Circuit Court Judge Pamela Millsaps qualified to run in the Republican primary for re-election to the Mobile County juvenile judgeship, setting up a rematch of sorts with a familiar opponent and a three-way contest for one of the county’s most consequential judicial offices.
Millsaps was appointed to the bench by Gov. Bob Riley in 2003 and won the seat outright in November 2004, taking 58 percent of the vote to defeat Democratic nominee Jeff Glidewell. Glidewell announced that he would seek the judgeship again — this time running as a Republican rather than a Democrat. Mobile attorney Chip Herrington entered the race on the Democratic side.
The result was a race that spanned both parties and, unusually, pitted the incumbent against her former general-election opponent in a primary. In Alabama’s partisan judicial elections, the primary has historically been the decisive contest in Mobile County for many offices, which gave the Millsaps-Glidewell rematch particular weight within the Republican electorate.
The juvenile judgeship itself carries a docket unlike any other in the county courthouse. It handles delinquency cases, dependency and child welfare matters, and the lives of families in crisis, blending criminal justice with social services in ways adult trial courts never do. Whoever holds the office shapes not just sentences but the county’s approach to keeping young people out of the system altogether.
A Focus on Keeping Children Out of the System
Since taking office, Millsaps said she had concentrated on preventing children from entering the juvenile justice system in the first place, working with parents, churches, schools and law enforcement. She pointed to the creation of faith-based community service options and what she described as the county’s first Juvenile Drug Court Program.
“Our proactive approach to preventing delinquency has been successful,” Millsaps said. “There were significantly fewer petitions in 2005 than in 2004. If we can prevent even one child from being delinquent and a part of the system, then I believe our hard work has been rewarded. I would much prefer a child be active in church and school than being on the streets or in a juvenile delinquent facility.”
The judge said she had also worked to bring the county’s Juvenile Court and the Strickland Youth Center into compliance with state and federal guidelines, and had reorganized court operations in the face of reduced state and county funding.
“We have learned to be more efficient with the employees and resources we have, and to utilize our employees’ best assets to do everything we can to help the children that come before us,” she said. “We have had to make some difficult decisions during the past two years, but based on our results and knowing that my campaign has the support of my fellow circuit court judges tells me that we have made the right decisions.”
The Strickland Youth Center, which houses the county’s juvenile detention and court operations, serves as the hub for the cases that reach the system, and compliance with state and federal standards governs everything from housing conditions to education services provided to detained minors. Millsaps told supporters that the work of meeting those standards had been demanding but necessary.
Juvenile drug courts, an approach spreading through Alabama courts in that era, divert young offenders into supervised treatment and accountability programs rather than confinement, pairing the court with counselors, schools and families. Millsaps said the program’s early results reinforced her belief that early intervention changes outcomes for children who would otherwise become repeat participants in the justice system.
Millsaps framed the race as a referendum on experience and commitment. “I know I am the best candidate for this position,” she said. “I have been successful in working with children, and I care deeply about the future of all the children and grandchildren in Mobile County. Our children are our greatest resource. We must all work together to assure their health and safety, and to assure that each and every child grows into a productive, law-abiding adult.”
Background On and Off the Bench
Before joining the bench, Millsaps practiced extensively in juvenile court, domestic relations and probate court, and she served as a Special Probate Judge under Judge Don Davis. That background across three divisions of the courts, she argued, gave her a breadth of experience few candidates for the juvenile bench could match.
Her civic resume was lengthy. She chaired the Mobile County Children’s Policy Council and served on the advisory boards of Penelope House and the Junior League. She worked closely with the Underage Drinking Task Force and was a member of the Domestic Violence Task Force and the University of South Alabama Internal Review Board. She was also active in the Sunrise Rotary Club, Mobile United and the Exchange Club. She and her husband, Frank, were members of Dauphin Way Baptist Church.
The Children’s Policy Council, a body that brings together judges, school officials, social service agencies and community leaders to coordinate services for young people, gave Millsaps a countywide platform that extended beyond the courtroom. Penelope House, Mobile’s shelter and support organization for victims of domestic violence, connected her work to the family crises that so often underlie the cases that reach juvenile court.
The endorsement of her fellow circuit court judges, which she cited as evidence her administration was on the right track, is a notable asset in a judicial primary, where candidates compete largely on reputation within the legal community. With no high-profile issues dividing the candidates’ platforms, the race was expected to turn on exactly those reputations and on organization across the county’s precincts.
Glidewell’s switch to the Republican Party reflected the shifting political alignment of Mobile County, where down-ticket offices increasingly drew Republican entrants. Running against an incumbent judge he had faced before, he presented the race as a fresh choice rather than a rematch, while Herrington’s entry ensured voters would have a general-election contest in November regardless of the primary outcome.
With qualifying complete, the juvenile judgeship was set to be decided first in the party primaries, with Millsaps and Glidewell competing for the Republican nomination and Herrington positioned as the Democratic contender in the fall.
Juvenile court observers noted that the office’s reach extends into nearly every corner of county government. Schools report truancy and disciplinary matters into the system, the Department of Human Resources brings dependency and abuse cases before the judge, law enforcement agencies file delinquency petitions, and the court contracts with counselors, foster placements and detention programs across the region. A judge’s management of that network determines how the county’s youngest residents experience the justice system.
The timing of the race also placed it in the middle of a broader debate about juvenile justice in Alabama. State officials were weighing reforms aimed at reducing detention of nonviolent young offenders and expanding community-based programs, trends that aligned with the prevention-first approach Millsaps described. Candidates in both parties were expected to address how the county court would adapt to those shifts.
Millsaps’ re-election bid also came with a record to defend. She pointed to the drop in petitions filed between 2004 and 2005 as evidence that prevention programs were working, while acknowledging that reduced state and county funding had forced her to reorganize staff and operations. Her campaign materials emphasized efficiency and results, presenting the difficult budget years as proof of management rather than a liability.
For Glidewell and Herrington, the challenge was to introduce themselves to voters who had watched Millsaps hold the bench for two years. Judicial challengers typically work to contrast their own experience with the incumbent’s record without running against the court itself, and both campaigns signaled they would focus on courtroom experience and community ties in the weeks ahead.
The juvenile judgeship contest joined a Mobile County ballot shaping up to be one of the busiest in recent memory, with countywide judicial offices, the circuit clerk’s race and legislative seats all drawing candidates. For the campaigns, the crowded ballot meant courtship of voters who would face a long list of judgeships in the booth — a dynamic that rewards name recognition, endorsements and organization.
Millsaps told supporters that the campaign ahead would be built on the same coalition of family, church and professional contacts that carried her through the 2004 race, when she won with 58 percent of the vote. She said her focus between now and the primary would remain the work of the court itself, adding that she believed voters could see the difference in how the county’s juvenile justice system operated compared with two years earlier.
Party leaders in both camps said the juvenile race was likely to draw one of the higher turnouts of any judgeship contest on the ballot, given the familiarity of both Millsaps and Glidewell to county voters after their 2004 meeting. absentee and early campaign activity were already visible across the county as qualifying closed.