Watch: Seminole County judicial candidates answer questions about Supreme Court cases

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional reporting as of Aug. 7, 2026. 

If you’ve found it hard to get information about those running for judge on your ballot, that’s by design. 

The Florida Supreme Court’s Canon 7 limits what a judicial candidate can talk about when running for office. So when retired judge Fred Schott hosted a forum for judicial candidates last week, he told Oviedo Community News he designed the questions to get past that veil. 

“I was a judicial candidate a number of times, and people ask you where do you stand on abortion, and when you say, ‘I’m not allowed to answer that question,’ they take that as an answer – that you’re not willing to (answer),” Schott said. “So there will be some way to glean who these people are, what their qualifications are, and whether you align with what their vision is and their philosophies.”

Check here to see Oviedo Community News’ 2026 Primary Voting Guide, which has responses from every judge running on the 2026 ballot in Seminole County. See below for snippets from the forum. 

Voters in Seminole County have four judge races on the ballot this year. Two are Seminole County Judges, who rule on what’s typically called the “people’s court;” cases with under $50,000 in damages. Many of the people don’t have an attorney representing them.

In Seminole County:

• For Seminole County Judge Group 3, Incumbent Judge Sylvia A. Grunor is facing Nathan A. Skop.
• For Seminole County Judge Group 6, Incumbent Judge Wayne Culver has two challengers: Alena Chaban and Erik Swenk.

For felony cases and civil cases over $50,000, the 18th Judicial Circuit in Melbourne, Florida, is the venue, and covers both Brevard and Seminole Counties. On the ballot this year:

• For the 18th Judicial Circuit Judge Group 4, incumbent Judge Robert Alan Segal is facing challenger Larry Freeman.
• The 18th Judicial Circuit Judge Group 13 is an open seat. Andrea Fant, an assistant public defender, is facing off against George Cole Gaspard, currently legal counsel for the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.  

Andrea Fant has been practicing for 16 years, including seven years as an assistant public defender. 

She said there are a lot of strengths in the judicial system, but a lot of weaknesses. 

“I got tired of hearing myself complain, and I decided I wanted to do something about it,” Fant said. “I think a lot of times people have a misconception about what assistant public defenders do. We’re not condoning our clients’ behavior. We’re protecting their constitutional rights, your constitutional right to due process, your constitutional right to have a fair and impartial jury trial.”

Gaspard said his work was a “calling.”

“Not only have I had the criminal experience as an assistant state attorney in Brevard County, which I did for just shy of seven years, trying everything from misdemeanors all the way up through first-degree felony murder, but now in my role at the sheriff’s office, I have an opportunity to touch almost every type of law,” Gaspar said.  

Sitting judge Culver’s suspension looms in race

An incumbent judge being suspended by the Florida Supreme Court in 2024 loomed over one race 

for Seminole County Judge Group 6, incumbent Judge Wayne Culver has two challengers: Alena Chaban and Erik Swenk.

“You want to be a judge in county court, it’s 90% people skills and it’s 10% legal skills,” Culver said. “But what you want out of a judge is a person who can show up on a Saturday morning at first appearances on a holiday.”

Culver was suspended without pay for 60 days by the Florida Supreme Court in 2024 for “engaging in abusive and intemperate conduct during two separate court proceedings.”  

That was from hearings in two cases: One where he summarily sentenced a man to the maximum penalty of about six months in jail for violating probation, and cut the man off when he later asked to address the court; that man was released on appeal a month later. 

In the second instance the following day, Culver used profanity in the courtroom, telling someone who entered the courtroom during a proceeding to “shut up and sit down.” When the man replied that he was trying to find a seat, Culver asked if he wanted to be held in contempt.

“That’s not shutting up. You want to be held in contempt and go to jail? I asked you a [expletive deleted] question, [expletive deleted].”

During the forum, Schott asked about a judge’s temperament. Many of the candidates said the best thing to do when a judge needs a break is to take a recess. 

