WARREN — After switching her party affiliation to Republican to run for reelection to the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court bench, Cynthia Westcott Rice, elected five times as judge as a Democrat, withdrew her candidacy.

Rice submitted a letter Tuesday to the Trumbull County Board of Elections to officially remove her name as a candidate for her judicial seat.

Rice said she will retire when her term ends Dec. 31.

Rice said she withdrew for “personal reasons. It’s just a good time for me to retire. I just don’t think it’s anyone’s business (why I decided not to run again). I’m going to pursue other opportunities.”

Asked why she changed her mind to not seek reelection, Rice said, “Things happen; changes in life. I’m very close to retirement, so I decided to retire. It was a good time.”

Since the longtime Democrat filed as a Republican for reelection, Rice faced criticism from some in the GOP, accusing her of switching parties for opportunistic reasons as Trumbull has gone from a longtime Democratic stronghold county to a Republican one in recent years. Republicans won every contested race on the 2022 and 2024 ballots in the county.

While common pleas court judges don’t run with party affiliation in the general election, the winners of Republican judicial primaries are part of the party’s advertising and slate cards.

Because of the state’s age-limit law for judges, this would have been the last time Rice could run for a judicial office.

Shortly after Rice filed as a Republican, Rice said on Feb. 4 she did so because it “is where I feel comfortable. I was born and raised as a Republican and only switched in 1992 when my husband ran for office. That was my only connection” to the Democratic Party.

When asked why she decided to switch for this election, Rice said Feb. 4, “It’s a good time for me personally. It seems like the entire makeup of our community has shifted. The Republican Party has welcomed me with open arms so I made the switch. It’s been very refreshing. All of our community leaders are Republicans and we don’t seem to have community leaders who are Democrats. Things have changed so I have changed.”

With Rice no longer in the Republican primary, those remaining are Mary Ellen Ditchey, who is Rice’s magistrate, and Devon Stanley, a Liberty township trustee and the county’s deputy clerk of courts. Stanley is facing a felonious assault charge for an alleged domestic violence altercation Oct. 23 involving his wife, but a grand jury has thus far not issued an indictment in the case.

Trumbull Democrats were surprised when Rice filed as a Republican. It didn’t give the party enough time to find a candidate for the judicial position.

Unless an independent candidate files by the May 4 deadline — which is one day before the primary — the winner of the Republican primary would be unopposed in the Nov. 3 general election for the judicial spot.

Republican political consultant Regina McManus posted Saturday on Facebook: “I am concerned about Cindy Rice, a Democrat judge for nearly 20 years, seeking to switch to the Republican Party apparently to retain her seat. I take issue with the decision as it seems opportunistic given my own lengthy commitment to the Republican Party. It appears that Cindy Rice’s actions are not convincing to me nor do I believe they align with the values of the Republican Party!! What’s even more disturbing is that Cindy Rice’s own magistrate Mary Ellen Ditchey filed to run for the same seat. (You don’t run against your own boss.) What are you 2 up to?”

Rice has a long history with the Democratic Party, voting in its primaries for several years. Though party affiliation wasn’t listed on general election ballots, Rice was first elected as a Democrat in 2002 to the 11th District Court of Appeals and reelected in 2008, 2014 and 2020. She also unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat in 2016 for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court.

Since 2022, party affiliation for Supreme Court and courts of appeals candidates in Ohio are included on general election ballots.

Rice was the Democratic nominee in 2022 for a common pleas court seat left vacant after the early retirement of Judge Peter Kontos, a Democrat.

Rice ended up running unopposed when Sarah Thomas Kovoor, the Republican nominee, was ruled ineligible by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, and the Republican-controlled Ohio Supreme Court. Kovoor also lost a federal lawsuit over the issue.

Kovoor was ruled ineligible because of the state’s “sore loser” statute because she had unsuccessfully run for an 11th District seat in the Republican primary earlier in 2022.

Kovoor would go on to win a common pleas court seat in 2024 and serves with Rice.

The two also serve on the common pleas bench with Ronald Rice, Cynthia’s estranged husband.

She filed for divorce July 16 citing “gross neglect of duty, extreme cruelty and adultery,” according to the Trumbull County court docket. She was granted a restraining order against her husband five days after the filing. The contested divorce is still pending with the case expected to begin April 16, court records show.