Kanawha County Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit was relieved when no one filed to run against her in this year's election.
Tabit, who was appointed to the bench two years ago, is running unopposed for her first full term in office.
In fact, all of Kanawha's circuit judges are unopposed and will secure additional eight-year terms after May 10, as judicial elections in the state are now nonpartisan.
Lawyers can sometimes be reluctant to run for election against an incumbent judge, because if they lose, they often have to try cases in front of that judge.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom, however, believes the lack of opposition show that lawyers and litigants are satisfied with the way things are.
"You don't see a lack of opposition for the Supreme Court and there are, in any number of circuits around the county, incumbent judges that have competition," Bloom said.
Tabit ran unsuccessfully several times for Kanawha circuit judge, but never against an incumbent. In 2000, she challenged Fran Hughes and eventual winner Bloom for the Democratic spot in the election to fill the vacancy created when Judge Andrew MacQueen retired. In the general election, Bloom, a former county commissioner, beat out Republican Clarke Vandervort, who later was appointed a federal magistrate judge. He retired last year.
Bloom never again faced opposition.
Tabit filed pre-candidacy papers in 2007 but opted not to run when all of the incumbents sought re-election that year.
"People knew I was interested in being judge, but I had always made it clear that I never wanted to run against an incumbent. I had too much respect for judges [in Kanawha]," Tabit said.
Tabit was chosen out of 13 applicants in October 2014 by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to replace retired Judge Paul Zakaib.
Zakaib retired in August 2014 after nearly three decades on the bench.
Tabit and Bloom, along with other judges Tod Kaufman, Charles King, James Stucky, Jennifer Bailey and Carrie Webster, all filed for re-election on the first day candidates could register for this year's election.
Kaufman was elected to the bench in 1988, after beating Zakaib, who had been appointed in 1986 to replace retired Robert K. Smith.
Zakaib was appointed again to fill the vacancy created when Margaret Workman was elected to the Supreme Court in 1988. Zakaib went on to win a full term, defeating Leo Catsonis.
Catsonis had served as judge for a time after being appointed when Robert Harvey died. He was defeated, though, by King, in 1988, who ran for judge after serving a term as the county's prosecuting attorney.
Kaufman and King were both elected in 1992. Kaufman defeated Charlotte Lane that year; King ran unopposed - and he has ever since.
That election, in 1992, marked the first time each candidate for judge ran in a separate division. Before, the top seven vote-getters won seats on the bench. Now, a candidate would choose who they want to run against.
Stucky, a Republican, was appointed in the summer of 1997 to serve until the next general election after Lyne Ranson resigned. When Stucky, a former prosecutor, ran in 1998 for a chance to continue serving the remaining two years of Ranson's term, he defeated Democrat Roger Forman.
Stucky ran unopposed for a full-term in the 2000 election. Zakaib was the only incumbent to face opposition that year.
Bailey was appointed in 2002 by Gov. Bob Wise when Judge Herman Canady retired. She had served as a lawyer for the House Judiciary Committee before being hired as the Senate's first full-time counsel in 1993.
Bailey, a Democrat, ran unopposed in 2004 to complete the remaining four years of Canady's term.
In 2008, Zakaib beat out John Hackney Jr., a Democrat. Other than Zakaib, all six incumbents were unopposed in the general election.
Carrie Webster was appointed by then-Gov. Joe Manchin in 2009 to replace Irene Berger, who was sworn in that year as a U.S. District Court judge.
Webster, a Democrat, served as a state delegate in the 31st District since 2001 and had chaired the House Judiciary Committee beginning in 2006.
In 2010, Webster edged out Republican challenger Dan Greear to hold onto her judgeship.
She's surprised she didn't have an opponent for this year's election.
"We prepared as if I would," Webster said. "I'm grateful that I didn't and I'm hoping that's a reflection of the overall confidence that the [West Virginia State Bar] has with me and the other judges in the circuit."
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.