2020 Illinois judicial elections

2020 Illinois judicial elections

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The 2020 Illinois judicial elections consisted of both partisan and retention elections, including those for three seats on the Supreme Court of Illinois and 10 seats in the Illinois Appellate Court. ^{[1] [2]} Primary elections were held on March 17, 2020, and the general election was held on November 3, 2020. These elections were part of the 2020 Illinois elections.

Supreme Court of Illinois

Justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois are elected by district. Two seats will be holding partisan elections, while another will be holding a retention election. On the Supreme Court of Illinois, seats occupied by previously elected justices will see retention elections, while races with justices not previously elected (whether the seat is vacant or filled by an appointee) will see competitive partisan elections.

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 other four districts are single-member districts. ^[3] Justices hold ten year terms. ^[3]

1st district

One of the three seats from the 1st district is up for a partisan election. Incumbent P. Scott Neville Jr. was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018 to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Charles E. Freeman. This is a regularly scheduled election (Freeman's term would have ended in December 2020).

Democratic primary

Supreme Court of Illinois 1st district Democratic primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	P. Scott Neville Jr. (incumbent)	214,066	26.25
	Democratic	Jesse G. Reyes	165,344	20.27
	Democratic	Shelly A. Harris	123,166	15.10
	Democratic	Cynthia Y. Cobbs	103,497	12.69
	Democratic	Margaret Stanton McBride	101,475	12.44
	Democratic	Daniel Epstein	66,762	8.19
	Democratic	Nathaniel R. Howse	41,205	5.05
Total votes			815,515

Republican primary

No candidates were included on the ballot in the Republican primary. While an official write-in candidate did run, he did not receive a sufficient number of votes to win nomination.

Results

Supreme Court of Illinois 1st district Republican primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Write-in	Richard Mayers	22	100
Total votes			22	100

General election

Supreme Court of Illinois 1st district election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	P. Scott Neville Jr. (incumbent)	1,765,329	100
	Write-in	Richard Mayers	31	0.00
Total votes			1,765,360	100

5th district

Lloyd Karmeier, a Republican, retired on December 6, 2019, leaving the seat vacant until the election. This is a regularly scheduled election (Karmeier's term would have ended in December 2020). Three members of the Illinois Appellate Court from the 5th district chose to run; John B. Barberis Jr, Judy Cates, and David K. Overstreet. ^[6]

Democratic primary

Supreme Court of Illinois 5th district Democratic primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Judy Cates	85,117	100
Total votes			85,117	100

Republican primary

Supreme Court of Illinois 5th district Republican primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David K. Overstreet	77,438	76.51
	Republican	John B. Barberis Jr.	23,777	23.49
Total votes			101,215

General election

Supreme Court of Illinois 5th district election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David K. Overstreet	388,129	62.52
	Democratic	Judy Cates	232,722	37.48
Total votes			620,851	100

Retention elections

The 3rd district seat was held by Thomas L. Kilbride, a Democrat first elected to the Supreme Court in 2000.

In the 2nd district, Robert R. Thomas, a Republican, was scheduled to have retention election. However, he retired February 29, 2020. On March 1, 2020, Michael J. Burke assumed his seat, and will hold it until a special election in 2022. ^{[1] [7]}

To be retained, judges are required to have 60% of their vote be "yes". Kilbride did not reach that mark and only receiving approximately 57% of the vote. He is the first justice of the Illinois Supreme Court to lose retention vote in the history of the state. ^{[8] [9]}

District	Incumbent					Vote [5]
	Party		Name	In office since	Previous years elected/retained	Yes (Retain)	No (Remove)
3rd		Democratic	Thomas L. Kilbride	December 4, 2000	2000 (elected), 2010 (retained)	452,142 (56.52%)	347,812 (43.48%)

Illinois Appellate Court

Illinois Appellate Court justices hold ten-year terms. ^[3]

1st district (1st division)

Incumbent John C. Griffin was appointed in May 2018 following the retirement of John B. Simon. ^[10] This is a special election for a four-year term, as Simon's term would not have ended until 2024. ^[10] Griffin ran for reelection, but was unseated in the Democratic primary by Sharon Oden-Johnson.

Democratic primary

Illinois Appellate Court 1st district (1st division) Democratic primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sharon Oden-Johnson	395,022	52.44
	Democratic	John C. Griffin (incumbent)	358,226	47.56
Total votes			753,248	100

Republican primary

The Republican primary was cancelled. ^[2] No candidates had filed.

General election

Illinois Appellate Court 1st district (1st division) election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sharon O. Johnson	1,603,179	100
Total votes			1,603,179	100

1st district (3rd division)

Incumbent Michael Hyman was appointed in 2018 to fill the vacancy left when P. Scott Neville Jr. resigned this seat to assume a seat on the Supreme Court of Illinois. He was elected outright.

