Leung retains Las Vegas Municipal Judge seat

By Becky Bosshart

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 10:37 p.m.

Incumbent Judge Cynthia Leung retained her position on the Las Vegas Municipal Judge Department 1 seat following Tuesday’s primary election.

Leung, 41, won 10,074 votes, or 65.7 percent, after all polls in 354 precincts across the city closed at 7 p.m. She was vying for the only contested city judge seat this year against challengers attorney Bruce Gale and Colby Beck, a civil litigator.

"I have to thank the voters for listening to our message," Leung said. "I'm going to work hard to continue to serve the city of Las Vegas. I think public service is a calling for me and I'm thrilled with the results."

Beck, 37, won 2,433 votes, or 15.9 percent of the vote. "You probably will see me in the future," he said Tuesday night.

Gale, 54, won 2,824 votes, or 18.4 percent of the vote.

Leung was appointed to the seat in February 2008 to replace Judge Toy Gregory, who had died. She was a Las Vegas city prosecutor for nine years after two years in private practice.

She handled 75,000 cases last year.

The incumbent was ahead of the pack in fundraising and campaign spending. She raised $44,000 and spent that amount on advertising and consulting fees.

The six-year term seat comes with a salary of $145,998.

A candidate must get a majority of votes to win, otherwise the top two vote-getters meet in the June 2 general election.