Associate Judge Leonard Murray won the Democratic nomination for the Eadie-Daniels vacancy in the 5th Subcircuit. With only four of 213 precincts yet to report, Judge Murray holds a nearly 4,700 vote lead over Jameika Mangum.
Judge Robin Denise Shoffner was appointed to the Williams vacancy by the Illinois Supreme Court, but she has lost her bid to retain that seat tonight. With only four precincts yet to report, Daryl Jones has a better than 8,400 vote lead.
Jones was apparently serving as a member of the Chicago Bar Association's Judicial Evaluation Committee at "the beginning of the election year"; he was therefore automatically rated Not Recommended by the CBA. (The CBA is presumably concerned that confidence in the group's evaluations might be shaken if someone actively serving on the evaluation committee were to receive a positive evaluation for judicial office.) Jones was also found Not Qualified by the ISBA -- but he was rated Qualified or Recommended by all of the other Alliance bar groups.
There was a third 5th Subcircuit race on the ballot. Judge Freddrenna M. Lyle was unopposed in this race.
Because no Republicans filed for any of these vacancies, the winners of these races will be unopposed in November.
I had no opinion on this race until the CBA found Jones not qualified because he served on the CBA judicial evaluation committee at the beginning of the year. After I read his evaluation I wished him a lot of luck. What a harsh and unfair return to a bar member for volunteering their time. I agree with an earlier comment to a post; if Justice Theis believes the rule against avoiding the appearance of impropriety is not violated by appointing someone to the bench who is serving on her own judicial screening committee; either the CBA or Justice Theis (or both) need to evaluate their respective policies.
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