SPRINGFIELD – Democrats who changed boundaries of judicial districts to protect their majority at the Supreme Court saw their strategy succeed on Nov. 8.
Second Judicial District voters, all in Chicago suburbs outside Cook County, elected Elizabeth Rochford as the fourth Democrat among seven Justices.
She defeated Mark Curran, who ran for U. S. Senate two years ago and lost.
A fifth Democrat, Mary O’Brien of the mostly suburban Third District, awaited the result of a close race with incumbent Michael Burke on Wednesday morning. She has been declared winner.
Burke presides by appointment as a replacement for Robert Thomas, who retired.
An opportunity for Republicans to capture four seats arose in 2020, when Third District voters denied retention to Democrat James Kilbride.
At the time, the Third District crossed the state from Joliet to Rock Island.
Three seats belonged to the First District, entirely within Cook County.
All suburban counties except Will County constituted the Second District.
The Fourth District crossed the center of the state from Champaign to Quincy.
Counties south of Springfield constituted the Fifth District.
Last year Democrat legislators passed a map that preserved Cook County as a district with three Justices but radically changed all other boundaries.
They created two suburban districts by splitting counties away from the Second District to form the base of the Third District.
That meant most voters who fired Kilbride wouldn’t vote on his replacement.
Legislators moved those voters into the Fourth District, which they stretched from Springfield to the Wisconsin border.
They stretched the Fifth District north to Decatur, Champaign, and Danville.
Instead of three judges from mostly rural regions and one from Chicago suburbs, the map provided two from mostly rural regions and two from the suburbs.
The plan required nothing further except millions of dollars for messages on television and social media.