Shortly before the polls closed Tuesday evening in the historic general election, Niles’ Mark Herman got the chance to do something that has eluded him for nearly eight months.

Relax.
“It was so different to come home and just be able to sit on my couch,” Herman said.
The man has spent countless hours since April campaigning to become the next judge of the Cass County Circuit Court. Attending many local meetings and knocking on hundreds of doors to meet with county residents, Herman devoted much of his time the past several months to making his case to voters on why he is the best choice to succeed longtime Judge Michael Dodge as the top official in the county’s primary felony court.
After spending much of late Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning anxiously watching the election results roll in, the local attorney finally got an answer as to whether his dedication had paid off.

The Niles man narrowly defeated Cassopolis’ Scott Teter for the Circuit Court judgeship during Tuesday’s general election, according to unofficial results from the Cass County Clerk/Register Office. Herman received 8,625 votes to Teter’s 8,483, a difference of 142 votes, or around 2 percent.
While poll results showed Herman — a former prosecutor and court official who has spent the last 12 years as a private attorney with Dowagiac’s Magyar Law Office — up throughout the night Tuesday, the gap between the two candidates remained small throughout the entire time. In fact, Herman carried one precinct, Marcellus, by just a single vote.
“It was a real nail biter,” the new judge-elect said.
Herman knew heading into Election Day that the race between him and Teter, a former Cass County prosecutor who currently works for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, would be tight. While expecting to perform well in Dowagiac, where he works, as well as the northern part of the county, Herman said his opponent would likely carry the southern part, such as Ontwa, Porter and Milton townships — predictions that turned out to be accurate, based on Tuesday’s results.
For Herman, the election marks the end of an extensive campaign and the beginning of the next phase of his legal career.
The attorney began his mission to succeed Dodge — who is retiring at the end of his term in December due to state-mandated age limits — as circuit court judge earlier this year, after several other attorneys practicing in the area suggested he run for the position. Since then, he and his wife, Margie, have devoted much of their time to his campaign, which included many trips going door-to-door throughout the county, Herman said.
“I felt meeting people face-to-face would earn more votes than sending out mailing after mailing after mailing,” Herman said. “I cannot remember how many people told me, ‘this is the first time anyone has ever come to my door to ask for my vote.’”
Getting the chance to follow in the footsteps of Dodge, who has served as circuit court judge since 1982, is especially meaningful for Herman, as the attorney served as the judge’s first law clerk, he said.
“Having worked under him [Dodge], I feel I am in the best position to carry on his legacy,” Herman said. “I owe so much of who I am as an attorney because of him.”
The Niles man said he will bring a proper judicial temperament to the courtroom when he dons the robes in January, working to serve prosecutors, attorneys and clients all with the equal hand they deserve under the law regardless of whether or not he enjoyed their support at the ballot box Tuesday.
“This job is not about me,” Herman said. “It is about doing what is best for our community. I want to be everybody’s judge.”