Tracy Powell

MIFFLINTOWN — Tracy L. Powell, the current sitting Magisterial District Judge of Magisterial District Court 41-3-01, has announced her candidacy for a second term. The district comprises Delaware, Fayette, Fermanagh, Greenwood, Monroe and Susquehanna townships, as well as Mifflintown and Thompsontown boroughs.

She is the daughter of Harold E. Powell, Jr. and Kay Powell of Mifflintown, sister of Lt. Colonel Wolf J. Powell, USMC, and the mother of Tiffany L. Mast. She has one granddaughter, Lochlyn Mast.

She will be cross-filing on the Republican and Democratic ballots in the May 20th primary election and is looking forward to working with both parties in the process, citing “Being a judge is not about advancing a political agenda, but applying the law justly and treating all litigants with dignity and compassion.”

Powell graduated from Juniata High School and Central Penn Business College and went on to start a career and business in freelance court reporting, which took her statewide and spanned more

than 20 years.

She is a member of the Special Court Judges’ Association of Pennsylvania, has served as the District IX secretary since 2022, and is also on the Constable Relations, Education, and Judiciary Committees. The district comprises Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties.

In the first five years of her six-year term, even while dealing with COVID protocols and mandates, her office has handled more than 12,000 cases, ranging from summary traffic/nontraffic to felony aggravated assault to civil, landlord/tenant, and truancy cases. Among other things, this involved conducting preliminary arraignments, hearings/trials, issuing search/arrest warrants and performing 133 wedding ceremonies.

In addition, Powell has call duty every five weeks where she is responsible 24/7 for all of Juniata and Perry counties, since they’re a joint judicial district, handling calls from Lewistown and Newport state police, along with Marysville Police Department, requesting after-hours Emergency PFAs, search/arrest warrants and preliminary arraignments. There may be as few as one or two calls to as many as 20; and a lot of them are in the middle of the night, weekends, and holidays. For that reason, District Courts are also known as the Courts that never close.

Powell is most proud of handling truancy hearings and planting a seed in students who don’t understand the importance of going to school and graduating to become more productive members of society. She has sent dozens of students back to school who were not succeeding at virtual classes and has had several graduates who were on the verge of dropping out. From time to time, she still has a student stop in her office to let her know how they’re doing.

In 2021, Powell started a yearly Criminal Justice Day for students from her truancy court where they shadow Criminal Court, meet attorneys, law enforcement and defendants, observe preliminary hearings, participate in mock hearings and end the day with a tour of the State Police Barracks. She feels community outreach is important, especially with children, and says, unfortunately, some children grow up not having much structure or one good role model.

Powell says a friendly, cohesive work environment is crucial in running a successful office and is very appreciative of all the hard work her staff performs.