With only a slight lead in the race for Ingham County's 30th Circuit Court judge seat, one candidate wouldn't be resting until she knew.
"I'm not going to bed tonight if I don't know," Joyce Draganchuk said while waiting for results with friends at Trippers sports bar, 354 Frandor Ave. in Lansing. "I'm optimistic, we've had a small number of precincts gathered around the county and it looks good. It's still early but I'm optimistic.
"I've done my work. I've worked real hard for seven months now."
With only a few precincts reporting at the time of press, polls had Draganchuk leading Michael Brian Cavanaugh by slim margin.
But, Cavanaugh, who had the flu, seemed relaxed about the race while waiting for poll results at The Exchange, 314 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, with friends and supporters.
"I'm confident in the campaign," he said. "I put together a great group of supporters. It was all grassroots."
Circuit court judges hear civil cases involving more than $25,000 and criminal cases, generally felonies, involving prison time. The family division of the court handles domestic issues, such as divorce and child abuse.
Draganchuk has been an assistant prosecutor for the Ingham County Courthouse for the last 16 years. She was named chief assistant prosecutor in 2001.
Her duties included handling a $5 million budget and supervising 32 assistant prosecutors. She worked on civil and criminal cases with the Michigan Court of Appeals.
During her career with the county, Draganchuk has had more than 100 jury cases, including the successful prosecution of Robert Durfee, who murdered Lansing State Journal sports writer Bob Gross in 1997.
Draganchuk started her career as a messenger for a law firm. She has financially supported herself since she was 18 as a student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. After graduating University of Michigan-Dearborn with a degree in philosophy, she attended Wayne State University for law school.
Cavanaugh is an attorney and partner in the firm of Butzel Long in Lansing.
Cavanaugh graduated from Okemos High School, and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. He then entered the University of Denver's environmental law program.
Cavanaugh said his experience with civil cases would be valuable since the Ingham County Circuit Judges recently decided that 75 percent of new judges time will be devoted to civil, noncriminal matters.
He also said the number of cases plea bargained out is troublesome in the current circuit court. Cavanaugh is supportive of a substance abuse court and believes college students who make a drinking mistake should be kept separate from chronic offenders.
Cavanaugh resides in Okemos with his wife Amy Moore Cavanaugh and two daughters, Molly and Maeve.
