Editor’s note: The Tribune Editorial Board is not making endorsements in contested judicial races during this primary cycle. But we’re partnering with the trusted nonprofit Injustice Watch to offer readers more information on judicial candidates, including how candidates have been rated by relevant bar associations. As with our endorsements for the other statewide contested primaries, this page can be taken into the voting booth.
Judicial candidates are among the most obscure names on your ballot, but these elections come with high stakes. Judges are powerful public officials whose choices on the bench touch many aspects of our lives, such as divorces, civil lawsuits, evictions, foreclosures and criminal cases. They have the power to grant or take away someone’s freedom, enforce or overturn state laws, and correct or perpetuate injustices.
The current salary for a circuit judge is more than $234,000, and judges are eligible for significant pension benefits after they retire. Once elected, it’s very rare for a judge to be removed from the bench or lose a retention vote. Yet there are few places to get information about the people running for judge.
Injustice Watch’s team of investigative reporters works to fill this gap. As a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, we don’t make endorsements.
First, a little bit about how judicial elections work in Cook County:
Illinois voters elect new judges every two years during the state’s primary elections. Candidates run for a specific vacancy, named for the last judge who held the seat. These races are partisan, and in Cook County, the vast majority of judicial candidates run on the Democratic ballot. Just four of the 69 candidates running for judge in Cook County this year are Republicans.
Democratic voters will see four types of judicial candidates on their ballot this year:
- One race for the Illinois Supreme Court. The court’s seven justices serve 10-year terms, and three justices are chosen by Cook County voters. In addition to ruling on cases decided on by the lower courts, the state Supreme Court appoints judges to fill vacancies, creates the rules that courts must follow, and oversees attorney licensing and discipline.
- Four races for the Illinois Appellate Court, two of which are contested. Appellate Court justices rule on cases originally decided by the circuit courts.
- Eleven countywide Circuit Court vacancies, four contested. Circuit judges are the front line of the court system. They hear all kinds of cases, from traffic tickets to personal injury lawsuits to child welfare to criminal cases. Once elected, circuit judges serve six-year terms.
- Twenty-nine subcircuit races, although depending on where voters live, they might see one or two on their ballot. Subcircuits are geographic districts, like a ward or congressional district, created in the 1990s to diversify the bench. Judges elected to subcircuit seats have to live in their subcircuit — but once elected, their jobs are no different than the circuit judges elected countywide. (To find your subcircuit, visit our guide online or check your voter registration card.)
Our team spent months researching each candidates’ legal experience, community involvement, donors, political connections, conduct and controversies. We sent every candidate a survey asking about their background and why they want to be a judge. We also summarize the recommendations from the 14 groups of lawyers, called bar associations, that evaluate judicial candidates.
Below is a list of candidates in contested judicial races. All candidates listed are running in the Democratic primary; there are no contested Republican primary races this year. Unless otherwise noted, candidates have been found qualified or recommended by all bar associations.
To see our full judicial election guide for the 2024 primary election, go to injusticewatch.org/checkyourjudges.
Illinois Supreme Court, 1st District (vacancy of Burke)
Joy Virginia Cunningham
Jesse G. Reyes
Cunningham was appointed to replace retiring Justice Anne Burke in 2022. Reyes, an appellate judge, has centered his campaign around being the first Latino elected to the court. Both have been rated highly qualified by multiple bar associations.
Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District (vacancy of Cunningham)
Cynthia Y. Cobbs
Carolyn J. Gallagher
Cobbs, who has been assigned to the Appellate Court since 2015, is rated highly qualified by seven bar associations. Gallagher, a circuit judge in the probate division, was found not qualified by four bar associations.
Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District (vacancy of Delort)
Celia Louise Gamrath
Leonard Murray
Gamrath, a circuit judge in the chancery division, was rated highly qualified by six bar associations. Murray, the supervising judge of the circuit court’s housing section, was rated highly qualified by two bar associations and not recommended by one.
Cook County Judicial Circuit (vacancy of Flannery Jr.)
Pablo F. deCastro
Chelsey Renece Robinson
DeCastro is a criminal defense and civil rights attorney. Robinson, a solo practitioner focused on family law, was rated not qualified by one bar association.
