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* Antonia Ayres-Brown at the Tribune…
Questions about diversity and judicial reform have marked a contentious campaign to fill the seat of retired Illinois Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Freeman, the only person of color ever elected to the state’s highest court.
Freeman was elected in 1990 and served 27 years, including three as chief justice. Justice P. Scott Neville Jr., who also is African American, was appointed by the Supreme Court in 2018 to complete Freeman’s term and has won the endorsement of the Cook County Democratic Party going into the March primary.
Neville now faces six opponents — five state appellate judges and one private attorney — in his bid for a full 10-year term. Two of the other candidates are African American, one is Latino and three are white.
Depending on the election’s outcome, the court could have an all-white bench for the first time in 30 years. Going into this year’s elections, 23 states have all-white supreme courts, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive-leaning law and policy institute at New York University Law School.
You can find some candidate profiles by clicking here.
* Sarah Schulte at ABC7…
Diversity has driven the race. If Freeman is not replaced by a minority, the high court will be all white.
“The Chicago Bar Association believes there should be diversity on all our courts from the highest down to the circuit,” said Maryam Ahmad, first vice president of the Chicago Bar Association.
With the exception of Daniel Epstein, the Chicago Bar Association has rated all the other candidates qualified or highly qualified.
* Meanwhile, on to Pearson…
Heading into the 2020 campaign season, Republican leaders were concerned about finding a strong candidate to challenge Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 ranking Democrat in leadership.
Representing the GOP on the March 17 ballot is an underfunded group of five candidates, many pursuing unorthodox strategies in seeking the nomination in the only statewide seat up for election this year.
One candidate is a former Democrat and onetime suburban county sheriff who has said he believes that “God had a hand” in electing President Donald Trump.
Another is a Downstate social media agitator who spurred a suburban police investigation after saying she brought a gun and ammunition into a candidate forum at a high school to “prove a point” about safety, only to say at a later event that she “misspoke” and had her gun locked in her car.
There’s a perennial candidate who has run unsuccessfully for a variety of offices from both political parties, most recently as a Democratic candidate for governor, who wants to split Illinois into three states.
* Bernie…
Dr. Tom Tarter, Springfield’s entry in the five-way Republican primary race for U.S. Senate, has been taking particular aim at perhaps the best known of his opponents.
In news releases in recent weeks, Tarter, 67, a retired urologist and cancer surgeon, pointed out past comments about President Donald Trump by one of his opponents — former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran.
Lake County is just north of Cook County, in the far northeast corner of the state. Tarter calls Curran a “never-Trumper,” which Curran denies.
“I support the president and think he is doing a solid job,” Curran told me.
Says Tarter: “Mark Curran claims he’s always supported President Trump, yet he’s on record multiple times having opposed Trump since 2015. Is he lying or has he flip-flopped? Either way, he can’t be trusted.”
* Related…
* Five things to know about this year’s bar association ratings: A third of the 117 judicial candidates on the March 17 Cook County primary ballot have received at least one negative rating from the three major bar associations. Here’s what that means.
* ENDORSEMENT: P. Scott Neville Jr. for Illinois Supreme Court in 1st District Democratic primary
* For the Illinois Supreme Court: Neville and Overstreet
* Endorsement: Howse for Illinois Supreme Court
* What They Said: Republican Senate Candidates on the Issues
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 10:27 am
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==Go read the whole thing==
I did what I was told, and the article confirms why the ILGOP is such a minority party in Illinois.
==Republican leaders were concerned about finding a strong candidate to challenge Sen. Dick Durkin==
Which of these candidates do the Republican leaders feel is the “strong” one? The one who believes in divine intervention in Trump’s victory? The one who doesn’t know that the Constitution was ratified before Texas, California, and Florida became states? The one who wants to divide Illinois into three states? The one who believes that Willie Wilson has enough appeal to siphon off sufficient votes to defeat Durkin? The one who decided to run for U.S. Senate rather than golf and garden?
