Republican candidates for Madison County circuit judge have swept three circuit court races in Subcircuit 1.
Circuit Judge Christopher Threlkeld defeated attorney Barry Julian by 400 votes - 13,439 to 13,039, for the Dugan vacancy.
Circuit Judge Amy Sholar defeated attorney Ebony Huddleston by 3,428 votes - 14,994 to 11,566, for the Tognarelli vacancy.
Threlkeld, who had lived in Edwardsville, and Sholar, who had lived in Godfrey, had to move away from their residences in order to be eligible to run for the seats they currently hold by appointment of the Illinois Supreme Court, as lawmakers drew them out of Subcircuit 1 where the contest was decided.
Attorney Tim Berkley defeated Democrat Associate Judge Ryan Jumper by 1,071 votes - 14,994 to 11,566, for the vacancy of Chief Judge Mudge, who will retire next month.
Threlkeld, Sholar and Berkley issued a joint statement:
"The voters of subcircuit one have spoken loud and clear and in the process have made history. They have rejected the gerrymandering, the negative campaigns and politics as usual in the Madison County courthouse,” stated Threlkeld, Sholar and Berkley.
“We campaigned tirelessly on keeping politics out of the courtroom and being fair, honest and hard-working judges. We now look forward to going to work and doing just that.”
With the election of Threlkeld, Sholar and Berkley, the majority on the Madison County bench will now be 5-4 Republican to Democrat. It will be the first time in more than 60 years that the GOP has held the majority. In the mid-1950s, the Third Judicial Circuit dropped counties that would become the Twentieth Judicial Circuit and retained Madison and Bond counties.
At a watch party in Edwardsville on Tuesday night, Republican Madison County Board member Chris Guy told those gathering:
“Tonight is a very historic moment for Madison County Republicans and for the taxpayers in Madison County. The Democrats in Chicago tried to gerrymander our judicial districts at the very last minute and they lost.”
Guy said it was time to say "goodbye" to Madison County's reputation as a "Judicial Hellhole."
"This has been a lawsuit paradise, and that’s why the politicians tried to gerrymander the districts to get their trial lawyer attorneys, personal injury attorneys to serve on the bench, to control the bench in their favor," he said. "And tonight, they lost. Let’s say goodbye to the Judicial Hellhole in Madison County.”
Other action taken by voters Tuesday, in the entirety of the county, was the solid rejection of the law that gerrymandered the local court system, by a margin of 86-14%.