April 4th, 2021 – Two candidates running to replace District Judge Robert Wagner Jr. has been announced recently and this comes shortly after Robert Wagner Jr. announced that after serving this community for 47 years in public safety. April 1st, 1974 is when Robert Wagner began his life path after joining the police academy and shortly after started working for Bristol Township Police Department. He worked at the police department for 14 years and worked his way up to supervising his police union before running for district judge first in 1987.

Terry Hughes, 66, and Rachael Wagner, 26, are listed in recorded as having cross-filed for May’s Primary and both are hoping to win the six year term as District Judge.

Her brother Robert Wagner III also worked in law enforcement as a Pennsylvania State Constable for Falls Township District Judge Jan Vislosky in Fallsington. Robert Wagner III is well respected by both the community and former inmates he transported to and from the County Prison for court proceedings and is known for his humor and wisdom he shares with the people he deals with.

Terry Hughes is the only candidate not to complete the training course which he is due to take in June as Rachael Wagner has completed it and is ready to begin her tenure immediately. Hughes, who helped organize multiple community outreach programs during his job at the Bristol Township Police Department is known to have brought a few hundred cases to court to be prosecuted.

It is not known how many convictions resulted from his work at the Department. “To be quite honest, I loved being a police officer and serving the community. I miss the job and serving the community. I have real-life and professional experience that would be great for being a judge for our district court.”

I wish the best for the best for both candidates regardless of who wins this race for the bench.

Rachael Wagner also has a background in Psychology which is a great skill to have when dealing with inmates and the mindset they were which led them to the court in the first place.

Wagner stated, “I have been interested in the law ever since I was a kid. I was lucky to have the father I do, and we talked about the law and cases he had in court.”, and further continued, “I wanted to follow in his footsteps. He did such an amazing job,”, Rachel Wagner stated to Tom Sofield of Levittown Now.

We reached out to Rachael Wagner and Terry Hughes for additional comments and will update this article accordingly. This is a very important election for the Bristol Township community and will hopefully continue the long-standing integrity of impartiality in the Lower Bucks Township.

District Judges are responsible for preliminary arraignments, preliminary hearings, summary offenses including traffic and non-traffic offenses including local ordinance violations, landlord/tenant matters and small claims where damages are not more than $12,000 (anything over $12,000 is handled at the County level).

The scheduled date for Primary elections is May 18th, 2021. If more information is needed, you can visit the Bucks County Board of Elections site for further details.