# Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 87 — Los Angeles County Compare records and positions simply between David Dejute and 1 more for Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 87 — Los Angeles County at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds a countywide seat on the Los Angeles County Superior Court. This is the state trial court. The term is six years. - Jurisdiction: Los Angeles County - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/judge-office-87 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 21, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 85 out of 100 (Strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **David Dejute** - **Anthony (A.J.) Bayne** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Headed to a November 3 runoff: Deputy Public Defender A.J. Bayne (42%) vs. former federal prosecutor David DeJute (31.3%) — a genuine contrast in legal careers. The winner serves a six-year term on the county's trial bench, assigned anywhere from criminal and civil to family and probate court. Trial judges rule alone — their decisions are checked mainly on appeal — so the person matters more than in almost any other down-ballot office. This race offers the clearest contrast in legal background of any judicial contest on the ballot: a quarter-century in the county's criminal courts against a career in federal prosecution and corporate litigation. Both are qualified; the county bar rated one Well Qualified and the other Qualified. Weigh whether you want a judge who already knows the day-to-day of the courts this seat serves, or one bringing experience from outside them. ## Anthony (A.J.) Bayne Deputy Public Defender for about 25 years — 19 of them at the Compton courthouse. The county bar rated him Well Qualified, the only one in this race. Both the establishment legal press and the progressive guides endorsed him, a rare consensus. **Strengths:** Deep, local, hands-on courtroom experience and the race's strongest rating. **Trade-offs:** A career on one side of the criminal courtroom, if balance-of-background matters to you. **Keep in mind:** Nothing adverse surfaced in coverage. ## David Dejute Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and former VP of litigation at Sony Pictures, now in private practice and teaching at Pepperdine's law school. The county bar rated Dejute Qualified. An impressive résumé built mostly outside the criminal courtrooms this seat serves. **Strengths:** Federal prosecution and complex civil litigation experience. **Trade-offs:** Less time in the state trial courts this seat runs day to day. **Keep in mind:** The legal press questioned the accuracy of Dejute's 'Law Professor' ballot designation (attributed, unresolved). ## Financial info - **David Dejute** — $2,000 raised (Small donors: $0) No campaign statements for Anthony (A.J.) Bayne are on file yet; filings are searchable on the county's campaign-finance disclosure site. Total raised is each calendar year's cumulative (Form 460 Summary line 5) from that year's latest filing, summed for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are filings through 2025-06-30, per the county's NetFile e-filing data, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Review notes - Knock LA and Metropolitan News-Enterprise may have more bias because they are advocacy or endorsement sources compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [LA County RR/CC — Certified results, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-06-26)](https://results.lavote.gov/text-results/4338) 2. [LA County RR/CC — Offices Scheduled for Election, November 3, 2026 (6/26/26)](https://content.lavote.gov/docs/rrcc/documents/offices-to-be-elected-gen-2026.pdf) 3. [LAist — LA County judicial races guide (LACBA ratings, ballot designations)](https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-guides/2026-election-california-primary-la-county-judges) 4. [LA County Bar Association — 2026 Judicial Candidate Evaluations](https://www.lacba.org/?pg=2026-report) 5. [Metropolitan News-Enterprise — 2026 judicial race profiles and endorsements](http://www.metnews.com/endorse.htm) 6. [Knock LA — June 2026 judicial voter guide](https://knock-la.com/knock-voter-guide-june-2026-judges/) 7. [LA County campaign-finance disclosure (Registrar-Recorder / NetFile)](https://campaignfinance.lacounty.gov/) ## The rest of the ballot Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 87 — Los Angeles County is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 87 — Los Angeles County — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/judge-office-87 (sources last retrieved September 21, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.