Cook County Judicial Circuit (vacancy of Mitchell)
Neil Cohen
Wende Williams
Cohen is a longtime associate judge appointed as a circuit judge in 2022, serving in the chancery division. He was rated highly recommended by one bar association. Williams, an attorney focused on criminal defense, personal injury and child support cases, did not participate in the bar evaluation process.
Cook County Judicial Circuit (vacancy of Murphy)
Lori Ann Roper
Edward Joseph Underhill
Roper is a career public defender, currently a supervisor at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. She was found not recommended by three bar associations. Underhill is a former corporate attorney who was appointed to the bench last year.
Cook County Judicial Circuit (vacancy of Propes)
Debjani “Deb” Desai
Russ Hartigan
Desai is an appointed judge who previously worked at a number of state agencies, including the Illinois comptroller’s office and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Hartigan is a former circuit judge who resigned in 2017 due to a family illness and has run several times to get back on the bench. Both were found highly qualified by some bar associations.
3rd Cook County Subcircuit (vacancy of Adams Brosnahan)
Lucy Vazquez-Gonzalez
Martin Douglas Reggi
Vazquez-Gonzalez runs her own family law practice. Reggi is a criminal defense attorney. Vazquez-Gonzalez was found not qualified by seven bar associations. Reggi was found not qualified by two bar associations.
7th Cook County Subcircuit (vacancy of Solganick)
Deidre Baumann
Owens J. Shelby
Baumann, a civil rights attorney running for judge for the sixth time, was found not qualified by two bar associations. Shelby is a former prosecutor who ran three times before being appointed to the bench in 2023.
10th Cook County Subcircuit (vacancy of Wojkowski)
Liam Kelly
James V. Murphy
Kelly is an attorney in the state appellate defender’s office who was found not qualified by five bar associations. Murphy is a former career prosecutor who left the Cook County state’s attorney’s office in 2022 after a falling-out with State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. He was found highly recommended by one bar association.
11th Cook County Subcircuit (vacancy of Daleo)
Audrey Victoria Cosgrove
Kim Przekota
Cosgrove has worked as an attorney and administrative law judge for several state agencies, including the Illinois Lottery and Illinois Department of Labor, and is currently an administrative law judge for the state’s Property Tax Appeal Board. She was found highly recommended by one bar association. Przekota is a career Cook County prosecutor, currently at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
14th Cook County Subcircuit (vacancy of O’Hara)
Griselda Vega Samuel
Steve Demitro
Vega Samuel is Midwest regional counsel of a national Latinx civil rights organization. Demitro has his own practice focused on personal injury and criminal cases and is a longtime McKinley Park resident.
15th Cook County Subcircuit (vacancy of Demacopoulos)
Paul A. O’Grady
Allen Price Walker
Luciano “Lou” Panici Jr.
O’Grady, the Orland Township supervisor and an attorney specializing in municipal law, was found not qualified by one bar association. Walker is an associate judge in the chancery division who was found highly qualified by three bar associations. Panici is a Bloom Township trustee and municipal prosecutor for several south suburbs and was found not recommended by two bar associations.
18th Cook County Subcircuit (converted from associate judgeship of Gottainer Edidin)
Jeffery G. Chrones
Sunil Bhave
Chrones and Bhave are Cook County associate judges. Elected circuit judges make slightly more money and can be appointed to supervisory roles in the court. Chrones was found highly recommended by two bar associations.
19th Cook County Subcircuit (converted from associate judgeship of Senechalle Jr.)
Bridget Colleen Duignan
Risa Renee Lanier
Dave Heilmann
Duignan is a personal injury lawyer who was found highly qualified by two bar associations. Lanier, the No. 2 official in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, was found not qualified by four bar associations. Heilmann is a partner at a large insurance industry defense firm and a former Oak Lawn village president.
20th Cook County Subcircuit (converted from associate judgeship of Budzinski)
Nickolas Pappas
Michael J. Zink
John Poulos
Nadine Jean Wichern
Pappas is a general practice attorney and former Cook County prosecutor. Zink represents landlords and tenants in housing and eviction cases. Poulos, a Chicago police lieutenant with a history of misconduct allegations, did not participate in bar association evaluations. Wichern is a supervising attorney in the Illinois attorney general’s office, representing the state in civil appeals.
Jonah Newman is the managing editor of Injustice Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism organization in Chicago that examines issues of equity and justice in the court system.
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