Editor’s note: This story was updated April 11 with final election results.
With scant competition and extraordinarily low turnout, the Cook County Democratic Party’s chosen candidates dominated the judicial races in the March 19 primary election.
The party’s picks all won — most of them by substantial margins — after yet another historically uncompetitive primary in which all of the party’s slated candidates were already serving as judges. In most of deep blue Cook County, winning the Democratic Primary virtually assures victory in the general election in November.
Voters’ excitement was muted, with turnout that looked early on to be the lowest for a presidential primary in at least 80 years.
The party’s choice for Illinois Supreme Court, Justice Joy Cunningham, declared victory on election night over challenger Appellate Court Judge Jesse Reyes following a campaign centered on questions of racial and ethnic diversity on the court.
In the contested appellate court races, slated candidates Celia Gamrath, now a Cook County judge, and Cynthia Y. Cobbs, an appointed appeals judge, won over challengers Leonard Murray and Carolyn J. Gallagher, both Cook County circuit judges.
In the contested countywide races for circuit judge, party picks Pablo F. deCastro, Neil Cohen, Edward Joseph Underhill and Debjani “Deb” Desai triumphed as well.
Voters also weighed in on judicial subcircuit races held in geographically drawn districts. The Democratic Party doesn’t formally endorse candidates in those contests, though party officials often make their own picks. Two candidates with high-profile controversies in their pasts and multiple negative bar association ratings — Risa Renee Lanier and John Poulos — lost to candidates who got better reviews from the lawyers’ groups.
Winners in contested subcircuit races:
- In the 3rd subcircuit, Lucy Vasquez-Gonzalez, a solo practitioner who focuses on family law.
- In the 7th, Judge Owens J. Shelby, an appointed Cook County judge who hears traffic cases, beat repeat candidate Deirdre Bauman.
- In the 10th, James V. Murphy, an attorney at a small firm and a former assistant Cook County state’s attorney.
- In the 11th, Audrey Victoria Cosgrove, an administrative law judge and former counsel for several state agencies, beat Cook County assistant state’s attorney Kim Przekota in a tight race.
- In the 14th, Griselda Vega Samuel, a lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, trounced repeat candidate Steve Demitro.
- In the 15th, Luciano “Lou” Panici Jr., a Chicago Heights lawyer and son of a Cook County associate judge.
- In the 18th, Jeffery G. Chrones, a Cook County associate judge and former assistant state’s attorney.
- In the 19th, Bridget Colleen Duignan, a Beverly personal injury lawyer, defeated two opponents including former Oak Lawn Village President Dave Heilmann and Lanier, second-in-command to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
- In the 20th, Nadine Jean Wichern, a lawyer for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, beat Nickolas Pappas, Michael J. Zink and Poulos, a Chicago police officer with a career tarnished by controversy, allegations of dishonesty, and two fatal shootings.
Many of the winners will assume their posts early, as the Illinois Supreme Court announced in April that 12 of the primary winners would be appointed to the positions they seek. The court had previously appointed eight other candidates who were unopposed in the primary to the bench.
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