Illinois judicial election recap, 2012
| 2012 State Judicial Elections | |
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November 19, 2012
Illinois: In the Illinois Supreme Court race, incumbent Democrat Mary Jane Theis handily defeated her Republican opponent, James G. Riley with 84.5% of the vote.
Many of the appellate and circuit court races were decided in the March 20th partisan primary elections, which meant a number of unopposed candidates on the general election ballot. The Fifth District Appellate Court saw some action, as Judy Cates (D) defeated Stephen P. McGlynn (R ) in the race to replace James Donovan.
On the Circuit Court level, the first judges were elected to the newly-created 23rd Circuit Court, which will preside over the counties of DeKalb and Kendall (previously part of the 16th Circuit) as of December 3, 2012. The judges who were elected are Melissa S. Barnhart and Ronald J. Matekaitis.
In the 2nd Circuit Court, a lawsuit regarding the primary election has prevented the general election results from being released. The lawsuit, brought by Circuit Court candidate Kent Renshaw, challenges his opponent Eric Dirnbeck's primary win. Dirnbeck was on the ballot, running unopposed, in the general election, but the results were suppressed by a judge pending the outcome of the case.
Many of the Illinois ballots, particularly those in Chicago and the rest of Cook County, included a number of retention elections. A total of 107 justices and judges faced retention this year; all of them were successful. Judges needed at least 60% of the vote to be retained to a new term. Two judges of the Cook County Subcircuit Courts, Cynthia Y. Brim and Gloria Chevere, barely slipped past that mark, with 63.5% and 63.1% of the vote, respectively.
See also
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