Who is running for County Judge, Group 6 (Countywide) in 2026?

Attorney (private practice, Seminole County)

Alena Chaban is an attorney who built a law firm in Seminole County in 2021 with her husband³. She has practiced in family law, criminal defense, traffic law and estate planning and has volunteered as a Guardian ad Litem²³. She is challenging incumbent County Judge Wayne Culver for Seminole County Judge, Group 6¹.

• Attorney in private practice; she and her husband built their law firm in Seminole County in 2021³
• Has handled litigation, parental rights and custody cases, and says she has stood on both sides of nearly every kind of case in Seminole County Court²³
• Volunteer Guardian ad Litem, representing children's interests in court²³
• Not currently a judge. She qualified to run for Seminole County Judge, Group 6, on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot¹.

Judge, Seminole County Court, Group 6

Wayne Culver has been a Seminole County Court judge since 2021 and was first elected in 2020²³. Before that he was a prosecutor, a private practice lawyer and an assistant public defender². On Nov. 27, 2024 the Florida Supreme Court suspended him for 60 days without pay and ordered a public reprimand, after accepting the Judicial Qualifications Commission's findings that he engaged in abusive and intemperate conduct during two separate court proceedings⁴.

• Judge, Seminole County Court, Group 6, since 2021²
• Assistant Public Defender, 18th Judicial Circuit, beginning in 2009, including five years as a supervisor training new attorneys in the misdemeanor division²
• Private law practice, 2004 to 2009²; Assistant State Attorney, 18th Judicial Circuit, 2001 to 2004²
• B.A. in history, University of Central Florida (1995); J.D., Suffolk University Law School (2000)²
• Elected to Seminole County Court, Group 6, in 2020 and a judge since 2021². He is listed as a qualified candidate for re-election on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot¹.
• Public discipline: On Nov. 27, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court, in Inquiry Concerning a Judge, JQC Nos. 2022-189 and 2022-203, No. SC2022-0846, accepted the Judicial Qualifications Commission's findings and conclusions that Judge Culver engaged in abusive and intemperate conduct during two separate court proceedings, on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10, 2022, and violated Canons 1, 2, 3B(2), 3B(4) and 3B(7) of the Code of Judicial Conduct. The court imposed the recommended 60-day suspension without pay and a public reprimand⁴.