Illinois Democratic Party leader Michael Cabonargi will lose his recent appointment as a Cook County judge despite raising more than $150,000 in campaign funds and winning endorsements from Illinois political heavyweights including Sen. Dick Durbin.

Cabonargi was defeated in Tuesday’s democratic primary by family law attorney Ashonta C. Rice, whose low-key campaign was almost entirely self-funded.

An Injustice Watch profile of Cabonargi, published last month as part of the newsroom’s judicial election guide, revealed ethical questions and campaign finance violations during his 11 years as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Review. The questions involved his ties to a powerful developer, his repeated campaign fundraising violations, and his hiring of political aides as county property tax analysts.

Two other recently appointed judges also lost Tuesday.

Appointed judge Linda Sackey was bested by Cook County assistant state’s attorney Luz Maria Toledo, who had received the Cook County Democratic Party’s endorsement. A third appointed judge, Ginger Odom, lost in a three-way subcircuit race in the 1st Subcircuit, according to the unofficial results.

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March 2026 Cook County judicial elections

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Overall, only 45 candidates ran for 28 open judicial seats Tuesday, so voters had no choice in 17 uncontested races. Four of the uncontested winners had mixed or negative ratings from the bar associations that vet each candidate’s fitness for office.

They were: Brittany Michelle Pedersen, who has been charged with driving under the influence three times, though one case was dismissed and two were reduced to reckless driving; Jessica Karina Velez, a deputy general counsel with the Illinois Office of the Comptroller; Stephanie S. Kelly, an attorney married to a sitting judge; and Sara McGann, a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney who was appointed to the bench last year.

Since there were no Republican candidates, the Democratic primary winners are set to take seats on the bench on December 7 and preside over cases involving family rights, criminal charges, evictions and civil liberties.

Several contested races were still too close to call as of Wednesday morning, with all suburban precincts and more than 97% of Chicago precincts reporting results. City and county election officials said there were still more than 100,000 outstanding mail-in ballots. While many of those may not be returned, valid ballots that are postmarked by Election Day can still be counted until March 31. Official results will be declared by April 7.

  • In the 1st Subcircuit, which extends along the lakefront from the Loop to the far South Side, Tiffany N. Brooks, who has held numerous jobs in city and county government and did not participate in bar association ratings, held a less than 500-vote lead over Cook County Assistant Public Defender Ashley Greer Shambley. Odom came in third place.
  • In the 8th Subcircuit, which stretches from Bridgeport to North Center, Cook County assistant state’s attorneys Kathleen Cunniff Ori and Elizabeth Christina Dibler were separated by about half a percentage point as of Wednesday morning. Illinois Assistant Attorney General Garson Fischer came in a distant third.

Judges elected from subcircuits have the same responsibilities as judges elected to countywide seats and can serve in any division of the court.

In other contested subcircuit races:

  • Also in the 1st subcircuit, Cook County assistant public defender Radiance Ward beat Natalie Howse, a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney and sister of Illinois Appellate Judge Nathaniel Howse.
  • Rachel Marrello, a lawyer for Cook County Health who previously served as an investigator with the Cook County Office of the Independent Inspector General, defeated repeat judicial candidate Martin Douglas Reggi in the 3rd Subcircuit, which includes southwest side Chicago neighborhoods and western suburbs.
  • In the 8th subcircuit, appointed judge and former public defender Lester Finkle had an overpowering lead against Katherine Carole Morrison, the daughter of state Sen. Julie Morrison, and Dan Balanoff, the son and grandson of former Cook County judges.
  • In the Northwest Side 11th Subcircuit, Cook County assistant state’s attorney Jarrett Knox beat John Carrozza, a solo practitioner.
  • In the 17th Subcircuit, which includes Chicago’s Southeast Side and south suburbs along the Indiana border, voters chose between five candidates who all had mixed ratings from bar groups. Natalia Moore, a lead attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office child support services division, beat Meridth Hammer, a private practice attorney who has run for judge before.
  • Also in the 17th Subcircuit, Bianca Brown, the granddaughter of an Illinois lawmaker and an associate at a Chicago law firm, bested Cook County assistant state’s attorney Amari Dawson and former state representative André Thapedi.
  • In the 19th Subcircuit, which takes in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood and nearby southwest suburbs, Cabrini Green Legal Aid attorney Monica Somerville beat two candidates with ties to Cook County political families, Dave Condron and John Harkins.
  • In the 20th Subcircuit, which runs along the lakefront through Lincoln Park, state administrative law judge Jon Stromsta won against Cook County assistant state’s attorney Belle Katubig.

Running unopposed Tuesday were five appointed judges, who now are set to keep their seats after their temporary terms expire at the end of this year: D’Anthony “Tony” Thedford, Michael Zink, Kim Przekota, Dan Naranjo, and John Carroll.

Seven other candidates ran unopposed for circuit court seats: 

  • Chicago Law Department supervisor Steven Q. McKenzie, who has pursued code violation lawsuits against property owners
  • Attorney Ava George Stewart, vice chair of the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission which advocates for people with disabilities and mental illness
  • Des Plaines attorney Sam Bae
  • Cook County assistant public defender Juan Ponce de Leon
  • Criminal defense attorney Julian Sanchez Crozier
  • Cook County assistant state’s attorney Robert “Bob” Groebner
  • Attorney William F. Kelley, who is set to become the third Kelley to serve as a Cook County judge, following in the footsteps of brothers Martin, who died in 2024, and Thomas, who retired last year.

Cook County Circuit Judge Judith C. Rice ran unopposed for a 10-year term on Illinois’ Appellate Court. A former Chicago City Treasurer and the daughter of Fred Rice, Chicago’s first Black police commissioner, Rice has served since 2021 as presiding judge of the court’s domestic violence division. She is set to become the first openly lesbian appellate court justice in Illinois.

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David Jackson has reported on judges, elder financial exploitation, and the court system. Before joining Injustice Watch in 2023, he was an investigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post, where he won a Pulitzer Prize, a senior editor at Chicago magazine, and a writer for alternative weeklies. His stories have sparked legislative hearings, exposed official corruption, and lifted the voices of neglected people. He was born and raised in Chicago.