Start here for the most complete information about every 2026 Cook County judicial race

This post will get bumped up to the top of the front page of FWIW frequently in the days leading up to the March 17 priamry.

This is the interactive, voter-friendly part of FWIW. What follows is a list of every Cook County judicial vacancy on the March primary ballot.

The vacancies are listed on Democratic and Republican ballots alike.

However, the only candidates for any of these judicial vacancies on this year's ballot are in the Democratic primary. No candidates filed to run in the Republican Primary.

The following is not a partisan statement; it is merely a statement of fact: In the March 17 primary, in order to have any say in who serves in our local courts, one has to take a Democratic ballot.

Voters in the Democratic Primary may be additionally surprised to note how many judicial vacancies are uncontested.

Essentially, all of the persons running in uncontested races are as good as elected already.

Of course, not all races are uncontested. These are the ones voters should be looking for. All the contested races in the list below are live links. When you click on any of these, you will be taken to a post that will show all the candidates in that race, in ballot order, with all ratings and other information about each candidate that I've been able to assemble. Where a candidate has provided FWIW with a statement "in their own words", a link to that statement will be available from that post as well.

There is a link at the bottom of each of these Organizing the Data posts, so voters can examine each contested race in detail, one candidate at a time, and come right back here.

The linked posts will be updated as new information becomes available, right up until the polls close on the Feast of St. Patrick. Any errors of omission or commission in these posts are mine alone and deeply regretted.

What is not an error: You will note, if you visit the candidates' websites (and I encourage you to do this; that's why I include them) that the candidate may claim a number of endorsements that I don't include in the Organizing the Data posts. I only include endorsements that I can independently verify; the fact that, in some cases, a candidate will claim endorsements that I don't list does not necessarily mean that the candidate has inaccurately claimed an endorsement. Rather, it may mean (and usually means) only that I haven't (or haven't yet) confirmed a particular endorsement. You can read all FWIW posts about Cook County judicial candidate endorsements by clicking on this link. In the coming days, as I verify additional endorsements, I will add them to the proper Organizing the Data post at my earliest opportunity.

And now the list:

Countywide Vacancies

Appellate Court (Hoffman) - Uncontested

Circuit Court (Burke) - Uncontested
Circuit Court (Cobbs)
Circuit Court (Coghlan)
Circuit Court (Hooks) - Uncontested
Circuit Court (Karkula) - Uncontested

Subcircuit Vacancies

1st Subcircuit (Balanoff)
1st Subcircuit (Walker)

3rd Subcircuit (Murphy) - Uncontested
3rd Subcircuit (Sherlock)

5th Subcircuit (Ross) - Uncontested

8th Subcircuit (Gamrath)
8th Subcircuit (Mikva)

11th Subcircuit (McLean Meyerson)
11th Subcircuit (Roberts) - Uncontested

13th Subcircuit (Curry, Jr.) - Uncontested
13th Subcircuit (M. Kelley) - Uncontested
13th Subcircuit (T. Kelley) - Uncontested
13th Subcircuit (O'Malley) - Uncontested

16th Subcircuit (Baird) - Uncontested
16th Subcircuit (Mendoza) - Uncontested

17th Subcircuit (Brooks)
17th Subcircuit (Carroll)

18th Subcircuit (Andreou) - Uncontested
18th Subcircuit (Chrones) - Uncontested

19th Subcircuit (Fairman) - Uncontested
19th Subcircuit (Kane)

20th Subcircuit (Haracz) - Uncontested
20th Subcircuit (Miller)