Kenneth Hodges. Photo: John Disney/ALM

Newly elected Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Ken Hodges said Thursday he is eager to “roll up my sleeves and get to work.”

In the next seven months, before taking office on Jan. 1, Hodges said he plans to wrap up his private practice in Atlanta and his hometown of Albany and meet with judges to learn about the new job. He also will be starting a one-year stint as president of the State Bar of Georgia in June. He said he spent four hours Thursday picking committee members for the new bar year.

“I'm grateful to the voters for the widespread support I got from all over the state, from both political parties and from urban and rural Georgia,” he said. “That was the message of my campaign—I wanted to represent all of Georgia.”

It was a heated contest. But on Tuesday, Hodges, 52—a former district attorney in Albany who worked as a prosecutor for 15 years and as a civil trial lawyer for the last 12 years—defeated trial lawyer and former state bar president Ken Shigley, 67, with nearly 70 percent of the vote.

Shigley said Thursday that he had called Hodges on election night to “congratulate him on a professionally executed campaign.” Shigley added, “I wish him and Melissa and the kids all the best.”

On his Facebook page, Shigley posted a picture Wednesday of a campaign-style button that said, “The only thing standing between you and your dreams is reality.” He added the comment, “I got a dose of that yesterday.”

Campaign tension ratcheted up when Shigley sent out a news release emphasizing his own Republican support and calling Hodges a lifelong Democrat, even though judicial campaigns in Georgia are nonpartisan. Hodges said that although he ran as a Democrat as district attorney—those races are partisan in Georgia—he had made a point to build a broad base of bipartisan support as a judicial candidate. The Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission soon followed with a warning that candidates are under the same ethical constraints as judges and that judicial campaigns must be free of partisan politics.

Shigley took another hit from a viral video of him speaking at a campaign forum for Advocacy for Action, a group that works to promote judicial diversity as a way to improve the justice system. He mentioned being a prosecutor early in his career. In response to a question about how judges can make a difference, he talked openly about working on what he believed was a political prosecution of a young African-American college student who had been arrested after working on a voter registration campaign in his community. He said the case should never have been prosecuted, but he didn't want to risk losing his job. Advocacy for Action posted the video on its Facebook page. The Daily Report published a story about it.

Shigley first announced his intention to run for Court of Appeals on Facebook more than a year ago. On Wednesday after the election, Shigley said on Facebook, “Thanks to all who supported my campaign. Back to work representing my clients.”