Circuit Judge Robert Collins Jr., left, and Irrigon Municipal Court Judge Thomas J. Creasing Jr. answer questions April 19, 2024, at a forum for local circuit court candidates at the Pendleton Center for the Arts. Voters on May 21 reelected Collins.

UMATILLA COUNTY — If Circuit Judge Robert Collins Jr. wins a second term to the state court bench of the 6th Judicial District, he would serve two years before he has to retire.

Collins would turn 75 in 2026. Article VII of the Oregon Constitution states “a judge of any court shall retire from judicial office at the end of the calendar year in which he attains the age of 75 years.”

Collins seeks reelection to Position 1 in the 6th District, which encompasses the circuit courts of Umatilla and Morrow counties. He faces a challenge for the bench from Thomas Creasing Jr., a municipal judge in Irrigon.

Collins’ seat would be up for election again in 2026 because the state would know about his pending retirement.

“I believe that I will serve two very good years to make a total of eight years that I have committed to being a judge in this county,” Collins said during a candidate forum April 29 in Heppner. “And I think it’s going to be to the county’s benefit to keep me on for two more years, given the level of experience and training and investment that’s been made in me by the state of Oregon and given my record as a judge.”

Three judgeships are on the same election cycle, but if Collins’ position were on the 2026 cycle, as it would be if he were reelected and then aged out of his position, there only would be two new judges at one time.

“That will cause the rotation to be staggered a little bit so there will only be two positions that come in one year and the others will come in separate years, and we won’t be facing three judges all in one year,” Collins said, “which, frankly, would really degrade the effectiveness of the legal system, at least for a while as we work through everybody getting up to speed, so I think it’s a benefit to the county that it’d become a little more staggered.”