By a signifcant margin, Justice David Overstreet has won the Republican primary in a race for the Illinois Supreme Court.
With all but one county (Alexander) reported in the Fifth Judicial District, voters favored Overstreet in a contest with his fellow Appellate Court Justice John Barberis, three to one.
According to the Illinois Civil Justice League, which counted votes in all contested judicial elections in the state, Overstreet won the race by more than 51,000 votes - 75,225-23,235 - or 76 to 24 percent.
“I want to thank my wife Suzanne, my family, and everyone that turned out to support me in the race for Fifth District Supreme Court Justice," Overstreet said in a statement he issued late Tuesday. "To the people of the 37 counties that make up the Fifth Supreme Court District, I thank you.
"As your next Supreme Court Justice, I pledge to serve as a strict Constitutional conservative. I will stand up for all of our shared constitutional rights and I will not legislate from the bench.
"I want to thank my opponent and fellow Appellate Court Justice John Barberis for running a clean, hard-fought campaign. I look forward the campaign in the General Election.”
Overstreet, of Mt. Vernon, received 1,243 more votes than Barberis, of St. Jacob, in voter-rich Madison County, where Barberis was hoping to pick up enough support to counter Overstreet's popularity in counties outside the Metro-East.
In Madison County, Overstreet topped Barberis by a 10 point margin, 55 to 45 percent, in a 7,226-5,983 vote.
In St. Clair County, the second most populous county in the District, Overstreet got more than 2,800 votes than Barberis, 5,726-2,828, a margin of 67 to 33 percent.
Late last night, Barberis posted a message on his Facebook page to supporters:
"I want to thank everyone who supported me in my campaign for Illinois Supreme Court," he wrote. "Unfortunately, I didn't get the result I wanted but I am completely at peace with the result. I did the best I could with what I had. I called earlier and congratulated David Overstreet for his victory tonight and wished him success in November. As I have said before, we now need to get behind Justice Overstreet 100% for the November 3rd election.
"I am looking forward to taking a few days off to spend with my family, shoot some guns at my range and maybe catch some fish if the weather cooperates. I have no use for the yard signs so if you have one feel free to do what you want with them. The corrugated ones do make great target holders if you have a gun range to use them at.
"Thanks again for all the support, prayers and friendship. I met some amazing people who I consider friends now and rekindled some old friendships. That makes all the time and effort worth it in my opinion. God bless us all and keep us all safe."
The Democrat nominee is Appellate Justice Judy Cates, who ran unopposed in the primary.
The winner in November will succeed Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier of Washington County, who was first elected to the seat in 2004.