2018 Illinois judicial elections

The 2018 Illinois judicial elections consisted of both partisan and retention elections, including those for one seat on the Supreme Court of Illinois and five seats in the Illinois Appellate Court.^[1]^[2] Primary elections were held on March 20, 2018, and general elections were held on November 6, 2018.^[1]^[2] These elections were part of the 2018 Illinois elections.

Supreme Court of Illinois

Justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois are elected by district. One seat held a retention election.

The court has seven seats total separated into five districts. The first district, representing Cook County, contains three seats, making it a multi-member district, while other four districts are single-member districts.^[3] Justices hold ten year terms.^[3]

Retention elections

To be retained, judges were required to have 60% of their vote be "yes".

District	Incumbent					Vote		Cite
District	Party		Name	In office since	Previous years elected/retained	Yes (Retain)	No (Remove)	Cite
1st		Democratic	Anne M. Burke	July 6, 2006	2008 (elected)	1,106,59 (81.1%)	258,253 (18.9%)	^[1]^[4]^[5]

Illinois Appellate Court

Illinois Appellate Court justices hold ten-year terms.^[3]

4th district (Appleton vacancy)

Incumbent Peter C. Cavanagh, who was appointed in May 2017 to fill the vacancy left when Tom Appleton resigned his seat, won reelection.^[6]^[7]^[8] This was a special election for two years, as Appeton's term would have ended in 2020.^[9]

Democratic primary

No Democratic primary was held, as no candidates filed to run.

Republican primary

Due to the time the vacancy was created being so close to the May 6 filing date for candidates to make the ballot,^[2]^[10] Cavanaugh was not on the ballot, and instead ran as a write-in candidate.^[10]

Illinois Appellate Court 4th district (Appleton vacancy) Republican primary^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Write-in	Pete Cavanaugh (incumbent)	9,910	99.78
	Write-in	Timothy Forman	22	0.22
Total votes			9,932	100

General election

Illinois Appellate Court 4th district (Appleton vacancy) election^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pete Cavanaugh (incumbent)	377,400	100
Total votes			377,400	100

4th district (Pope vacancy)

Incumbent Republican Thomas M. Harris, Jr., who was appointed in July 2017 to fill the vacancy left when Carole Pope resigned her seat, won reelection, running unopposed in both Republican primary and general election.^[13]^[14] This was a special election for four years, as Pope's term would have ended in 2022.^[15]

Democratic primary

No Democratic primary was held, as no candidates filed to run.

Republican primary

Illinois Appellate Court 4th district (Pope vacancy) Republican primary^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Thomas M. Harris, Jr. (incumbent)	101,530	100
Total votes			101,530	100

General election

Illinois Appellate Court 4th district (Pope vacancy) election^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Thomas M. Harris, Jr. (incumbent)	377,404	100
Total votes			377,404	100

5th district

Republican David K. Overstreet was elected to fill the vacancy that was created after Richard P. Goldenhersh retired in 2017.^[12]^[16] This was a regular election, as Goldenhersh's term would have expired in 2018.^[17]

Democratic primary

Illinois Appellate Court 5th district Democratic primary^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kevin T. Hoerner	69,967	100
Total votes			69,967	100

Republican primary

Illinois Appellate Court 5th district Republican primary^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David K. Overstreet	84,744	100
Total votes			84,744	100

General election

Illinois Appellate Court 5th district election^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David K. Overstreet	281,846	58.77
	Democratic	Kevin T. Hoerner	197,723	41.23
Total votes			479,569	100

Retention elections

To be retained, judges were required to have 60% of their vote be "yes".

District	Incumbent					Vote		Cite
District	Party		Name	In office since	Previous years elected/retained	Yes (Retain)	No (Remove)	Cite
1st		Democratic	Margaret Stanton McBride	December 7, 1998	1998 (elected), 2008 (retained)	1,067,004 (81.1%)	248,831 (18.9%)	^[18]
2nd		Republican	Robert McLaren	December 5, 1988	1988 (elected), 1998, 2008 (retained)	782,693 (79.3%)	203,831 (20.7%)	^[19]^[20]

