Running for the court of appeals — particularly for the first time and especially for an open seat — is an expensive venture.

When Katelyn Dickey ran in 2024 for a vacant seat on the Youngstown-based 7th District Court of Appeals, she loaned $205,000 to her campaign fund with her husband providing $150,000.

Dickey raised only $5,800 for the campaign from outside donors with $5,000 coming from the Columbiana County Republican Party.

Judicial candidates need to use their personal wealth to fund campaigns because they are prohibited from receiving campaign contributions until 180 days before a primary election under the Ohio Rules of Judicial Conduct.

But judicial candidates are permitted to make personal contributions to their campaign committees starting 270 days before the primary.

Dickey beat Mary DeGenaro, a former Ohio Supreme Court justice who served 17 years on the appeals bench, 69.3% to 30.7%.

DeGenaro’s husband loaned $45,000 to her campaign.

Less than a month after Dickey’s Republican primary win, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed her to the open seat vacated by David D’Apolito, a Democrat, who became Canfield city manager rather than run and almost certainly lose reelection.

With Republicans losing races for courts of appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court, they came up with a plan to stop that.

Before the 2022 election, judicial candidates ran in partisan primaries and when the general election occurred party affiliation wasn’t on the ballot.

Since the change, Republicans have won every judicial race for the Supreme Court as well as every election for the 7th District Court of Appeals and the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals.

Democrats didn’t bother to run candidates in the two appeals districts in 2024 and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the same thing happened next year as the districts are solidly Republican.

While Republicans made historic inroads last year in Mahoning, the county is still competitive.

Mahoning is by far the most populous county in the district, but the other counties are overwhelmingly Republican — Columbiana, Belmont, Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe and Noble.

In just a short time, thanks largely to President Donald Trump, Trumbull went from a historically Democratic county to a solid Republican one.

Trumbull is the second most-populous county in the 11th District Court of Appeals. The other counties in the district are Lake (the most populous), Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage.

With the party affiliation law in place, Mary Jane Trapp, the last Democrat in the 11th District, decided not to run for reelection last year. Trapp instead lost a Geauga County Common Pleas Court race last year and died a few months ago.

Scott Lynch won the 2024 Republican primary for that open seat, loaning $60,000 to his campaign.

Cheryl Waite, the last Democrat on the 7th District Court of Appeals and its longest-tenured member with nearly 29 years on the bench, won’t run for reelection next year even though she can.

She obviously sees what’s happened — the Republican primary is the actual election.

Also, Republican Carol Ann Robb cannot run for reelection next year because of the state’s age-limit law for judges so there are two seats open on the 7th District bench in the 2026 election.

Mahoning County Court Judge Molly Johnson filed her nominating petitions Tuesday for the May 5, 2026, Republican primary for Robb’s seat.

Johnson likely cleared a lane for herself by saying she plans to spend $200,000 of her own money on the election and lining up several key Republican endorsements.

Republican David “Chip” Comstock Jr., a lawyer since 1988, said he will run next year for the seat currently held by Waite. Comstock serves as the Mahoning County Bar Association’s grievance committee counsel and as the Western Reserve Joint Fire District chief for more than 25 years,

But Republican Mark A. Hanni, elected in 2022 to the court of appeals, will also run for a different court of appeals seat next year. In all likelihood it will be the one currently occupied by Waite.

Hanni cannot run for reelection in 2028 because of the state’s age-limit restriction on judges.

But if he runs next year and wins, he’ll get to serve a new six-year term. In other words, he would get to stay on the bench for an additional four years. If he loses, he’ll continue to serve his current term.

Before Hanni ran as a Republican in 2022 — defeating Democrat Gene Donofrio, a 30-year incumbent, 58.6% to 41.4% — he sought judicial office numerous times without success.

Republicans in 2022 couldn’t find anyone to run against Donofrio so Hanni filed as a write-in candidate in order to qualify for the general election.

In the 2022 race, Hanni loaned $60,000 to his campaign while Donofrio gave $32,000 to his campaign.

We will have to see what Hanni does and how much he and Comstock give to their election bids.

Feb. 4 is the filing deadline for the 2026 primary.

David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.