Justice Stewart To Retire From Fifth District; Seat Will Be Wide Open In 2016
From the Madison County Record
Brace yourself, southern Illinois, there's going to be an open seat race for the Fifth District Appellate Court next year.
Justice Bruce Stewart recently announced that he will not seek retention to another 10-year term in the 2016 general election.
Stewart, a Democrat from Carbondale, said he plans to retire to spend more time with his family when his term ends on Dec. 5 next year.
His retirement will create a vacancy that could play out as an another expensive judicial contest in the Fifth Judicial District, which encompasses the state's 37 southern most counties.
Stewart won his appellate court seat in 2006 in a race against Stephen McGlynn, a Republican from Belleville. Last year, McGlynn won election as circuit judge in St. Clair County.
In the Stewart-McGlynn appellate court race, the two candidates spent nearly $3 million combined.
Citizens of the Fifth District have grown accustomed to contentious and costly judicial campaigns, as they play out as high stakes contests funded by special interests.
Last year, lawyers with financial interests in two separate billion dollar-plus cases invested $2 million in a last-minute, negative campaign against Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier as he sought retention to a second 10-year term. Karmeier was retained by a slim margin.
Karmeier, a Republican from Nashville, was first elected to the state's high court in 2004 in what was the most expensive state supreme court race ever in the country. More than $9 million was spent by both sides in a record that still holds. In that race, Karmeier defeated Gordon Maag, a Democrat from Glen Carbon.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Madison County Record
Brace yourself, southern Illinois, there's going to be an open seat race for the Fifth District Appellate Court next year.
Justice Bruce Stewart recently announced that he will not seek retention to another 10-year term in the 2016 general election.
Stewart, a Democrat from Carbondale, said he plans to retire to spend more time with his family when his term ends on Dec. 5 next year.
His retirement will create a vacancy that could play out as an another expensive judicial contest in the Fifth Judicial District, which encompasses the state's 37 southern most counties.
Stewart won his appellate court seat in 2006 in a race against Stephen McGlynn, a Republican from Belleville. Last year, McGlynn won election as circuit judge in St. Clair County.
In the Stewart-McGlynn appellate court race, the two candidates spent nearly $3 million combined.
Citizens of the Fifth District have grown accustomed to contentious and costly judicial campaigns, as they play out as high stakes contests funded by special interests.
Last year, lawyers with financial interests in two separate billion dollar-plus cases invested $2 million in a last-minute, negative campaign against Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier as he sought retention to a second 10-year term. Karmeier was retained by a slim margin.
Karmeier, a Republican from Nashville, was first elected to the state's high court in 2004 in what was the most expensive state supreme court race ever in the country. More than $9 million was spent by both sides in a record that still holds. In that race, Karmeier defeated Gordon Maag, a Democrat from Glen Carbon.
Read more in our daily News Update...