2022 Illinois judicial elections

The 2022 Illinois judicial elections consisted of both partisan and retention elections.

2022 Illinois judicial elections
← 2020 November 8, 2022 2024 →

The general election was held on November 8, 2022.[1] These elections will be part of the 2022 Illinois elections.

Supreme Court of Illinois

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Justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois are elected by district. Two seats held partisan elections.[1] Originally, two additional seats were scheduled as retention elections, however Justice Rita Garman retired on July 7, 2022 and the retention election for her seat was canceled.[2]

The court has seven seats total separated into five districts. The first district, representing Cook County, contains three seats, making it a multi-member district, while the other four districts are single-member districts.[3] Justices hold ten year terms.[3]

On June 4, 2021, Governor J. B. Pritzker signed legislation that redrew the Supreme Court's districts.[4] Before this, the districts had not been redrawn in over five decades.[5] The court had previously been using boundaries created in 1964.[6]

2nd district

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In 2020, Justice Robert R. Thomas of the 2nd district was up for retention. However, Thomas retired on February 29, 2020. On March 1, 2020, Michael J. Burke, a Republican, was appointed to his seat and held it until a special election in 2022.[7][8] The redrawn 2nd district comprises the 16th, 19th, 22nd, and 23rd Judicial Circuits, with the 15th, 17th, and 18th Judicial Circuits removed. Since Justice Burke's residence is in the 18th Judicial Circuit which is now located in the 3rd district, he ran in the election to that seat, leaving the 2nd district with an open race.[9]

Democratic primary

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Candidates
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Results
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Democratic primary results[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Elizabeth Rochford 42,955 44.42%
Democratic Nancy Rotering 27,763 28.71%
Democratic Rene Cruz 25,977 26.86%
Total votes 96,695 100.0%

Republican primary

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Candidates
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  • Daniel B. Shanes, Judge of the Lake County Circuit Court (19th Judicial Circuit)[11]
  • Mark C. Curran, former Lake County sheriff (2006–2018), Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2020[13]
  • Susan F. Hutchinson, Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court (2nd District)[14]
  • John A. Noverini, Judge of the Kane County Circuit Court (16th Judicial Circuit)[15]
Results
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Republican primary results[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mark Curran 31,628 29.53%
Republican Daniel Shanes 30,204 28.20%
Republican John Noverini 23,234 21.69%
Republican Susan Hutchinson 22,049 20.58%
Total votes 107,115 100.0%

General election

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Results
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2022 Illinois Supreme Court election (District 2)[16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Elizabeth Rochford 318,281 55.23%
Republican Mark Curran 258,014 44.77%
Total votes 576,295 100.0%
Democratic win (new seat)

3rd district

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In 2020, 3rd district judge Thomas L. Kilbride, a Democrat, lost his retention election. 56.5% of the vote was to retain Justice Kilbride, but under Illinois law, a Justice must receive at least 60% of the vote in order to be retained.[17] Robert L. Carter, a Democrat, was appointed by the court to hold the seat until a 2022 special election to fill it.[18] Upon his appointment, Carter declared that he did not intend to seek reelection in 2022.[19] The redrawn 3rd district kept the 12th and 13th Judicial District in it boundaries from the previous map. The redrawn district also added the 18th and 21st Judicial Districts and removed the 9th, 10th, and 14th Judicial Districts from its boundaries, which were moved to the redrawn 4th district.

Democratic primary

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Candidates
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Results
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Democratic primary results[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Mary K. O'Brien 110,882 100.0%
Total votes 110,882 100.0%

Republican primary

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Candidates
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Results
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Republican primary results[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Michael J. Burke (incumbent) 122,598 100.0%
Total votes 122,598 100.0%

General election

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Results
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2022 Illinois Supreme Court election (District 3)[16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Mary K. O'Brien 349,164 51.13%
Republican Michael J. Burke (incumbent) 333,669 48.87%
Total votes 682,833 100.0%
Democratic gain from Republican

Retention elections

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District Incumbent Vote[21]
Party Name In office since Previous years elected/retained Yes
(Retain)
No
(Remove)
1st Democratic Mary Jane Theis October 26, 2010 2012 (elected) 918,128 (78.30%) 254,423 (21.70%)

Illinois Appellate Court

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Illinois Appellate Court justices hold ten-year terms.[3] Retention and partisan elections were held for several of these positions.

