Clay will serve a four-year term as an associate judge with the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, which will run until June 30, 2019.
Clay was appointed to the open seat after receiving the majority of votes cast by the circuit judges.
The seat was left available when former associate judge Laninya Cason was not retained.
Cason was one of eight associate judges in the state – and the only associate judge in St. Clair County – who filed requests for reappointment but were not retained. A total of 376 of the 384 Illinois associate judges who filed requests for reappointment have been retained.
Cason served as an associate judge since 2003.
Prior to his appointment, Clay worked with the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office in Belleville.
He earned his undergraduate degree in 2004 from the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill., and his juris doctorate in 2007 from St. Louis University in St. Louis.
Clay is married to St. Clair County Circuit Clerk Kahalah Clay, who was appointed to office in January 2011 and elected to office in November 2012. The Clays have two sons.