Yolanda Harris Sayre files for Lewis vacancy in 5th Subcircuit

Yolanda Harris Sayre, who has been working as Legal Counsel to the Illinois State Police, has filed nominating petitions to run for the Lewis vacancy in the 5th Subcircuit. That's a link to Sayre's campaign website in the preceding sentence; a link has also been added to the Candidate List on the Sidebar on this site.

Licensed to practice law in Illinois since 2005, Sayre started her legal career in Texas, where, according to her campaign bio, while still a law student, she worked in the Texas Attorney General’s office and, practicing on a Texas student bar card (the equivalent, presumably, of our 711 license), participated in suits against "fraudulent bankers and insurers, winning millions of dollars for the people of Texas." After "working at several large law firms and deciding against that lifestyle," according to her campaign bio, Sayre "took a position with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) as an original civilian trainer of Community Policing and Diversity Management."

Sayre later became the first African American to serve as "in the postion of Attorney at CPD," according to her campaign bio. She has also worked in private practice and as an Administrative Law Judge, including work as a hearing officer or ALJ for the Cook County Officers Electoral Board, the Chicago Board of Elections, and, more recently, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Active in several bar associations, Sayre's campaign bio notes that she is on the Executive Board of the Illinois Association of Administrative Law Judges. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Sayre was slated for a countywide vacancy in 2022. In this election cycle, as FWIW readers may recall, Sayre was slated by the Cook County Democratic Party as its second alternate for any late-opening countywide vacancies. However, Sayre told slatemakers that she was eyeing a run for the 5th Subcircuit so, in an unusual move, the Party stipulated that, should Sayre make the 5th Subcircuit run, Ava George Stewart, who had been designated as the 6th alternate, would skip ahead of those in front of her and take Sayre's place.