Incumbent Judge Darleen Ortega won a rare contested race for a seat on the Oregon Court of Appeals.

In partial returns, Ortega commanded 63% of the vote compared with 37% for challenger Vance Day, who was suspended for misconduct when he was a Marion County Circuit Court judge.

Ortega, a law instructor and occasional newspaper film critic, became the first woman of color and the only Latina to serve on Oregon’s second-highest court in 2003. Her campaign vowed to increase equity in the legal system for marginalized groups.

Day, former chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, campaigned on a platform of bringing ideological diversity to the state’s intermediate appellate court. In 2018, the Oregon Supreme Court suspended Day from the bench for making false statements related to his refusal to marry same-sex couples and other misconduct.

Across Oregon, incumbent judges rarely face serious challengers, as most judges choose to retire mid-term, allowing the governor to handpick a successor, who can then run as an already-established judge during the next election.

The Oregon Appeals Court last saw a multi-candidate election in 2020, when defense attorney Kyle Krohn challenged and lost to incumbent Joel DeVore. Krohn also lost a challenge against incumbent Rex Armstrong in 2018.

This year’s face-off led to an unusual degree of money-raising. Campaign finance records show Ortega raised $82,000 and has spent all but $13,000, though those figures may actually be higher or lower, as candidates can wait up to seven days to report money they’ve raised or spent.

Day collected $69,000 and has $4,000 on hand, records show.

In an interview during the run-up to the election, Day, 61, described himself as a strict constructionist who interprets the Constitution as it was originally intended.

“I fall into more of the historical conservative view of how a court should function,” he told The Oregonian. “A court is designed, from my viewpoint to call balls and strikes. It’s not to start running around the bases and helping one team or the other.”

The Oregon Supreme Court’s decision to suspend him followed a recommendation from the state’s Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability. The ruling was spurred by controversies regarding Day’s refusal to marry same-sex couples and a portrait of Adolf Hitler that was part of a large art display in the Veterans Treatment Court over which Day presided.

Felony gun charges and misdemeanor misconduct charges, which centered on allegations that Day had let a felon handle a gun, were dismissed at the last minute after a key witness refused to testify.

Ortega, 59, previously said in a statement that her experience as a Latina from a challenging background had allowed her to “deepen the conversation” when the 13 Court of Appeals judges confer as a group. She has also advocated for allowing law students to become lawyers through real-world experience and apprenticeships, as an alternative to passing the bar exam.

She rejected the narrative the judges should only act as umpires of the law.

“Resolution of legal disputes involves nuance and subjectivity, as well as knowledge of the law,” she said in a statement. “Good judges are well-informed and interested in the communities they serve. And we are also aware of the barriers to access in our justice system and look for ways to navigate the limits of the judicial role, while working to achieve true justice for all parties.”