With the changing political climate in the Mahoning Valley, it didn’t come as a major shock that Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice, a longtime Democrat, switched political parties and filed as a Republican.

But after pledging her allegiance to being a Republican, Rice withdrew from the race Tuesday, about three weeks after she filed.

Having an incumbent change political parties when seeking reelection was uncommon in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

It isn’t so much anymore as Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene did it in 2024, going from a Democrat to Republican. Mahoning County Probate Court Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr. is running this year for reelection as a Republican after years of being unaffiliated with a political party.

Rice has a long history with the Democratic Party, voting in its primaries for several years and running four times as the party’s nominee for a seat on the 11th District Court of Appeals and then as its nominee in 2022 for her position on the common pleas bench. She also unsuccessfully ran in 2016 as a Democrat for a spot on the Ohio Supreme Court.

This was before the Republican-controlled state Legislature changed the law, effective in 2022, that requires judicial candidates for the Supreme Court and appeals courts to run with party affiliation on the general election ballot. Before that, party affiliation wasn’t listed on general election ballots for those positions. They still aren’t for lower court seats, but political parties do their best to let voters know who their candidates are.

Greene ran as a Democrat and consistently voted in the party’s primaries. But he switched to Republican when he ran for reelection in 2024. The 2024 primary was the first time Greene ever voted in a Republican primary. Greene ran unopposed for reelection.

Rusu, a longtime independent, filed as a Republican in the May 5 primary. Despite his July 2014 appointment to an open seat by then-Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, and repeated wooing by the county Republican Party, Rusu resisted until this election to file as a Republican. He voted in a Republican primary for the first time in 2024.

Rusu is running unopposed for probate court judge unless someone files as an independent by the May 4 deadline.

Back in 2024, David DeChristofaro, who previously served as Trumbull County engineer as a Democrat, and Agostino Ragozzino, a Democrat, both switched political parties and won their elections as engineer and county treasurer, respectively. In 2022, Denny Malloy was elected Trumbull County commissioner, two years after losing an election for a different commissioner seat as an independent. When Al Cutrona was appointed May 28, 2020, by Republicans to a state House seat representing a portion of Mahoning County, it came exactly a month after the first time he ever voted in a Republican primary. All of this got me thinking about the candidates on the May 5 primary ballot. There is a registered Democrat running as a Republican for a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judicial seat, another one running as a Republican for the 7th District Court of Appeals and a registered Republican running as a Democrat for a 7th District Court position as a write-in.

Also, Christopher Becker, Trumbull County’s first assistant prosecutor who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat in 2024 for a judicial seat, will file as an independent for Rice’s seat. But that is likely because he got caught flat-footed by Rice’s decision to run for reelection as a Republican rather than as a Democrat. Ross T. Smith is running against Eddie Czopur in the GOP primary for the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court seat currently held by Republican Judge R. Scott Krichbaum. Krichbaum recently named Smith as his magistrate and supports his candidacy.

Smith has never voted in a Republican primary, according to Mahoning County Board of Elections voting records that date back to the 2010 general election. It shows he voted in Democratic primaries in every even year from 2012 to 2024.

Czopur has voted in the 2022 and 2024 Republican primaries. The only other primary in which he voted, dating back to the election board’s online records, was in 2018 as a Democrat.

The winner of that primary will face Democrat Mark D’Apolito. D’Apolito last voted in a Democratic primary in 2016.

Katherine E. Rudzik, the Mahoning County clerk of courts’ chief deputy clerk and a registered Republican, filed to run as a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary for a seat on the 7th District Court of Appeals.

Rudzik voted in the 2022 and 2024 Republican primaries. She told me she’s “always considered” herself a Democrat and voted in those GOP primaries to support local candidates she knew running in those races.

The Republican primary for that appeals position is between Mark A. Hanni and David Comstock. Hanni was elected to the appeals court in 2022 — the first time he voted in a Republican primary in at least 10 years. It also was the same year he appeared on the ballot for a different court of appeals seat as a Republican. Hanni also voted in the 2024 Republican primary and voted in Democratic primaries in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Comstock voted in the 2024 Republican primary. Before that, he voted in Democratic primaries in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.

The Republican primary for the other court of appeals seat up for election this year pits Molly Johnson, a reliable GOP primary voter, against Donald P. Scott, a registered Democrat who voted in that party’s primaries in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.

Arguably, the most partisan political seat on the primary ballot is for Democrat and Republican state central committeeman and woman. These are the people who make key decisions in their respective political parties, including who is elected as chair.

Mike Ray, the Democratic state central committeeman in the 33rd District, is a reliable Democratic primary voter. He is challenged by Scott Cochran, who last voted in a Democratic primary in 2020.

The state Democratic Party recently appointed Renee M. Kenneally, the cousin of party Chairwoman Kathleen Clyde, as committeewoman in the 33rd. Kenneally hasn’t voted in a Democratic primary since 2018 while Maria Papas, the county Democratic Party’s vice chairwoman, is a steady Democratic primary voter.