Carol Ann Robb (Nonpartisan) won election in the general election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carol Ann Robb (Nonpartisan)	100.0	180,449

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 180,449
= 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.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary scheduled for April 28, 2020, was canceled.

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Incumbent Carol Ann Robb (R) advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on April 28, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carol Ann Robb	100.0	29,628

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,628
= 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.

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

David A. D'Apolito (D) defeated Kathleen Bartlett (R) in the general election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David A. D'Apolito (D)	51.1	88,253
	Submit photo	Kathleen Bartlett (R)	48.9	84,409

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 172,662
= 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.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

David A. D'Apolito (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on May 8, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David A. D'Apolito	100.0	28,641

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 28,641
= 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

Holly Hanni (D)

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Kathleen Bartlett (R) advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals on May 8, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Kathleen Bartlett	100.0	21,517

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 21,517
= 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.

Previous election results

2016

See also: Ohio judicial elections, 2016

Candidates

Judge Donofrio's seat

■ Gene Donofrio (D) (Unopposed/Incumbent)

Election results

November 8 general election

Incumbent Gene Donofrio ran unopposed in the general election for the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals, Donofrio's seat.

Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals, Donofrio's Seat, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gene Donofrio Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	165,131
Total Votes (100% reporting)				165,131
Source: Ohio Secretary of State Official Results

March 15 primary election

Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals, Judge Donofrio's Seat Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gene Donofrio Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	47,936
Total Votes				47,936
Source: Ohio Secretary of State Official Results

2014

See also: Ohio judicial elections, 2014

Term commencing 2/9/2015

Candidate	Incumbency	Party	Primary Vote	Election Vote
RobbCarol Ann Robb A	No	Republican	100%A	53.1% A
EnglerDavid Lee Engler	No	Democratic	32%
DonofrioAnthony Donofrio	No	Democratic	68%A	46.9% D

Unopposed	Judge Cheryl Waite (Term commencing 2/10/2015)

2010

See also: Ohio judicial elections, 2010

Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals 2010 elections
Court	Candidates	Details	Results
Seventh District, Term Commencing February 9	(D): Gene Donofrio	Gene Donofrio was up for re-election.	Gene Donofrio^[10]

Ethics

The Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct sets forth ethical guidelines and principles for the conduct of judges and judicial candidates in Ohio. It consists of four overarching canons:

Canon 1: "A judge shall uphold and promote the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety."
Canon 2: "A judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially, competently, and diligently."
Canon 3: "A judge shall conduct the judge’s personal and extrajudicial activities so as to minimize the risk of conflict with the obligations of judicial office."
Canon 4: "A judge or judicial candidate shall not engage in political or campaign activity that is inconsistent with the independence, integrity, or impartiality of the judiciary."^[11]

The full text of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct can be found here.

Removal of judges

Judges in Ohio may be removed in one of three ways:^[12]^[13]

Retirement, removal or suspension by a special Supreme Court commission.
Removal by a concurrent resolution of two-thirds of the members of both houses of the Ohio General Assembly.
Conviction by a two-thirds vote of the Ohio Senate, upon impeachment by a majority vote of the Ohio House of Representatives.

State profile

Demographic data for Ohio
	Ohio	U.S.
Total population:	11,605,090	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	40,861	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	82.4%	73.6%
Black/African American:	12.2%	12.6%
Asian:	1.9%	5.1%
Native American:	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.5%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	3.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.1%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	26.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$49,429	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	19.6%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Ohio. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Ohio

Ohio voted Republican in five out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, nine are located in Ohio, accounting for 4.37 percent of the total pivot counties.^[14]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Ohio had eight Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 4.42 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Ohio coverage on Ballotpedia

External links

Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals, Website

Footnotes

v • e

Ohio District Courts of Appeals
Judicial selection in Ohio • 2026 elections • Ohio Supreme Court

First District

Peter Stautberg • Marilyn Zayas • Ginger Bock • Jennifer Kinsley •

Second District

Mike Fain • Jeffrey M. Welbaum • Mary Katherine Huffman • Michael L. Tucker • Chris Epley • Ronald Lewis •

