Circuit Court Judge Craig McCarthy, 56, who was appointed to the bench to fill a vacancy in 2022 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is fending off a challenge from litigator and former Assistant State Attorney Stephen Brown in what’s become a contentious Aug. 20 race for Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Group 43. The annual salary for the position is $182,060.

Early voting takes place Aug. 5-18. Check our list for locations. Mail-in ballots can be dropped off at any early voting site but must be returned to the Supervisor of Elections office by 7 p.m. on Aug. 20.

Family advocate

McCarthy grew up in Brevard County in Satellite Beach. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point — the first in his family to go to college, he told a July 14 forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Orange County, Florida. Then he served in the U.S. Army from 1989 to 1992 as a lieutenant in the Berlin Brigade where he experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Writing in Ballotpedia’s candidate survey, McCarthy said he “spoke with many Germans on both sides of the Wall and came to appreciate how much the rule of law is necessary for people to flourish and have an avenue to seek redress of their grievances.”

As an attorney, McCarthy worked in employment and civil rights law and medical license regulation, but his specialty was juvenile and dependency law. He is board certified in juvenile law and told the League of Women Voters forum that he’s “made a career representing parents caught up in the system with Department of Children and Families and many hundreds of children in foster care.” He’s also been a guardian ad litem for children in lock-down facilities before going into private practice.

Legal trouble

During the League of Women Voters forum, McCarthy said it was early in his career when he was representing domestic violence survivors and divorce petitioners that he came to recognize the moment when an abuser realized the power dynamic shifted because of a powerful advocate. He said that he and his wife built a law practice around “protecting the vulnerable and being in the corner of those who need a little courage.”

However, in 1997, McCarthy faced his own battery and burgulary charges. According to an April 1997 arrest affidavit from the Cocoa Police Department, he was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling and battery for pushing a woman several times and refusing to leave her apartment. She was able to call the police once he finally left her apartment to stand outside her doorway. The affidavit noted that McCarthy was under the influence of alcohol. McCarthy posted $2,500 bond, and the charges were later dropped.

Two months later, McCarthy was stopped by Satellite Beach Police for running a Stop sign. He failed a sobriety test and was charged with DUI and driving an unregistered vehicle, according to the arrest affidavit. He paid a $500 bond, his license was suspended for six months, and he was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. Later that month, McCarthy was found to be in violation of his probation for not completing his community service hours. He opted to pay a $500 fine instead.

Brown has blasted McCarthy on his campaign website and in a July 13 Facebook post for not completing his community service requirement, calling it “an embarrassment to the legal community.”

In his application to the bench, McCarthy mentioned the DUI and said he was sentenced to community service and a license suspension, but failed to mention he did not complete his service and paid a fine.

McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment.

Conservative politics

McCarthy was a conservative politician, and a registered Republican, before joining the bench. He was elected as Soil and Water District Supervisor and Chair for the Ochlockonee River Soil and Water Conservation District and made an unsuccessful run for the Florida House in District 36 in 2010. A Tea Party supporter, he caravanned with other Tea Partiers to Arizona to show support for their immigration law, the harshest in the country at the time. Critics said the law encouraged profiling because law enforcement was permitted to ask about immigration status during routine traffic stops. It was a misdemeanor for undocumented immigrants to be in the state and carried penalties that included fines and jail time.

McCarthy has taken heat recently for statements he made in CourtZero, a book and audio book he self-published in 2004, like lauding former Alabama Judge and Senate candidate Roy Moore — the one banned from a shopping mall for sexually harassing teenage girls — for taking “a stand against activism.” Moore was removed as Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2003 when he refused to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse. (Moore was re-elected in 2012, then suspended in 2016 for ordering judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Eight women have since accused him of sexual assault and he’s facing a defamation case for calling one woman a liar.)

McCarthy also blogged at StopTheACLU.com.  (The American Civil Liberties Union exists to "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”)

In a sign of how heated this race has gotten, Brown has a page of his campaign site with excerpts of McCarthy’s book highlighted and critiqued. McCarthy and his lawyer have sent Brown a cease and desist letter for copyright infringement. Brown has claimed fair use.

On the bench

In 2021, Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Donald Myers appointed McCarthy to the Ninth Circuit as a General Magistrate. According to the job description, this is a “quasi-judicial” position that is empowered to “conduct hearings, make findings of fact, prepare reports and recommendations to the Circuit Judges, as well as draft proposed orders.” Magistrates work in the juvenile, family law, civil and probate divisions. The following year, DeSantis appointed McCarthy to replace retiring Circuit Court Judge Bob LeBlanc. In his two years on the bench, McCarthy has  worked in the juvenile delinquency and family law (aka domestic relations) divisions.

• Judicial philosophy: McCarthy told VoxPopuli in a brief interview that he follows the Florida Statutes. “Most of the time, I just read the statute and do what it says,” he said. But he acknowledged that “the words aren’t always 100 percent clear.” In those cases, he said, “the law gives me broad discretion to act in the best interest of children.”

• On judicial activism: McCarthy wrote on Ballotpedia: “The courts are not to designed to, nor are they well equipped to, set public policy. The principle of separation of powers requires that judges only apply the law and not seek to make the law. Particularly at the trial court level where Judge McCarthy works, the judge's responsibility is to settle the dispute(s) between the individuals before him or her according to the law.”

• Integrity: McCarthy said he stays out of politics now. “When I took this job on, I no longer have public opinions about political issues.”

• Impartiality: “When I’m wearing the robe and sitting in the chair, I am very cognisant of every word I say, it’s very important,” McCarthy said. “Whether somebody has a lawyer or they’re representing themselves, I always — almost always — explain to people what’s going to be happening, and I promise both sides will be heard.”

• On the Federalist Society: Founded in 1982, the Federalist Society promotes conservative and libertarian ideology in the justice system. Five of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices are members. McCarthy explained his membership, saying he belonged while in law school at Florida State University because it was “the only organization I knew at Florida State College of Law that had debate events with both sides.” He said he found membership valuable, but did not become a member again until after he was on the bench. Then, McCarthy said he joined “a number of local organizations,” and he paid dues to the Society for the calendar year of 2023, but does not plan to renew.