Comment by Bourbon Street Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 11:00 am
There are a lot of signs in a lot of public ways for the Supreme Court race. I might have missed it, did the court decide the ordinance that banned doing that was unconstitutional?
Comment by Oak Parker Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 11:00 am
Oops. Durbin, not Durkin. Good thing the auto-correct on my iPad doesn’t vote.
Comment by Bourbon Street Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 11:01 am
I’m not early voting this year because I don’t want to risk voting for a presidential candidate who drops out between now and March 17
Comment by Oak Parker Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 11:03 am
The reality may be, if the product of five homegrown plants exchanges the hands of friends and you’ve got a police force needing to be concerned with it, you’re not really a city or state with big drug problems.”- Forbes Magazine 5/21/2019
Comment by Dotnonymous Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 11:14 am
Dr. Tarter accusing Sheriff Curran of being a never Trumper because he said something in 2015?
In the 14th congressional district Republican primary, A PAC run by a Ted Gradel ally tried that against Jim Oberweis and cited a 2015 article back when Oberweis backed U.S. Senator Marco Rubio over then Candidate Donald Trump, yet Gradel’s ally claims Oberweis opposed PRESIDENT Trump.
It’s the silly season time of the primary campaign.
Even Sue Rezin had to remind James Marter, the enthusiastic Trump supporter when he claimed he’d “always” supported Trump that Marter initially supported Senator Ted Cruz at the start of the 2016 POTUS primaries.
Marter corrected himself at the debate callout.
There’s definitely a pattern here. March 17 can’t get here fast enough.
Comment by John Lopez Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 11:48 am
Holy moly, I forgot that we had a Senate contest this year…such is the state of the GOP here.
Comment by NIU Grad Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 12:29 pm
So blind support of Trump is now a condition of running for office in the GOP.
Comment by btowntruthfromforgottonia Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 12:40 pm
btowntruthfromforgottonia - in one word yes. Therefore they will nominate an eastern block type. Lose the race and blame chicago for losing.
Comment by Union thug Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:07 pm
Dick Durbin is too strong to beat. A bunch of unknown Republicans won’t benefit from Trump in blue Illinois.
Judge Freeman was/is replaced by another Black Judge, Judge Neville. Either have Judges Cobb and Howe drop out or have a two or four term. Ten years is too long, with the risk of a judge dying or retiring and the political party picking a successor.
Comment by Tom Willis Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 3:46 pm
==== A bunch of unknown Republicans===
I’m gonna stop right here, just for a moment;
The bench of talented, strong, electable Republicans that can win statewide was exposed as a total fraud when Rauner first decided a bunch of no-names (less Harold) running on a ticket with Rauner, also in hopes to keep turnout down, ironically by having that weak bench, to try to beat Pritzker.
Fast forward to Durbin, and Durbin is a tough candidate to beat, but ask yourself, what Republican power player *could* you ask to take that on… as there are no Raunerite juggernauts that came on the scene after Rauner bought the party.
When this party is truly ready to rebuild, I’m all about it. Right now, there’s no, none, zero, statewide candidate type person I see as one who can not only win but see what a Herculean task it is and going to be to get behind the damage the RaunerS did for their own purposes
Durbin will enjoy a lack of GOP strength, thanks to Raunerism.
“ A bunch of unknown Republicans won’t benefit from Trump in blue Illinois”
Trump only made Illinois “Blue”, (with Rauner) after the ILGOP first decided losing 3 congressional seats, allowing Raja to be unopposed, and losing a Senate seat to Duckworth and Comptroller first, then the Mansion over the last 6 years.
The state hasn’t “fundamentally” changed, the state Raunerites decided being a political alternative isn’t at all important… like finding candidates here for Senate… or in Chicago and Cook as well.
I’ll be waiting for all this to turn, but I look at 4 congressional seats and both Senate seats here and wonder aloud not that there’s a weak bench, but how the former GOP can build again to *get* a bench.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 4:01 pm
14th, 6th, and ? ? Congressional Districts?
