PLEASE NOTE: Your state representative, state senator, or US Congressperson may have changed. See if your representative has changed here.

President and Vice President

☑ Kamala Harris & Tim Walz

U.S. Representatives

☑ Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (3rd District)
☑ Congressman Mike Quigley (5th District)
☑ Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (9th District)

Illinois State Senator

☑ Mike Simmons (7th District)

Illinois State Representative

☑ Ann Williams (11th District)
☑ Hoan Huynh (13th District)
☑ Kelly Cassidy (14th District)
☑ Mike Kelly (15th District)
☑ Kevin Olickal (16th District)
☑ Robyn Gabel (18th District)

Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court

☑ Mariyana Spyropoulos

State’s Attorney

☑ Eileen O’Neill Burke

Cook County Clerk

☑ Monica Gordon

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner, 6 year (choose three) and 2 year (choose one)

☑ Kari Steele (6 year)
☑ Marcelino Garcia (6 year)
☑ Sharon Waller (6 year)
☑ Precious Brady Davis (2 year)

Illinois Supreme Court Judge

☑ Justice Joy Cunningham

Illinois Appellate Court Judge

☑ Judge Mary Mikva
☑ Judge Cynthia Cobbs
☑ Judge Carl Walker
☑ Judge Ceilia Gamrath

Circuit Court Judge

☑ Neil Cohen
☑ Arlene Coleman-Romeo
☑ Debjani Desai
☑ Deidre Dyer
☑ Corinne Heggie
☑ Sarah Johnson
☑ James Murphy-Aguilu
☑ Chloe Pedersen
☑ Ed Underhill
☑ Jennifer Callahan
☑ Pablo deCastro

CPS Elected School Board, District 2

☑ Kate Doyle*

*contested

Retention Judges

A note from Democratic Committeewoman Maggie O’Keefe
TL;DR: I don’t trust bar ratings—use InjusticeWatch.org as a guiding resource.

I’m deeply frustrated with the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) for releasing their recommendations just 34 days before the election. For context, I’ve long had concerns about the ISBA’s credibility. Our research has shown that they disproportionately fail to recommend women, and especially women of color, compared to their male colleagues.

On Saturday, October 5, the Retention Committee of the Cook County Democratic Party convened, just two days after the ISBA released their ratings. Although I’m not part of the committee, they voted to recommend a “YES” for all retention judges, despite negative ratings for four of them. Backed by election data from former elections, those who carry negative bar ratings typically have lower votes supporting their candidacy.

However, I cannot in good faith ask anyone to completely trust the ISBA’s recommendations. The 40th Ward Democrats have found ISBA to be biased, with many of its members lacking the necessary qualifications to fairly assess these judges. Further, there are tens of thousands of ISBA members (a paid membership), yet in some candidate profiles, 200 or less ISBA members are actually voting on these judges and candidates. This is an unfair, unjust, and unreliable way to survey and recommend candidates running for judge. The methods of surveying is qualitatively and quantitatively inaccurate - there is no public data to review on who are rating these candidates, their relationship to these candidates, their race, location or qualification. It is a flawed, outdated system that needs to be reformed and exposed.

Based on the limited information I have on the 77 judges seeking retention, I can only personally recommend about a dozen judges for retention—these are individuals I know personally, professionally, or have received strong endorsements from trusted legal professionals, including both current lawyers and retired judges.

As the Cook County Democratic Party, we should not be relying on ISBA ratings for our endorsements. We should create our own vetting process, much like we do for judges seeking appointment or running for the first time. I’m committed to working on this critical issue for future elections.

For now, I would advise all of those voters who want to vote YES/NO for all 77 Retention Judges to use Injustice Watch as our guiding resource to learn more about these judges.

(In alphabetical order, not ballot order)

☑ Elizabeth Ciaccia-Lezza
☑ Colleen Reardon Daly
☑ Adrienne Elaine Davis
☑ Kent Delgado
☑ John H. Ehrlich
☑ Cecilia Anne Horan (40th Ward)
☑ Peter Michael Gonzalez
☑ Jack Hagerty
☑ Robert Harris
☑ Lindsay Huge
☑ Lionel Jean-Baptiste
☑ Preston Jones Jr. (worked for his first race in 2018)
☑ Diann Karen Marsalek
☑ David R. Navarro
☑ Ramon Ocasio, III (headed to Appellate)
☑ Clare Joyce Quish
☑ Joanne F. Rosado (worked for her first race in 2018)
☑ Stephanie Saltouros (worked for her first race in 2018)
☑ Regina Ann Scannicchio
☑ James "Jamie" Shapiro
☑ Tom Sam Sianis
☑ Carl Anthony Walker (headed to Appellate)
☑ Jeanne Marie Wrenn