Pam Nogueira, a former municipal court judge and current attorney with deep Tacoma roots, is running for Pierce County District Court Judge Position 7 in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. Pierce County was the first community Nogueira called home in the United States, where she attended Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma Community College and the University of Washington Tacoma.

Nogueira said she is seeking the position because "our community deserves a judiciary that is fair, accessible, accountable, and reflective of the people it serves." She said her career in private practice, public defense and the judiciary has given her a broad courtroom perspective.

Candidate information

Party: Nonpartisan. Nogueira noted that judicial candidates do not run under a political party designation.

Education: Bachelor's degree in politics, philosophy and economics from the University of Washington (2012). Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law (2015). Nogueira said she was the first student to graduate from the program in two years. She earlier completed an English as a Second Language course at Pacific Lutheran University and attended Tacoma Community College.

Personal background: Born and raised in Brazil, Nogueira came to the United States as an exchange student at age 15. She has a 14-year-old son. She and her ex-husband adopted him through the foster care system.

Current work: Attorney at Strata Family Law, focusing on family and criminal law. She also serves as a judge pro tempore and teaches trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law.

Experience and public service

Nogueira began her judicial career as a judge pro tempore in 2019. She became a full-time court commissioner for Thurston County Superior Court in 2021. She was appointed judge of Olympia Municipal Court in 2023 and served as the sole judge for that court until February 2026.

Before reaching the bench, Nogueira worked as a defense attorney in Grays Harbor County's drug court from 2018 to 2020 and served on the drug court panel at Pacific County Superior Court from 2015 to 2019. She also served as a commissioner at Grays Harbor Superior Court from 2019 to 2021.

Nogueira held elected office as a Raymond, Washington, city council member from 2017 to 2020.

She received the District and Municipal Court Judges Association (DMCJA) President's Award for 2024-2025. She said she is also receiving the 2026 Social Justice Award from UW Tacoma Celebrando Comunidad.

Nogueira serves on the advisory board of the University of Washington Tacoma Legal Pathways program and has volunteered as a judge for the University of Washington Moot Court.

On the issues

Judicial qualifications: Nogueira said the most important qualifications for a judge are integrity, impartiality, sound judgment, judicial temperament, legal experience and a commitment to fairness. She said judges must recognize the importance of public trust and access to justice.

Campaign priorities: Nogueira said her campaign focuses on three priorities: maintaining public trust in the judiciary, ensuring access to justice and bringing experienced leadership to the bench. She said she would work to ensure every person who appears before the court is treated with dignity and respect.

Criminal law experience: Nogueira said she is the only candidate with recent and extensive criminal law experience in misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors. She also said she is the only candidate with extensive knowledge of civil protection orders and is serving on a statewide committee creating mandatory forms for those orders.

Treatment courts: Nogueira said she has experience creating and maintaining treatment courts, has attended national trainings on the subject and has participated in treatment court audits. She said she can ensure programs are run according to evidence-based best practices.

Endorsements: Nogueira's endorsements listed with the 31st District Democrats include Larry Jefferson of the Washington State Office of Public Defense, multiple Pierce County Superior Court judges, Pierce County District Court judges, Tacoma Municipal Court judges, Indivisible Tacoma and Democrats for Diversity and Inclusion. She said she has earned endorsements from approximately 50 judicial officers statewide.