Culver agreed, saying he was the only judge who had lost his temper on the bench. He gave more context to those 2024 hearings, saying his father was not getting adequate care by his second wife, and that he was the “sole caregiver.”

“I had taken him (Culver’s father) to the hospital three times already in the past couple of weeks,” Culver said. “And my brother called me and said he’s not answering the phone. And I took the bench anyway. I knew that my dad was probably dying, but I tried to do my job. That was the wrong decision.”

While she didn’t address the 2024 incident directly, Chaban said her campaign and judicial philosophy focus on “committed, consistent, calm.”

“Calm meaning the temperament that a judge needs, especially when you’re in county court and people who are pro se (self represented) that are confused and overwhelmed by the process,” Chaban said. 

The third candidate in the race is Swenk, who is also running against incumbent Culver for Group 6. Swenk told the story of being a hearing officer, and having a person who wouldn’t stop cursing at him and the other attorneys. 

“There are not attorneys there to manage party emotions, so they are running free, and nobody’s coming into court on a good day. Things will hit the fan,” Swenk said. “So being able to manage those emotions is huge, and it’s what I have a lot of experience with. And temperament-wise, I’ve never lost my cool. I’ve never gotten upset about it.” 

Swenk graduated from the police academy, but ultimately couldn’t become a law enforcement officer because of prior run-ins with law enforcement. He said that has helped him grow. 

“In my personal experiences, I faced some life challenges as a juvenile, got involved in the wrong crowd and was fortunate enough to get on a straight path,” Swenk said. “But unfortunately, that kept me from getting into law enforcement.”

Favorite Supreme Court cases hints at differing philosophies

During the candidate, the candidates were asked what their favorite U.S. Supreme Court justice and what the most important case was in recent history.

There are two candidates for Seminole County Judge Group 3. Sylvia Grunor is the incumbent, and she is facing challenger Nathan Skop.

Grunor said her favorite U.S. Supreme Court case is Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that ended legal segregation in schools.

Grunor is from Alabama, as was Justice Hugo Black. She said the separation of schools was based on “racist overtones.” 

“We corrected that, and Justice Black was from Alabama … and he decided that that was all wrong,” Grunor said. “And when I went to school in Alabama … we were just getting away from segregation, and my parents were – they absolutely wanted us to get away from segregation. So that’s my favorite right there.”

Grunor’s opponent Nathan Skop said he “wasn’t shy.” The most important decision in the last 50 years was Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case overturning Roe v. Wade. 

“The Dobbs decision held there was no federal constitutional right to an abortion, and then returned that authority to the individual states, and that was overturning 50 years of well-established precedent that represented a landmark shift in jurisprudence,” Skop said. “Everything I learned in law school went out the window.”

Skop said his favorite Supreme Court justice was John Marshall, who presided over Marbury vs. Madison, which established judicial review of other branches of government. But, he added:

“There’s a lot of dissents, a lot of good justices out there,” Skop said. “Scalia Thomas dissents – you want to read something, usually it’s pretty powerful on those.”

Scalia was famously one of the most conservative justices, known for his fiery dissenting opinions. Incumbent Seminole County Judge Wayne Culver also pointed to Scalia. 

“My favorite justice – Scalia, is pretty good, but I think Scalia and his little buddy, I forget her name,” Culver said. 

Members of the crowd shouted out Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal justice who was famously close with Scalia. Culver apologized for forgetting the name. 

“Those two were buddies,” Culver said. “They were best friends. That’s what it’s all about. They can be smart. They can have their own opinion. But that’s what it’s all about. So those are my two of my favorites.”

Incumbent Judge Robert Alan Segal said he didn’t have a favorite justice, and wouldn’t say what cases were the most important. Fant also said she didn’t have a favorite justice, but when pressed, said the most important cases were Gideon v. Wainwright, which established the right to a public defender, and Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that ended legal segregation in schools. 