1st district

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Two open seats were up for election after the retirement of Justices Shelvin Hall and Sheldon Harris.[22][23]

Hall vacancy

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Democratic primary
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Candidates
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  • Russell Hartigan, former Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court (2010–2017)[24]
  • Dominique Ross, Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court (5th Subcircuit)[24]
  • Debra Walker, Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court[22]
Results
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Democratic primary results[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Debra B. Walker 204,270 44.82%
Democratic Dominique C. Ross 156,240 34.28%
Democratic Russell Hartigan 95,243 20.90%
Total votes 455,753 100.0%
General election
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Results
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2022 Illinois Appellate Court election (District 1, Hall vacancy)[16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Debra B. Walker 1,082,856 100.0%
Total votes 1,082,856 100.0%
Democratic hold

Lower courts

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Lower courts also saw judicial elections.

References

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  1. ^ a b "State judicial elections, 2022". Ballotpedia. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  2. ^ Barnes, Tom (July 7, 2022). "Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman Retires Officially". Vermilion County First.
  3. ^ a b c "Illinois Constitution - Article VI". www.ilga.gov. Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  4. ^ Adams, Jerrick (June 11, 2021). "Redistricting review: Illinois enacts state leg., supreme court maps – Ballotpedia News". Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  5. ^ Mansur, Sarah (May 26, 2021). "Proposed Supreme Court remap evokes previous failed GOP attempt". Capitolnewsillinois.com. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  6. ^ Pearson, Rick (May 25, 2021). "Democrats want to redraw Illinois Supreme Court districts for first time in almost 60 years in effort to maintain majority". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  7. ^ "Illinois Supreme Court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  8. ^ Eggert, Timmothy (February 28, 2020). "Illinois Supreme Court's history picking of its own replacements". Chicago Law Bulletin. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c Hinton, Rachel (August 6, 2021). "Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering launches bid for Illinois Supreme Court seat". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  10. ^ Crosby, Denise (June 17, 2022). "Column: Rene Cruz of Aurora eyes spot on Illinois Supreme Court". Chicago Tribune.
  11. ^ a b Sadin, Steve (July 30, 2021). "Highland Park mayor, Lake County judges among those seeking open Illinois Supreme Court seat". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d e "2022 GENERAL PRIMARY - JUDICIAL". Illinois State Board of Elections.
  13. ^ Hoerner, Emily (July 29, 2022). "Final vote count confirms former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran is GOP nominee for Illinois Supreme Court seat". Chicago Tribune.
  14. ^ Struett, David (June 8, 2022). "Partisan balance of state's top court in play in races shaped by three R's — retirement, retention, redistricting". Chicago Sun-Times.
  15. ^ Akin, Travis (January 11, 2022). "John A. Noverini: A Judge for all People - Honored to Serve". Patch. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  16. ^ a b c "2022 General Election Results - Judicial".
  17. ^ Mansur, Sarah (November 4, 2020). "Failed retention is first ever in Illinois Supreme Court's history; Overstreet wins Karmeier seat". The Southern. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  18. ^ Mansur, Sarah (November 10, 2020). "Illinois Supreme Court names Democrat to replace Tom Kilbride". Pekin Daily Times. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  19. ^ Mansur, Sarah (November 10, 2020). "Illinois Supreme Court appoints justice to replace Kilbride; Justice Robert Carter says he won't seek election in 2022". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  20. ^ "Justice Mary K. O'Brien Kicks off Campaign for Illinois Supreme Court". Morris Herald-News. November 9, 2021.
  21. ^ "November 8, 2022 - General Election Results" (PDF). Cook County Clerk.
  22. ^ a b Dukmasova, Maya (December 14, 2021). "Democrats endorsed for Cook County judge are diverse, experienced — and loyal". Injustice Watch.
  23. ^ Newman, Jonah (March 16, 2022). "Illinois Appellate Court Judge Sheldon Harris announces retirement, creating vacancy for June primary". Injustice Watch.
  24. ^ a b Dukmasova, Maya; Hilles, Chloe (October 15, 2021). "Judicial hopefuls seek Cook County Democratic Party's endorsement for 2022 primary". Injustice Watch.