Alameda County Lawyer Elected Nation's 1st Transgender Judge
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP) -- A 49-year-old California patent lawyer has been elected as the nation's first openly transgender trial judge.
Alameda County elections officials said Victoria Kolakowski beat prosecutor John Creighton 51 to 48 percent—a margin of nearly 10,000 votes—in the Nov. 2 election to fill a Superior Court vacancy.
Kolakowski had been leading since election night, but there were enough outstanding absentee and provisional ballots to make the race too close to call until Monday. She will be sworn in early next year.
Kolakowski spent the past three years as an administrative law judge settling energy contract and environmental compliance disputes for the California Public Utilities Commission.
She underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1981.
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