Comment by Tom Willis Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 6:55 pm
10th…
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 6:55 pm
=== I’ll be waiting for all this to turn, but I look at 4 congressional seats===
6, 8,10, 14… at one point, all four were GOP.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 6:57 pm
Except for the wave elections of 1994 and 2010, the Republicans have been losing ground in Illinois steadily since the 1980’s. Consider these facts:
While losing 40 states in 1988, Mike “Tank” Dukakis almost carried Illinois, losing only 51%-49%. Since 1988, no Republican Presidential candidate has received more than 45% in Illinois.
Since Chuck Percy managed to lose his Senate seat in the 1984 Reagan landslide, there have been two one-term Republican US Senators. Both their victories were aberrations. One quit rather than be defeated and the other was swamped in his re-election. Dick Durbin has never faced a top tier candidate during his 20+ years in office.
From 1998 forward, there have been 30 Constitutional races. The Republicans have won 8 and lost 22. Yes, they ran the table in 1994 but that was 25 years ago.
Under a Republican map, Pate Philip did hold the Senate from 1992 to 2002. However, the most seats he ever commanded was 33. Both Emil Jones and John Cullerton were able to push the Dems under their maps into the high 30’s-40. Lee Daniels only had a majority in 1 of the 5 elections under the Republican map.
Comment by Oldtimer Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 7:22 pm
=== While losing 40 states in 1988, Mike “Tank” Dukakis almost carried Illinois, losing only 51%-49%. Since 1988, no Republican Presidential candidate has received more than 45% in Illinois.===
Since 1988 a Republican was Governor 19 of those 32 years…
Deciding not to run viable candidates or running terrible candidates like… Alan Keyes… or losing ground with Peter Fitzgerald… or Mark Kirk imploding… or Rauner trying to implode Illinois and deciding running a full slate isn’t smart…
Or conceding Cook County since Jack O’Malley… or having Crane stay too long, then having Joe Walsh get that seat back…
It’s a weak excuse to say that Illinois isn’t viable for Republicans when races like Bill Brady losing for Governor to Pat Quinn was Brady all but conceding Cook County and Chicago.
It’s also Jim Ryan running for Governor and having both Jesse White and Lisa Madigan be seemingly, and actually, be unbeatable.
You had Rutherford, you had Judy Baar Topinka be not only Treasurer but Comptroller.
Good candidates win.
Lousy candidates and campaigns lose.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 9:53 pm
=== Under a Republican map, Pate Philip did hold the Senate from 1992 to 2002. However, the most seats he ever commanded was 33. Both Emil Jones and John Cullerton were able to push the Dems under their maps into the high 30’s-40. Lee Daniels only had a majority in 1 of the 5 elections under the Republican map.===
The south suburbs were misunderstood and Daniels found that the districts and the chosen candidates were losing to women and Dem candidates who mirrored the districts better, not that district was just not winnable for a GOP candidate.
I took this on above, but…
=== From 1998 forward, there have been 30 Constitutional races. The Republicans have won 8 and lost 22. Yes, they ran the table in 1994 but that was 25 years ago.===
Take out Jesse White and Lisa Madigan… and recompute…
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 10:03 pm
JBT has 3 of the 8 Republican Constitutional wins. Should her unique success in winning statewide also not count?
19 of 32 true but it’s also 4 of last 17. Additionally, JB is likely going to be in as long as wants.
Comment by Oldtimer Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 10:27 pm
=== JBT has 3 of the===
Two different offices.
Did Jesse White or Lisa Madigan win two different offices?
Topinka also “came back”, was out of politics and won,
Did either White or Madigan do that too?
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 10:32 pm
=== JB is likely===
Likely is not factual, we have no idea what could happen.
If we could know, who would allow Alan Keyes be a nominee?
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 10:33 pm
Kinda hard for the Illinois GOP to win statewide when their ideal demographics are noble Anglo-Saxon freeholders and their wannabees.
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