Lower courts

Lower courts also saw judicial elections.^[11]^[12]^[21] This included 52 partisan elections to fill vacancies on circuit courts and 34 partisan elections to fill vacancies on subcircuit courts.^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Illinois Supreme Court elections, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Illinois intermediate appellate court elections, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Illinois Constitution - Article VI". www.ilga.gov. Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^ "Anne M. Burke". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Justice Anne M. Burke to Be Sworn in to Illinois Supreme Court" (PDF) (Press release). Illinois Supreme Court. July 5, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 14, 2012.
^ "Peter C. Cavanagh". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ Schoenburg, Bernard. "Schoenburg: Judge Cavanagh interested in appellate court". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "M.R. 1403" (PDF). Supreme Court of Illinois. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Thomas Appleton". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ ^a ^b Schoenburg, Bernard (March 21, 2018). "Pete Cavanagh easily makes it to fall appellate court ballot". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Election Results 2018 GENERAL PRIMARY". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Election Results 2018 GENERAL ELECTION". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Thomas M. Harris Jr". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ Schoenburg, Bernard. "Pope retiring, Harris appointed and running for appellate court". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Carol Pope". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ Rieck, Dana (October 27, 2017). "Former Jefferson County judge to seek election to appellate court". Belleville News-Democrat. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Richard Goldenhersh". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Margaret Stanton McBride". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Robert McLaren". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "FOR STATE SUPREME, APPELLATE COURTS". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. November 1, 1988. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ "Illinois local trial court judicial elections, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[ballotpedia1-1] "Illinois Supreme Court elections, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[ballotpedia2-2] "Illinois intermediate appellate court elections, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[ArticleVI-3] "Illinois Constitution - Article VI". www.ilga.gov. Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved March 22, 2020.

[4] "Anne M. Burke". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[5] "Justice Anne M. Burke to Be Sworn in to Illinois Supreme Court" (PDF) (Press release). Illinois Supreme Court. July 5, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 14, 2012.

[6] "Peter C. Cavanagh". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[7] Schoenburg, Bernard. "Schoenburg: Judge Cavanagh interested in appellate court". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[8] "M.R. 1403" (PDF). Supreme Court of Illinois. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[9] "Thomas Appleton". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[Schoenburg1-10] Schoenburg, Bernard (March 21, 2018). "Pete Cavanagh easily makes it to fall appellate court ballot". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[primary-11] "Election Results 2018 GENERAL PRIMARY". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[general-12] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Election Results 2018 GENERAL ELECTION". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[13] "Thomas M. Harris Jr". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[14] Schoenburg, Bernard. "Pope retiring, Harris appointed and running for appellate court". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[15] "Carol Pope". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[16] Rieck, Dana (October 27, 2017). "Former Jefferson County judge to seek election to appellate court". Belleville News-Democrat. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[17] "Richard Goldenhersh". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[18] "Margaret Stanton McBride". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[19] "Robert McLaren". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[20] "FOR STATE SUPREME, APPELLATE COURTS". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. November 1, 1988. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[21] "Illinois local trial court judicial elections, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

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v t e Elections in Illinois
By year	1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1969 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1998 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Presidential	1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 (Dem primary, Rep primary) 2012 2016 (Dem primary) 2020 (Dem primary) 2024 (Dem primary, Rep primary)
U.S. Senate	1885 1913 1914 1918 1920 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020 2022
U.S. House	2000 (1st) 2006 2008 2010 (17th) 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Special	2nd congressional, 1995 14th congressional, 2008 5th congressional, 2009 2nd congressional, 2013 18th congressional, 2015 Comptroller, 2016
Gubernatorial	1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Lieutenant gubernatorial	1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968
Other state executive offices	Attorney General 2018 2022 Secretary of State 2022 Comptroller 2016
State Senate	2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
State House	1964 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
State judicial	1936 1938 1940 1942 1948 1960 1962 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Ballot measures and referendums	State capitol referendum (1834) Cutback Amendment (1980) Crime Victim Rights Amendment (1992) Governor Recall Amendment (2010) Public Pension Amendment (2012) Marsy's Law (2014) Right to Vote Amendment (2014) Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment (2016) Fair Tax (2020) Right to Collective Bargaining Amendment (2022)
Chicago mayoral	1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 (Mar) 1844 (Apr) 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1865 1867 1869 1871 1873 1876 (Apr) 1876 (Jul) 1877 1879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 1891 1893 (Apr) 1893 (Dec) 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 1979 1983 1987 1989 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Chicago City Council	1923 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Other municipal	1924 Cicero
Cook County	1946 1980 (State's Attorney) 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022