BELLAIRE, Ohio – Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan stopped by Bellaire Village Council last week to discuss his candidacy for the Belmont County Court of Common Pleas, with the May 5 primary now days away.
Flanagan, a Bellaire native who grew up on Noble Street and still lives in the village, is seeking the seat being vacated by Judge Vavra, who is ineligible to run again due to age. The primary winner will take the bench on January 1, 2027.
The race is strictly a Republican contest. Attorney Michael McCormick is also seeking the GOP nomination, and with no Democrats on the ballot, the May 5 primary will decide who becomes the next Common Pleas judge.
Currently in his second term as county prosecutor, Flanagan told council his ties to Belmont County run deep and his legal career spans 31 years. He attended St. John Grade School and St. John High School before returning to the county in 1995 as an assistant prosecutor after law school.
During that early stretch he earned a pair of distinctions. “One of which was first prosecutor in Belmont County to be named assistant prosecutor of the year in the state of Ohio,” he said, adding that he also handled Belmont County’s first DNA case, working alongside both the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI.
Flanagan left the prosecutor’s office in 2001 for 13 years of private practice, where he focused primarily on civil litigation and employment discrimination cases representing employees. During that same period he served as an acting judge for Belmont County’s divisional courts.
He returned to the prosecutor’s office in 2013 as chief assistant prosecutor before being elected county prosecutor in 2020. Looking back across his career, Flanagan pointed to the breadth of experience he would bring to the bench.
“When you go back through my 31-year history, I’ve been part of every homicide trial in Belmont County except for one,” he said, noting that one exception was a case out of West Bellaire that he described as disturbing but said was handled ably by Bellaire Police Chief Watson.
“I do come with a significant amount of experience,” Flanagan told council, “and as I indicated, Judge Vavra is not able to run anymore, so that seat will be vacated — and that is the position which I seek.”
