Who is running for Judge, Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, Probate Division (Full term commencing 2-9-2027) in 2026?

Attorney in private practice, Cincinnati

Elizabeth A. Tye, who is also referred to in local coverage as Elizabeth Tye-Bristol, is a Cincinnati attorney challenging incumbent Probate Judge Ralph Winkler on the November 3, 2026 ballot²³¹. Detailed education and career history could not be confirmed from sources opened for this profile. Ohio prints no party next to judicial candidates on the general election ballot, so this race is nonpartisan on the ballot.

• Attorney in private practice, Cincinnati²³
• Not a sitting judge. Nominated in the Democratic primary for the 2026 election¹⁴.
• Bar poll: Cincinnati Bar Association 2026 Hamilton County Judicial Candidate Poll. The CBA describes it as a confidential, nonpartisan survey sent to its active attorney members (the results sheet says 2,500 members of the Cincinnati legal community); 170 members responded, rating only candidates they had contact with in the past four years, on six categories, with a stated margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. It is a non-binding member survey of attorney opinion, not an endorsement or a rating by the bar association. For Elizabeth A. Tye, 53 respondents reported contact. Of those, the share rating the candidate Excellent: administrative diligence 25%, communication skills 32%, community engagement 40%, integrity/impartiality/objectivity 36%, legal experience 30%, professionalism/temperament 36%. The share rating Below Average, in the same order: 19%, 28%, 13%, 32%, 26%, 28%⁵⁶.

Judge, Hamilton County Probate Court

Ralph Winkler has been Hamilton County Probate Judge since 2015 and was re-elected in November 2020 for the term ending February 8, 2027³². He was a Hamilton County Municipal Court judge from 1999 to 2005 and a Common Pleas General Division judge from 2005 to 2015, and before that an assistant county prosecutor and private practice attorney⁴³. In August 2024 the Supreme Court of Ohio publicly reprimanded him over 2022 Facebook comments about a pending guardianship case⁵. Ohio prints no party next to judicial candidates on the general election ballot, so this race is nonpartisan on the ballot.

• Judge, Hamilton County Probate Court, since 2015; re-elected November 2020; current term ends February 8, 2027³²
• Judge, Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, General Division, until 2015; his 2020 candidate profile gives 2005 as the start year and his campaign site gives 2004⁴³
• Judge, Hamilton County Municipal Court, 1999 to 2005⁴³
• Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor, 1987 to 1999, and private practice in probate, personal injury, real estate and civil matters⁴
• JD, Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University; law clerk at the Court of Common Pleas during law school from 1983⁴
• Began on the Municipal Court in 1999, served on the Common Pleas General Division from 2005, and was elected Probate Judge in 2014, taking office in 2015; re-elected in November 2020³⁴². Nominated in the Republican primary for re-election in 2026¹⁶.
• Bar poll: Cincinnati Bar Association 2026 Hamilton County Judicial Candidate Poll. The CBA describes it as a confidential, nonpartisan survey sent to its active attorney members (the results sheet says 2,500 members of the Cincinnati legal community); 170 members responded, rating only candidates they had contact with in the past four years, on six categories, with a stated margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. It is a non-binding member survey of attorney opinion, not an endorsement or a rating by the bar association. For Ralph Winkler, 104 respondents reported contact. Of those, the share rating the candidate Excellent: administrative diligence 67%, communication skills 59%, community engagement 62%, integrity/impartiality/objectivity 67%, legal experience 73%, professionalism/temperament 69%. The share rating Below Average, in the same order: 6%, 7%, 8%, 11%, 4%, 9%⁷⁸.
• Public discipline: Public reprimand by the Supreme Court of Ohio, decided August 21, 2024 (Ohio State Bar Assn. v. Winkler, 2024-Ohio-3141)⁹⁵. Winkler admitted every allegation. The court found that in January 2019 an assistant court administrator he had authorized to answer public inquiries told a reporter, incorrectly, that a woman in a pending guardianship case had been removed from her home because of unsafe conditions and a son's lack of care, and that on October 7, 2022 Winkler himself posted comments on the probate court's Facebook page repeating those claims about the son, which he stipulated were incorrect, misleading and unsupported by the record. He deleted the posts within a couple of hours, handed control of the page to staff, apologized on the record, and recused himself from the case in August 2023. The court found four violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct, noted his clean prior record, that the board found he had not intentionally posted inaccurate information, and that he was highly unlikely to repeat it, and imposed a public reprimand with costs taxed to him⁹. The opinion records his testimony that the court's policy is now to avoid disclosing details of pending cases and to obtain signed releases from families before discussing their cases publicly⁹.