Ben Souede — one of two candidates vying for his Multnomah County Circuit Court judge seat — certainly has a lot of support this election.

Many big names in Oregon's justice system have endorsed him: Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, all seven state Supreme Court justices, and 35 of 37 his Multnomah County Circuit Court colleagues.

Of course, Gov. Kate Brown has endorsed him, too. Souede formerly worked as general counsel for the governor's office, until Brown bypassed the traditional application process and appointed him to his current judgeship in July 2017.

That doesn't seem right to Souede’s opponent, Portland attorney Bob Callahan.

Callahan said he decided to challenge Souede because doesn’t approve of a system where judges often retire part way through their terms — allowing the governor to choose their replacement. By the time the next election rolls around, the new judge can run as the incumbent, giving him or her a significant advantage.

“I fundamentally believe in democracy, and it’s not democratic to have the executive from one branch of government controlling who is in the other branch of government,” Callahan told The Oregonian/OregonLive this week.

Souede, however, said the system in which the governor fills judicial vacancies is laid out in the Oregon Constitution, and there's nothing underhanded about it. When the next election arrives, voters have the power to show their approval or dissatisfaction with that choice, he said.

"The system is working exactly as it was designed," Souede said.

Souede said his judicial experience and track record make him very qualified for the job — and his endorsements show others agree.

Souede (pronounced "suede") graduated from Harvard Law School in 2002. He worked in private practice representing big and small businesses in complex civil litigation, as well as criminal defense work. He advised the governor on a wide array of legal matters from 2015 to 2017.

In becoming a judge, Souede took a pay cut, from approximately $143,000 to about $130,000 a year.

Callahan, who graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School, has practiced law in Portland for more than 30 years and has tried more than 100 jury trials — both civil and criminal. He sees that as an advantage over his rival, whom he says never tried any jury trials while working as a lawyer.

Souede responded that there are many areas of law, and that he focused on areas that didn't require jury trials. He said he's presided over 40 trials as a judge.

Callahan said that while Souede has captured many endorsements from judges, Callahan has gathered his support from the community — from some lawyers, teachers, community activists and others.

Callahan said he’s running to give voters a choice.

“Once somebody gets the moniker of being an incumbent, nobody wants to run against them because it’s such a hard road,” Callahan said. “That’s the situation I’m in, because it’s common knowledge that it’s impossible.”

The seat Souede and Callahan are competing for — Position 30 — is the only contested position of four positions in Multnomah County Circuit Court that are up for vote Nov. 6.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

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