Close, But Karmeier Likely Wins Retention
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier’s campaign is optimistic he received enough votes Tuesday to stay on the bench. Cautiously optimistic.
In the lone high court retention race this year, a last-minute barrage of negative ads — backed by plaintiff lawyers who believe Karmeier kowtowed to corporate interests — may have taken a toll.
But the unofficial tallies Wednesday show the justice did eclipse the 60 percent threshold he needed to hold his seat, collecting about 60.7 percent approval in the 37 southern Illinois counties that make up the 5th Appellate District.
“I don’t want to take anything for granted, because I just don’t know yet,” said Ron Deedrick, Karmeier’s campaign manager. “But I think I can say with some certainty that we are (at least) at 60.4 percent, but it’s likely north of that.”
Karmeier received 228,142 votes in favor of retention and 147,664 opposing a new term. At that total, he received about 2,600 votes above the minimum needed to keep his job.
A group called Campaign for 2016 raised more than $2 million in an effort to unseat Karmeier, unleashing a spate of TV commercials in the final few weeks of the election that accused him of delivering favorable verdicts for corporations who donated to his 2004 campaign for the high court.
The race 10 years ago set national records for money in a judicial campaign.\
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier’s campaign is optimistic he received enough votes Tuesday to stay on the bench. Cautiously optimistic.
In the lone high court retention race this year, a last-minute barrage of negative ads — backed by plaintiff lawyers who believe Karmeier kowtowed to corporate interests — may have taken a toll.
But the unofficial tallies Wednesday show the justice did eclipse the 60 percent threshold he needed to hold his seat, collecting about 60.7 percent approval in the 37 southern Illinois counties that make up the 5th Appellate District.
“I don’t want to take anything for granted, because I just don’t know yet,” said Ron Deedrick, Karmeier’s campaign manager. “But I think I can say with some certainty that we are (at least) at 60.4 percent, but it’s likely north of that.”
Karmeier received 228,142 votes in favor of retention and 147,664 opposing a new term. At that total, he received about 2,600 votes above the minimum needed to keep his job.
A group called Campaign for 2016 raised more than $2 million in an effort to unseat Karmeier, unleashing a spate of TV commercials in the final few weeks of the election that accused him of delivering favorable verdicts for corporations who donated to his 2004 campaign for the high court.
The race 10 years ago set national records for money in a judicial campaign.\
Read more in our daily News Update...