2022 Illinois judicial elections

The 2022 Illinois judicial elections consisted of both partisan and retention elections.

The general election was held on November 8, 2022. These elections will be part of the 2022 Illinois elections.

Supreme Court of Illinois
Justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois are elected by district. Two seats held partisan elections. Originally, two additional seats were scheduled as retention elections, however Justice Rita Garman retired on July 7, 2022 and the retention election for her seat was canceled.

The court has seven seats total separated into five districts. The first district, representing Cook County, contains three seats, making it a multi-member district, while the other four districts are single-member districts. Justices hold ten year terms.

On June 4, 2021, Governor J. B. Pritzker signed legislation that redrew the Supreme Court's districts. Before this, the districts had not been redrawn in over five decades. The court had previously been using boundaries created in 1964.

2nd district
In 2020, Justice Robert R. Thomas of the 2nd district was up for retention. However, Thomas retired on February 29, 2020. On March 1, 2020, Michael J. Burke, a Republican, was appointed to his seat and held it until a special election in 2022. The redrawn 2nd district comprises the 16th, 19th, 22nd, and 23rd Judicial Circuits, with the 15th, 17th, and 18th Judicial Circuits removed. Since Justice Burke's residence is in the 18th Judicial Circuit which is now located in the 3rd district, he ran in the election to that seat, leaving the 2nd district with an open race.

Candidates

 * Rene Cruz, Judge of the Kane County Circuit Court (16th Judicial Circuit)
 * Elizabeth Rochford, Judge of the Lake County Circuit Court (19th Judicial Circuit)
 * Nancy Rotering, mayor of Highland Park, candidate for Illinois Attorney General in 2018, candidate for IL's 10th congressional district in 2016

Candidates

 * Daniel B. Shanes, Judge of the Lake County Circuit Court (19th Judicial Circuit)
 * Mark C. Curran, former Lake County sheriff (2006–2018), Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2020
 * Susan F. Hutchinson, Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court (2nd District)
 * John A. Noverini, Judge of the Kane County Circuit Court (16th Judicial Circuit)

3rd district
In 2020, 3rd district judge Thomas L. Kilbride, a Democrat, lost his retention election. 56.5% of the vote was to retain Justice Kilbride, but under Illinois law, a Justice must receive at least 60% of the vote in order to be retained. Robert L. Carter, a Democrat, was appointed by the court to hold the seat until a 2022 special election to fill it. Upon his appointment, Carter declared that he did not intend to seek reelection in 2022. The redrawn 3rd district kept the 12th and 13th Judicial District in it boundaries from the previous map. The redrawn district also added the 18th and 21st Judicial Districts and removed the 9th, 10th, and 14th Judicial Districts from its boundaries, which were moved to the redrawn 4th district.

Candidates

 * Mary K. O'Brien, Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court (3rd District), former state representative (1997–2003)

Candidates

 * Michael J. Burke, incumbent Associate Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court (2nd District)

Illinois Appellate Court
Illinois Appellate Court justices hold ten-year terms. Retention and partisan elections were held for several of these positions.

1st district
Two open seats were up for election after the retirement of Justices Shelvin Hall and Sheldon Harris.

Candidates

 * Russell Hartigan, former Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court (2010–2017)
 * Dominique Ross, Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court (5th Subcircuit)
 * Debra Walker, Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court

Lower courts
Lower courts also saw judicial elections.