* Emily Hoerner at the Tribune…

Former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran has eked out a win in the Republican primary race for an open Illinois Supreme Court seat after the Illinois State Board of Elections certified ballots Friday. […]

With provisional and mail-in ballots counted, Curran prevailed with roughly 1,400 more votes than Shanes. […]

Shanes’ campaign committee had raised far more money than Curran’s in the buildup to the primary election. Shanes also had support from an independent expenditure committee largely funded by billionaire Ken Griffin. The group, Citizens for Judicial Fairness, had spent roughly $50,000 to oppose Curran’s bid and another $170,000 in support of Shanes.

That’s about a point and a half difference.

* Speaking of Curran, here’s Steve Sadin…

Keith Brin, a former clerk of the Circuit Court of Lake County, is the new chairman of the Lake County Republican Central Committee, while the former chair, Mark Shaw, moves into a leadership role with Mark Curran’s campaign for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court.

Brin was elected party chairman by acclamation at the organization’s biennial convention Wednesday in Round Lake Beach, with a vision to help the party regain some of the offices it lost in the 2018 and 2020 elections. […]

The only countywide GOP officeholder left — Regional Superintendent of Schools Michael Karner — is running as a Democrat in the Nov. 8 general election. Lake County Clerk Robin O’Connor, elected as a Democrat in 2018, is seeking reelection as a Republican this fall. […]

Shaw unanimously retained his position as his party’s state central committeeman for the 10th Congressional District at the convention. He will now devote time to helping Curran, a former Lake County sheriff, become a state Supreme Court justice. He hopes to help bring a GOP majority to the court.

* WJBD…

Fourth District Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney of Salem has won the Republican primary to become a Justice on the Appellate Court at Mt. Vernon. […]

“I believe the voters are fed up. I think this was their message to the establishment that we’re going to take our state back and we’re going to take our country back and we’re going to do it one race, one election, and one case at a time.”

McHaney won by 13 points. He touted his rulings against Gov. Pritzker’s COVID mandates during his campaign. One of his litigants was Sen. Darren Bailey. Here are the two recently…

And here he is acting all judicial…

* From April…

Sonni Choi Williams says if she’s elected to the 3rd District Appellate Court, she’ll be the first Asian American on an appellate court in Illinois. She says it’s important for the judiciary to look like the rest of the people. Williams says she went into law, because when her parents needed a business lawyer, they couldn’t find any who were Asian.

Williams is the city attorney for Lockport and worked as a lawyer for the city of Peoria. She’s one of two candidates asking for the Democratic nomination in the newly redrawn 3rd appellate court district.

She won by six points against James Murphy. Asian-American candidates continue making big inroads here.

* And here’s Bob Skolnik…

ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nicholas Kantas are on their way to the bench. They both won their respective Democratic primaries for two vacancies in in the 4th Judicial Subcircuit on June 28 — and they’ll face no Republican opponents in the November general election.

Raines-Welch, who is married to Emanuel “Chris” Welch, the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, won a four-way race in the Democratic primary with 34.89 percent of the vote with all but three precincts reporting.

Riverside resident Chloe Pedersen, who is the niece of Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough, finished second with 27.17 percent of the vote, 1,807 votes behind Raines-Welch, according to unofficial totals posted by the Cook County Clerk on June 29.

Former Brookfield resident Jerry Barrido, a public defender, finished third with 23.61 percent of the vote. Patrick Campanelli finished fourth with 14.33 percent of the vote.