Democratic primary

Illinois Appellate Court 1st district (3rd division) Democratic primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael B. Hyman (incumbent)	273,898	35.51
	Democratic	Sandra Gisela Ramos	207,989	26.96
	Democratic	Maureen Patricia O'Leary	159,423	20.67
	Democratic	Carolyn Gallagher	130,067	16.86
Total votes			771,377	100

Republican primary

No candidates were included on the ballot in the Republican primary. While an official write-in candidate did run, he did not receive a sufficient number of votes to win nomination.

Results

Illinois Appellate Court 1st district (3rd division) Republican primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Write-in	Richard Mayers	21	100
Total votes			21	100

General election

Illinois Appellate Court 1st district (3rd division) election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Hyman (incumbent)	1,633,319	100
Total votes			1,633,319	100

5th district

Incumbent Mark M. Boie was appointed on May 1, 2019.

Democratic primary

Illinois Appellate Court 5th district Democratic primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sarah Smith	84,509	100
Total votes			84,509	100

Republican primary

Illinois Appellate Court 5th district Republican primary ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark M. Boie (incumbent)	52,619	54.4
	Republican	Katherine Ruocco	44,011	45.55
Total votes			96,630

General election

Illinois Appellate Court 5th district election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark M. Boie (incumbent)	367,036	59.86%
	Democratic	Sarah Smith	246,166	40.14%
Total votes			613,202	100%
	Republican hold

Retention elections

To be retained, judges are required to have 60% of their vote be "yes".

District	Incumbent					Vote		Cite
	Party		Name	In office since	Previous years elected/retained	Yes (Retain)	No (Remove)
1st		Democratic	Aurelia Marie Pucinski	December 6, 2010	2010 (elected)	1,406,831 (77.37%)	411,550 (22.63%)	[5] [11] [12] [13] [14]
		Democratic	Mary Katherine Rochford	December 6, 2010	2010 (elected)	1,276,378 (75.40)%	416,477 (24.60)%	[5] [12] [13] [15] [16]
2nd		Republican	Ann B. Jorgensen	July 2008	2010 (elected)	1,090,351 (80.97%)	256,183 (19.03%)	[5] [12] [13] [17] [18]
		Republican	Mary S. Schostok	August 2008	2010 (elected)	1,061,303 (80.01%)	265,164 (19.99%)	[5] [12] [13] [19] [20]
3rd		Democratic	Mary McDade	December 4, 2000	2000 (elected), 2010 (retained)	580,382 (76.10%)	182,318 (23.90%)	[5] [21] [22] [23]
5th		Republican	Thomas M. Welch	December 1, 1980	1980 (elected), 1990, 2000, 2010 (retained)	416,928 (75.37%)	136,244 (24.63%)	[5] [24] [25]

Lower courts

See also: 2020 Cook County, Illinois elections § Judicial elections

Lower courts also saw judicial elections.

References

1. "Illinois Supreme Court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
2. "Illinois intermediate appellate court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
3. "Illinois Constitution - Article VI". www.ilga.gov. Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
4. "Election Results 2020 GENERAL PRIMARY". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
5. "Official Canvass General Election November 3, 2020" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
6. White, Jesse (ed.). "Appellate Court Judges". Illinois Blue Book 2019-2020 (PDF). Illinois Secretary of State . Retrieved May 30, 2020.
7. Eggert, Timmothy (February 28, 2020). "Illinois Supreme Court's history picking of its own replacements". Chicago Law Bulletin. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
8. Tabor, Joe (November 4, 2020). "KILBRIDE IS FIRST ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT JUSTICE TO LOSE RETENTION VOTE". Illinois Policy. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
9. 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.
10. Thomas, David (April 18, 2018). "Griffin to fill retiring Simon's seat on 1st District Appellate Court". Chicago Law Bulletin. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
11. "Aurelia Pucinski". www.illinoiscourts.gov. Illinois Courts. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
12. "Election Results 2010 GENERAL PRIMARY". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
13. "Election Results 2010 GENERAL ELECTION". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
14. "Appellate Court: 1st District (Retain Aurelia Pucinski)". www.chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
15. "Mary K. Rochford". www.illinoiscourts.gov. Illinois Courts. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
16. "Appellate Court: 1st District (Retain Mary Katherine Rochford)". www.chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
17. "Ann B. Jorgensen". illinoiscourts.gov. Illinois Courts. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
18. "Ann B. Jorgensen". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
19. "Mary Seminara-Schostok". www.illinoiscourts.gov. Illinois Courts. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
20. "Mary Seminara-Schostok". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
21. "Election Results 2000 GENERAL PRIMARY". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
22. "Election Results 2000 GENERAL ELECTION". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
23. "Mary McDade". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
24. "Thomas M. Welch". www.illinoiscourts.gov. Illinois Courts. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
25. Tybor, Joseph R. (October 26, 1988). "GOP CANDIDATE FOR HIGH COURT TAKES HIS OWN TRAIL". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 2, 2020.