John Lamborn

Former judicial candidate John Lamborn is getting back in the race.

Lamborn, an attorney from Burns, told the Eagle he will be pursuing a write-in campaign to be circuit court judge for Grant and Harney counties after he said candidate Jim Carpenter informed him he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Lamborn for the position.

Carpenter, Grant County’s district attorney, did not respond to requests to confirm the suspension of his campaign. On the “Elect Jim Carpenter” Facebook page, a link was shared to Lamborn’s Facebook page for his write-in campaign. Carpenter is also the first listed name under endorsements on Lamborn’s campaign website, lambornforjudge.com.

Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy said Carpenter has not told her personally about the suspension of his campaign, but it would have been too late to change the ballot or the voters pamphlet. Percy said Carpenter will still appear as an active candidate on the ballot because Carpenter missed the withdrawal date.

“From what I understand, he’s just not campaigning,” Percy said. “There’s specific dates that are mandated that you have to meet to actually withdraw as a candidate.”

In the May primary for the circuit court judge for the 24th district, John Day attorney Rob Raschio received 46.8% of the votes, followed by Carpenter with 32.6% and Lamborn with 20.3%. Because no candidate received 50% of the vote, Raschio and Carpenter will appear on the November ballot.

Lamborn provided the Eagle with a signed letter he said Carpenter sent him Sept. 18.

“After much careful thought and prayer, and having conferred with people close to me, I announced to my election committee members that as of Sept. 3, I had decided to suspend my efforts to campaign for the position,” the letter states. “I am announcing today my full support and endorsement of John Lamborn, who is running as a write-in candidate for the position of Grant-Harney County Circuit Court Judge.”

Lamborn said he did not hear about the suspension until a few days after Carpenter made the decision and then he contacted Carpenter. They talked, and Carpenter agreed he would endorse Lamborn for circuit court judge and the email with Carpenter’s endorsement shortly followed, Lamborn said.

“Jim and I have had a conversation or two, and he had previously sent out a letter where he was talking to his campaign committee on Sept. 3 suspending his campaign,” Lamborn said.

Lamborn said he was surprised that Carpenter suspended his campaign, but he said the publicity given from a recent article about a lawsuit that claimed Carpenter violated a John Day resident’s rights by obtaining and disseminating private materials from her cellphone created an uphill battle.

“Given that publicity, I can’t say I was totally astounded that he decided to suspend his campaign — that’s an uphill battle,” Lamborn said. “Frankly, I think that Jim will be exonerated in the issue about the photograph, and I’m astounded somebody would accuse Carpenter of that kind of malfeasance.”

Lamborn said Carpenter has been practicing law too long to allow that kind of incident to happen.

“I think that, at the end of the day, Mr. Carpenter will be exonerated from that and because I think that, it doesn’t bother me that he’s endorsing me,” Lamborn said. “Would I be doing a write-in at this point without his endorsement? The answer is I’m not sure, but I do have his endorsement, and so after I got his letter to me, we generated a Facebook page and website, and we’re taking steps to show we’re a good choice in this race.”