Girl, I Guess Progressive Voter Guide offers guidance on contested Cook County Judicial races

The Girl, I Guess Progessive Voter Guide has returned in time for the March 2026 primary. That is a link to the entire guide in the preceding sentence. We're only going to look at the guide's endorsements in judicial races. There aren't that many of them. Of course, there aren't that many judicial races either.

First, a little about the Girl, I Guess guide (and this is quoting, now, from the guide itself, emphasis in original):

Girl, I Guess is Jewish, Black, queer, trans, nerdy and dedicated to helping members of our community navigate a confusing ballot and identify the most progressive candidates. We also recommend you consult with progressive / radical organizers in your community, especially queer, trans, Black, and Brown folks!

"Progressive," in this usage, means, among other things, pro-Palestinian and anti-police. The authors of the guide, Stephanie Skora and Raeghn Draper, note that they "may be 80% of the way to full-blown secessionists at this point," but they encourage readers to vote in the primary. They explain:

There may be fewer judicial candidates on the ballot than usual, but every single one of those votes counts. We are right at the beginning of a four-election period that will determine what kind of representation Chicago and Cook County has at what may very well be the end of this nation. Kicking out shitty incumbents in the Primary, disposing of a couple of the County’s remaining Republicans and electing a full, progressive School Board in November, and then achieving a progressive majority on City Council next February are all within reach.

Now that you know a little about the guide's point of view (and, again, I encourage you to peruse the entire document, first, because it is lively, pungent, and entertaining -- no matter what you may think of the authors' views -- and also to see whether I've stated their positions fairly) let's move on to the guide's judicial endorsements.

You'll have to scroll some to get there (starting at roughly p. 85 of 97 total as this post is written, but the guide is a Google doc and things can be added and taken away, including endorsements, at any time).

Countywide Vacancies

Cobbs Vacancy - Linda Sackey
Coughlin Vacancy - No Endorsement

Subcircuit Vacancies

1st Subcircuit (Balanoff) - Radiance Ward
1st Subcircuit (Walker) - Ginger Odom

3rd Subcircuit (Sherlock) - Rachel Marrello (But the endorsement is apparently provisional: the guide promises to pull the endorsement if the candidate accepts an endorsement from the FOP. This drives me crazy, but I'll talk about it elsewhere. End of digression.)

8th Subcircuit (Gamrath) - Elizabeth Cristina Dibler
8th Subcircuit (Mikva) - Lester Finkle (The guide has several objections to the candidacy of Katherine Morrison, one of the other two candidates in this race, including that she "defended the City in civil rights lawsuits stemming from police homicides, which is gross and disqualifying in and of itself." This is another pet peeve of mine: Lawyers represent clients; by undertaking a representation, a lawyer does not thereby necessarily adopt the client's beliefs or attitudes. Public defenders do not become criminals simply because they provide a vigorous defense, as the law demands, even for persons who are, to borrow a line from Mel Brooks' The Producers, "incredibly guilty." End of digression.)

11th Subcircuit (Meyerson) - Jarret Knox

17th Subcircuit (Brooks) - Natalia Moore
17th Subcircuit (Carroll) - Bianca B. Brown

19th Subcircuit (Kane) - No Endorsement (The guide refers to the "cop-infested 19th Subcircuit")

20th Subcircuit (Miller) - Jon Stromstra (The guide says this endorsement would "have been much more complicated had I not gotten tipped off by a concerned citizen that Belle Katubig voted Republican in the 2016 Primary. * * * I, notably, do not like Republicans, current or former. If there’s even a tiny chance that you voted Trump, I don’t want you on the bench in Illinois.")