2 Suburban Races To Decide Balance Of Power On Illinois Supreme Court

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Voters in 12 northern Illinois counties will select two new members of the Illinois Supreme Court next month in a pair of hotly contested races.

Republicans need to win both open seats to win a majority of seats on the state's highest court for the first time in more than 50 years.

But Democrats can maintain their 4-3 majority by winning in either the 2nd District or 3rd District, both of which were redrawn last year by Democratic legislative supermajorities.

In the 2nd District, composed of DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Lake and McHenry counties, Republican Mark Curran, a former state and federal prosecutor and three-term Lake County sheriff, faces Democrat Elizabeth Rochford, a Lake County associate judge and former commissioner of claims.

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In the 3rd District, Republican Mike Burke, a sitting Supreme Court justice who was appointed to a vacancy on the court two years ago after decades as a DuPage County and appellate court judge, faces Democrat Mary Kay O'Brien, a longtime appellate court judge and former state representative.

As of this year, the district includes Bureau, DuPage, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, LaSalle and Will counties.

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Winners will be elected to 10-year terms on the bench. Once elected, judges go before voters in retention elections where they do not face opponents and must secure a 60 percent "yes" vote.

No Illinois Supreme Court justice had ever failed to do so until two years ago, when Democrat Thomas Kilbride lost his retention bid by about 28,000 votes.

Following the 2020 election, lawmakers redrew the state's judicial districts in a manner that diluted the Republican majority in the 3rd District with the addition of DuPage County, while at the same time removing Republican-leaning rural counties from the 2nd District.

Though Burke is a sitting justice, he must run to keep his seat because of the new maps. Burke is not related to Justice Anne Burke, or her husband, Chicago Ald. Ed Burke. The former chief justice last month announced her retirement, effective Dec. 1.

The hotly contested races had already attracted a significant amount of campaign spending before a federal judge last week blocked the enforcement of contribution restrictions.

According to campaign finance reports, the two Democratic candidate's committees held the financial advantage. Rochford has more than $1.7 million to spend in the final weeks of the race, while O'Brien has more than $1.4 million in cash on hand. Each committee received $500,000 donations from the governor last month, as well as six-figure donations from teachers unions and the state Democratic Party.

Burke has about $720,000 on hand headed into the home stretch. He and his wife are the only six-figure donors to his campaign, although he reported more than $100,000 in individual donations this week. Curran's campaign committee, which reported less than $40,000 at the start of this month, has received more than $150,000 in individual donations since last week's federal court ruling relaxed financing rules.

In addition to the campaigns, independent expenditure groups are spending heavily.

All For Justice, a super PAC financed by unions and law firms, spend $1.5 million on ads last month and has another $5 million available to back Democrats and oppose Republicans in the final days of the race.

Citizens for Judicial Fairness, the super PAC that financed the bulk of the campaign to unseat Kilbride, still has about $5.5 million on hand thanks to a $6.25 million donation in April from billionaire and ex-Chicago resident Ken Griffin. Campaign finance reports show the PAC has spent money to back Burke and oppose O'Brien but avoided involvement in the 2nd district race.

Rochford has been criticized for $15,000 in campaign donations to the Burke (the indicted alderman) over the years, while Republicans have sough to link O'Brien to the indicted former Illinois House speaker and Democratic Party leader Mike Madigan.

Meanwhile Democrats have aimed to portray Burke and Curran as anti-abortion extremists.

"Mark Curran and Michael Burke want to ban abortion in Illinois, even in cases of rape and incest," a woman named Elizabeth says in a recent ad from the All For Justice PAC.

Curran, the 2020 Republican nominee for U.S. senate has long been an outspoken opponent of abortion rights.

But Burke, as a longtime sitting judge, has not been. Earlier this month, he accused his opponents of falsifying his position by claiming that he supported the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

The Illinois State Bar Association's Judicial Evaluations Committee rated Burke and Rochford as "highly recommended." O'Brien was rated one notch below: "recommended."

Curran, the only candidate without experience as a judge, was found "not recommended" by the association. He also did not participate in a candidate forum Tuesday hosted by the Appellate Lawyers Association