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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Burkart over Rabe in GOP race for Romani seat; Cruse over Keeley

Burkart

Napp

Hamel attorney Thomas Burkart won the Republican nomination over Mark Rabe of Edwardsville to run as Madison County circuit judge in the November election.

Burkart received 54 percent of the total, or 7,907 votes, to Rabe's 46 percent, or 6,869 votes.

Burkart will face Madison County Associate Judge Kyle Napp, who ran unopposed in Tuesday's primary election.

Napp received 8,085 votes.

By comparison, Burkart and Rabe received more than 6,000 votes than Napp.

Across Illinois, voter turnout was historically low in the primary election.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin blamed the lackluster showing on GOP presidential front runner Mitt Romney. On Wednesday he quipped:

"You could draw a bigger crowd at a Green Bay Packers rally in downtown Chicago than what Mr. Romney delivered at the polls yesterday in Illinois."

(The Packers are fierce rivals of the Chicago Bears).

In St. Clair County, turnout was approximately 16 percent.

Figures for Madison County were not immediately available.

Burkart and Napp are seeking the circuit seat currently held by Circuit Judge Charles Romani, who will be retiring in December.

Burkart is the supervising attorney and co-owner of Burkart Law Offices.

He received his under graduate degree at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and earned his juris doctorate at St. Louis University School of Law in 1985.

Napp, who was appointed associate judge in 2007, presides in the court's felony division. Prior to serving as judge, she worked 14 years as an assistant Madison County state's attorney.

She was a double major in finance and real estate at the University of Missouri-Columbia and a graduate of the law school at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Rabe works as in-house counsel for Boeing in St. Louis. He is a 1986 graduate of Harvard Law School. He received his undergraduate degree in history from Southern Illinois University in 1983.

In the 20th Judicial Circuit, St. Clair County Associate Judge Zina Cruse her Democratic opponent Anne Fohne Keeley in the race for circuit judge.

The two were competing for the seat of Circuit Judge Milton Wharton, who is retiring in December.

According to a report in the Belleville News-Democrat, Cruse had 14,481 votes to Keeley's 6,914 votes.

The circuit includes St. Clair, Monroe, Perry, Randolph and Washington counties.

In November, Cruse will face Laninya Cason, who switched political affliation after a falling out with Democratic party leaders.

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