Third District

John Willamowski • Richard M. Rogers (Ohio) • William R. Zimmerman • Mark Miller (Ohio court of appeals) • Juergen Waldick •

Fourth District

Peter Abele • Marie Hoover • Mike Hess • Kristy Wilkin •

Fifth District

Scott Gwin • William Hoffman • John Wise • Patricia Delaney • Andrew King (Ohio) •

Sixth District

Thomas Osowik • Gene Zmuda • Steve Yarbrough (Ohio) • Myron Duhart • Christine Mayle • Charles Sulek •

Seventh District

Cheryl Waite • Carol Ann Robb • Mark Hanni • Katelyn Dickey •

Eighth District

Mary Boyle • Sean Gallagher • Mary Kilbane • Emanuella Groves • Kathleen Ann Keough • Anita Laster Mays • Deena R. Calabrese • Eileen T. Gallagher • Timothy McCormack (Ohio) • Michael John Ryan (Ohio) • Eileen A. Gallagher • Michelle Sheehan • Lisa Forbes •

Ninth District

Carla Moore • Donna Carr • Beth Whitmore • Scot Stevenson • Betty Sutton • Jennifer Lee Hensal • Jill Flagg Lanzinger •

Tenth District

Julia L. Dorrian • Terri Jamison • Betsy Luper Schuster • David Leland • Kristin Boggs • Michael Mentel • Carly Edelstein •

Eleventh District

Mary Jane Trapp • Eugene A. Lucci • John Eklund (Ohio) • Matt Lynch • Robert Patton •

Twelfth District

Stephen Powell • Robert Hendrickson (Ohio) • Michael E. Powell (Ohio) • Robin N. Piper • Matthew Byrne •

Ohio courts

Federal courts:

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Ohio, Southern District of Ohio • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Ohio, Southern District of Ohio

State courts:

Ohio Supreme Court • Ohio District Courts of Appeal • Ohio Courts of Common Pleas • Ohio County Courts • Ohio Municipal Courts • Ohio Court of Claims

State resources:

Courts in Ohio • Ohio judicial elections • Judicial selection in Ohio

[1] The Supreme Court of Ohio & The Ohio Judicial System, "Seventh District Court of Appeals"

[2] The salary of the chief judge may be higher than an associate judge.

[3] National Center for State Courts, "2025 Salaries and Rankings," accessed October 8, 2025

[2022update-4] Ohio Secretary of State, “Ohio Candidate Requirement Guide,” accessed December 7, 2021

[2022law-5] Ohio General Assembly, “(Senate Bill Number 80),” accessed December 7, 2021

[coa-6] Supreme Court of Ohio, "Courts of Appeal," accessed September 9, 2024

[OHgeneral-7] 7.0 ^7.1 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Ohio," accessed September 1, 2021

[8] Ohio Laws & Administrative Rules, "Section 2501.02 | Qualification, term, and jurisdiction of appellate judges.," accessed April 12, 2023

[9] Ohio Laws & Administrative Rules, "Section 2501.06 | Presiding judge - administrative judge," accessed April 12, 2023

[sos-10] Ohio Secretary of State, "Live Election Results"

[11] Supreme Court of Ohio, "Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct," accessed August 18, 2025

[12] Ohio Laws & Administrative Rules, "Section 2701.11 | Rules for retirement for disability, removal and suspension for cause of judges.," accessed August 19, 2025

[13] Ohio Laws & Administrative Rules, "Article IV, Section 17 | Judges removable," accessed August 19, 2025

[14] The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

Ohio	Judicial Selection	More Courts

Courts in Ohio Ohio District Courts of Appeals Ohio Supreme Court	Elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Ohio	Federal courts State courts Local courts

Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Court information
Judges:	4
Salary:	Associates: $178,108^[2]
Judicial selection
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	6 years

Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Judges

Salary

Judicial selection

Qualifications

Presiding judge

Vacancies

Elections

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Democratic primary

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Waite's seat: Term February 10, 2021

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Republican primary

Robb's seat: Term February 9, 2021

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Democratic primary

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

General election

General election for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary

Republican primary for Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals

Ethics

Removal of judges

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

Pivot Counties (2016)

Pivot Counties (2020)

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2026 Elections

2025 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

SITE NAVIGATION