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Clare Quish
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2030
2025 - Present
2026
0
Clare Quish (Democratic Party) is a judge of the Illinois 1st District Appellate Court. She assumed office on September 2, 2025. Her current term ends on December 7, 2026.
Quish (Democratic Party) is also a judge of the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois. Her current term ends on December 2, 2030.
Quish ran for re-election for judge of the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois. She won in the retention election on November 5, 2024.
The Illinois Supreme Court assigned Martin to the Illinois First District Appellate Court on September 2, 2025.[1]
Biography
Clare Quish received a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1997 and a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2000. She practiced law with Schuyler, Roche & Crisham in Chicago from 2009 until her judicial appointment in 2016. She previously worked at Crisham & Kubes and was a law clerk at the Illinois First District Appellate Court.[2]
Elections
2024
See also: Municipal elections in Cook County, Illinois (2024)
Cook County Circuit Court, Clare Quish's seat
Clare Quish was retained to the Cook County Circuit Court on November 5, 2024 with 74.2% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
74.2
|
1,060,982 | ||
No |
25.8
|
369,577 | |||
Total Votes |
1,430,559 | ||||
|
|
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Quish in this election.
2018
General election
General election for Cook County Circuit Court
Incumbent Clare Quish won election in the general election for Cook County Circuit Court on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Clare Quish (D) | 100.0 | 1,251,054 | |
| Total votes: 1,251,054 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Cook County Circuit Court
Incumbent Clare Quish defeated Jerry Barrido and Patrick John in the Democratic primary for Cook County Circuit Court on March 20, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Clare Quish | 64.8 | 395,475 | |
| Jerry Barrido | 22.0 | 134,083 | ||
| Patrick John | 13.2 | 80,670 | ||
| Total votes: 610,228 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Selection method
- See also: Partisan elections
There are 513 judges on the Illinois Circuit Court, each elected in partisan elections to six-year terms. Upon the completion of these terms, judges who wish to continue serving must compete in uncontested, nonpartisan retention elections.[3]
The chief judge of each circuit court is selected by peer vote; he or she serves in that capacity indefinitely.[3]
The circuit courts are also served by 391 associate judges, who are limited in that they may not preside over cases in which the defendant is charged with a felony (an offense punishable by one or more years in prison). Associate judges are appointed to four-year terms by circuit judges.[4][3]
Midterm vacancies are filled by Illinois Supreme Court appointment.[3]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:[3]
- a U.S. citizen;
- a circuit/county resident; and
- licensed to practice law in Illinois.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Clare Quish did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ THE BAR NEWS, “Illinois Supreme Court Assigns Hon. Clare J. Quish to First District Appellate Court" accessed September 9, 2025
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedappoint - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Illinois," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ State of Illinois, "About the Courts in Illinois," accessed June 30, 2014
Federal courts:
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois
State courts:
Illinois Supreme Court • Illinois Appellate Court • Illinois Circuit Court
State resources:
Courts in Illinois • Illinois judicial elections • Judicial selection in Illinois