“I didn’t have to go to a segregated school when I was a child,” Fant said. “I can’t pick. They are all important.”

Fant’s opponent George Gaspard also cited Gideon, as well as cases setting the standards for unreasonable search and seizure and reasonable suspicion. 

Gaspard also said his favorite justice was Scalia. 

“He was an opera singer. Who knew?” Gaspard said. “But he was. He was a patron of the fine arts, and he was also quite the legal scholar, and his legal philosophy is something that I find to be truly really impressive.” 

While Scalia was a frequent opera patron and did appear as a non-singing extra in an opera, it’s not clear if Scalia sang opera.

Experience a factor, as two candidates with minimum time as attorney to run

Florida law says lawyers must be a licensed attorney for a minimum of five years before they can be eligible to be appointed or elected as a judge. 

Two candidates on the ballot in Seminole County have only just met that requirement. Seminole County Judge Group 6 has sitting judge Wayne Culver facing two challengers: Alena Chaban and Erik Swenk.

Chaban’s fifth anniversary as a licensed attorney was in April of 2026. She said as a family attorney, she has participated in about 30 family law trials – but those were all bench trials, where the judge acted as the jury.

She has not tried any jury cases. 

“I’m probably the least tenured attorney that’s going to be sitting on this forum here tonight, and so in doing that, I would like to say that the depth of what someone’s done during the years that they’ve been barred (licensed as an attorney) should matter more than the just the time that someone has been barred,” Chaban said. 

Erik Swenk is challenging incumbent Judge Wayne Culver. Swenk said he’s been lead attorney in about 20 bench trials, and also never was the lead attorney on any jury trials. He said his most relevant experience is spending the last nine years as a hearing officer and hearing officer supervisor, which is a quasi-judicial role. 

“My trial experience – admittedly, that is one of my weaker points as a candidate,” Swenk said.  “That’s where I was conducting hearings, conducting those trials. So the bulk of my experience really is the nine and a half years presiding over cases rather than litigating.”

Swenk said he would be able to transition from civil to criminal court. 

“If I ever take the bench, transitioning from civil court to criminal court, it’s something I’m confident I’ll be able to learn on the job,” Swenk said. 

Chaban wasn’t the only candidate who was running for judge after meeting the five-year minimum. In the 18th Judicial Circuit Judge Group 4, incumbent Judge Robert Alan Segal is facing challenger Larry Freeman. 

Freeman also hit his fifth anniversary in April. Freeman is a lawyer practicing intellectual property law in Melbourne, and said he primarily does civil litigation; he hasn’t been part of any jury trials. 

He has a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and a doctorate in engineering, in addition to his law degree. 

“I bring a very different skillset: Very analytical, very objective, which I think we need more of, especially with the challenges that we’re going to be facing with artificial intelligence and a number of technological advancements that are coming our way,” Freeman said. “To me, this is a calling and not a career. My intent is to serve out one term completely and … turn it back over for appointment.”

Segal, the sitting judge being challenged by Freeman, said when he had been an attorney for five years, he wasn’t ready to become a judge. 

“When I was in the public defender’s office, I’d only been practicing for about five years –  I wasn’t ready to be a judge,” Segal said. “And so I worked my way up to it.”

Many judicial races go uncontested

According to the Florida Bar, more than 250 Circuit and County judge positions went uncontested in Florida.

It’s rare for judges in Florida to lose reelection. And it can be difficult for the general public to find good information on judges. 

Schott, the retired judge and moderator for the league’s forum, said people still looking for answers should ask any lawyers their thoughts on the candidates. 

Schott often gets asked what the No. 1 quality is for a judge. Not temperament, he said. Not the number of trials an attorney has been involved in. 

“They should have had to have raised a teenager. And I’m serious,” Schott said. “That’s a funny answer. But the reason I’m saying that is, if you’ve raised a teenager, you know that very intelligent, very well-raised, very well-meaning human beings will do inexplicable things. And so people have their bad days.” .

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member