The Jackson County Justice Building on Oakdale Avenue in Medford. (Rogue Valley Times file photo)

A local public defender and a lawyer for Jackson County have announced their candidacies for elected office in the May 2024 primary race.

Alyssa Bartholomew, an attorney with Southern Oregon Public Defenders, is running for Jackson County District Attorney, while Johan Pietila, senior assistant county counsel for Jackson County, has filed to run for Jackson County Circuit Court judge, Position 9, according to Monday news releases.

If elected, Bartholomew would succeed Beth Heckert, who announced last year she would not run for another term after serving 10 years.

Bartholomew’s only opponent so far is Patrick Green, chief deputy district attorney for the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office. Heckert endorsed Green last year.

Pietila is running to replace Judge David Orr, who was elected to his seat in 2018. No other candidates besides Pietila have filed to challenge Orr.

For these races, if a candidate gets 50% plus 1 of the vote, they are elected in May and take office in January 2025. If no one crosses that threshold, the top two vote-getters face off in the November general election.

Alyssa Bartholomew

In an interview, Bartholomew said that, while working in Jackson County over the years, she met a lot of people who encouraged her to run for district attorney.

“They thought that I would be a very good leader … and that I would be able to stabilize that office,” Bartholomew said.

Bartholomew’s experience includes working as an attorney for Jackson County and as a prosecutor in Cowlitz County, Washington. She graduated from Gonzaga School of Law in Spokane, Washington.

“My background and my experience have made me (not only) a well-rounded person, but candidate,” Bartholomew said.

Her priorities include “following through” on cases and not dismissing them, according to her campaign website.

She wants to emphasize the use of drug and mental health courts to help people addicted to substances or facing homelessness.

Bartholomew also advocates for changes to Measure 110, the ballot initiative passed in 2020 that decriminalized small amounts of hard drugs and funded treatment programs with state cannabis revenue.

Bartholomew is married to attorney Mark Bartholomew, who practices real estate, business and municipal law. The couple have three children in the Medford School District.

“I am excited for this (campaign); I know I will be a great district attorney,” Bartholomew said. “I can’t wait to continue on this adventure.”

Johan Pietila

Pietila said he “had a feeling” he was going to run for judge when he was a deputy district attorney in Jackson County.

“My temperament and my dedication to the legal system (have) set me up for that,” Pietila said.

He accepted a job handling civil litigation for Jackson County so he could round out his legal skills before becoming a judge, he said.

If elected, Pietila wants to make defendants feel heard in the legal system.

“That’s a real important part of the justice system … even if they don’t get the result they want,” Pietila said.

His priorities include upholding the law.

“That’s something that, obviously, any judge or judicial candidate should be able to say,” Pietila said.

He is also campaigning on a platform of “being approachable, reliable and impartial” as a judge.

“I look forward to providing the citizens of our community a balanced approach to legal justice,” Pietila said.

He earned his J.D., as well as a certificate in law and government, from Willamette University College of Law.

Pietila and his wife, Rebecca, a Medford police officer, were both born in Southern Oregon. They have two children.