Madison County Circuit Judges Andreas Matoesian and William Mudge were easily retained on Tuesday.
Matoesian, 79, is the longest-serving judge in the state in his 51st year on the bench. He earned 69 percent voter approval for retention in Madison County and 70 percent voter approval in Bond County.
Matoesian earned 77,704 votes to retain him in Madison County and 4,463 votes in Bond County. He received 34,962 "no" votes in Madison County and 1,897 in Bond County.
He had not created a committee for his retention campaign this election cycle.
Mudge, 56, was retained for his second six-year term with 71 percent voter approval in Madison County and 71 percent in Bond County.
"I've done my best to apply the law in a fair and impartial manner and to treat all those who appear before me with courtesy and respect," Mudge stated. "I'm grateful that the citizens of Bond and Madison counties gave me their vote of confidence for another term. I will continue to do the right things for the right reasons."
Mudge earned 81,698 votes to retain him in Madison County and 4,580 votes in Bond County. He received 33,004 "no" votes in Madison County and 1,865 votes in Bond County.
He had raised approximately $40,000 in his bid for retention.
Mudge and Matoesian had to earn at least 60 percent voter approval to be retained.
Election results were finalized just after 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The two judges survived last minute campaign attacks that appear to have originated with Washington, D.C.-based Our Generation, a non-profit, non-partisan group promoting "long-term, free market solutions to today's public policy concerns."
On Monday, households in Madison County received a flyer with the message: "Thanks to our judges, Madison County is considered a 'Judicial Hellhole.'
"That means more lawsuits costing us jobs will continue to embarrass Madison County taxpayers. Judge Andy Matoesian and Bill Mudge are a big part of the problem. They are two peas in a pod."
On Nov. 2, a Facebook page: "Democrats voting 'No' for Judge Matoesian" was created and linked to a story about the Mudge and Matoesian retention races published by the Record on Oct. 11.
The Facebook page does not identify who created the page. The only entry on the page states: "Matoesian, 79, is in his 51st year on the bench and is the longest serving judge in the state of Illinois. We have Democrat lawyers like Tom Gibbons who could replace him and we should vote "NO" on Judge Matoesian to make that happen."
Gibbons said he had nothing to do with the effort to derail the judges. He called the overall effort a "hoax."
A phone call placed to Our Generation in Washington on Tuesday went to voicemail with a message indicating the mailbox was full.
Local political observers on both sides of the spectrum who closely follow campaigns and elections said Tuesday they did not know of any local connection to the group Our Generation.
(Ann Maher contributed to this report).