Candidate Arthur LeMar "Marty" McNeil, Circuit Judge Group 5

Arthur LeMar “Marty” McNeil, a Miami-Dade assistant public defender, is on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot for Circuit Judge, 11th Judicial Circuit, Group 5. He faces attorney Monica Segura in a runoff after neither candidate won a majority in the August 18 primary. The seat is nonpartisan and countywide, so every Miami-Dade voter, including voters in South Dade, can cast a ballot in this race. McNeil appears on the county’s master ballot as candidate number 86 and Segura as number 87.

At a Glance

Office: Circuit Judge, 11th Judicial Circuit, Group 5
Area covered: All of Miami-Dade County (countywide, nonpartisan)
Incumbent? No. No sitting judge is on the ballot for this group.
Opponent on ballot: Monica Segura
Ballot number: 86
Campaign website: mcneilforjudge.com

Background

According to his campaign biography, McNeil was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the son of a U.S. Army veteran and an educator. He earned his law degree at Howard University School of Law, where the campaign says he helped found the school’s Public Interest Law Society, served as its treasurer and worked as a student attorney in the Criminal Justice Clinic. He met his wife at Howard, and the biography says the couple has lived in South Florida for 21 years and has one son.

The Florida Bar’s member directory lists McNeil as a Howard law graduate (2005), admitted to The Florida Bar on April 20, 2007, and currently a government attorney with the Public Defender’s Office in Miami. The directory shows him in good standing with no public discipline in its 10-year history.

His campaign describes two phases of his career. From 2008 to 2016 he ran his own practice, handling criminal and civil cases in courts from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade. During that period he became a Florida Supreme Court certified circuit civil mediator and, according to the campaign, mediated mortgage foreclosure cases during the foreclosure crisis. He later joined the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, where the campaign says he was promoted to felony training attorney and then senior supervising attorney, overseeing as many as 20 lawyers in an office of more than 200. The biography credits him with trying more than 65 cases, most of them jury trials taken to verdict, in matters ranging from misdemeanors and civil injunctions to contract disputes and felonies carrying mandatory life sentences.

In Their Own Words

Because judicial candidates are limited in what they may say about issues, campaign statements in these races tend to focus on experience and approach rather than policy. After the primary, McNeil posted this message on his campaign website:

“Thank you Miami Dade from my family to yours! You went to the Polls and let your voice be heard. We are looking forward to continuing the race through the November 3rd General Election!”

Arthur LeMar “Marty” McNeil, campaign website, Aug. 20, 2026

His campaign biography, published under his name, describes how he views the role:

“Marty’s passion for justice led him to realize the importance of a balanced judiciary that represents the community as a whole.”

McNeil campaign biography, mcneilforjudge.com

Qualifications and Endorsements

McNeil’s campaign announced on May 12, 2026 that he had been endorsed by the Florida League of Prosecutors. No other endorsements are listed on his campaign website.

The campaign’s tagline is “Fair. Proven. Dedicated to Justice.” Beyond that, his public materials emphasize trial volume, supervisory experience at the Public Defender’s Office and his work as a certified mediator, rather than positions on legal questions.

Bar Polls

Local bar associations survey their members before judicial elections. These polls reflect the views of the lawyers who chose to respond and are not scientific samples of voters.

The Miami-Dade Bar’s 2026 judicial poll, open from June 15 to July 3, 2026, drew 631 respondents out of 18,232 members surveyed. Among respondents who gave a rating in Group 5:

McNeil: 32.00% exceptionally qualified, 46.40% qualified, 21.60% unqualified (423 respondents, or 67.04%, had no opinion)
Segura: 18.88% exceptionally qualified, 49.65% qualified, 31.47% unqualified (398 respondents, or 63.07%, had no opinion)

The Cuban American Bar Association’s 2026 judicial poll, which reports percentages including “no opinion” responses and does not state its dates or respondent count, asked whether each candidate is qualified to be a judge:

McNeil: 16.95% exceptionally qualified, 16.95% qualified, 3.39% unqualified, 62.71% no opinion
Segura: 20.00% exceptionally qualified, 15.00% qualified, 10.00% unqualified, 55.00% no opinion

On CABA’s question about whether the candidate has the appropriate character to sit as a judge, 39.53% said yes for McNeil and 6.98% said no; for Segura, 34.88% said yes and 9.30% said no.

What This Office Does

Circuit courts are Florida’s trial courts of general jurisdiction. They handle felony prosecutions, family law, probate, juvenile cases, larger civil lawsuits and appeals from county court. According to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, the Miami-Dade circuit is the largest in Florida, with 80 circuit judges and 43 county judges serving more than two million residents across roughly 2,000 square miles. The court’s divisions include circuit civil, criminal, family, probate and juvenile, and its courthouse locations include the South Dade Justice Center.

Circuit judges serve six-year terms and must have been admitted to practice law in Florida for the preceding five years, according to Ballotpedia.

Judicial candidates also campaign under the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct. Canon 7 bars them from making pledges or promises about how they would rule and from statements that commit, or appear to commit, them on cases or issues likely to come before the court, as The Florida Bar News has explained. For that reason, this profile focuses on experience, qualifications and reported endorsements rather than issue positions.

The Race

Group 5 drew three candidates in the August 18 primary. According to the Florida Division of Elections results site, McNeil led with 95,063 votes (42.47%), followed by Segura with 80,402 (35.92%) and attorney Alex Annunziato with 48,364 (21.61%). Because no one passed 50%, the top two advanced to November. The South Dade News Leader reported the Group 5 race among two circuit court contests headed to a runoff.

Segura, his opponent, is a civil attorney who, according to her campaign, has practiced for more than 20 years at law firms and in-house for an insurance carrier and served about four years as a special magistrate for the Town of Miami Lakes. A separate profile of Segura is available in this voter guide.

How to Vote

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and voters must go to their assigned precinct.

Early voting: October 19 through November 1, 2026, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at any Miami-Dade early voting site, according to the county’s early voting schedule.
Vote by mail: Requests must be received by 5 p.m. on the 12th day before the election, which is Thursday, October 22, 2026. Completed ballots must reach the Supervisor of Elections by 7 p.m. on Election Day (Miami-Dade Elections).
More information: Miami-Dade Elections Department

Community Leadership Alliance is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. This profile is based on public records, candidate statements and news coverage, including the South Dade News Leader. Candidates who wish to submit corrections may contact us through our Contact page.