Joy Virginia Cunningham declares victory in Illinois Supreme Court primary

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Illinois Supreme Court Justice Joy Virginia Cunningham declared victory Tuesday night as she fended off a challenge from Jesse Reyes in his second bid to become the court’s first Latino justice.

Their Democratic primary contest between two highly qualified and experienced candidates focused on racial identity.

Associated Press results naming Cunningham as the victor had throughout the evening showed Cunningham commanding a consistent lead with about 75% of the vote to Reyes’ 25%.

“I am truly humbled, honored and prepared to do my best to serve you as your Supreme Court justice,” Cunningham told a crush of supporters at Holiday Club in Uptown Tuesday night amid spinning disco balls. “This victory is not just mine, it’s our victory. Every single person in this room played a role.”

She did not say whether she had spoken with Reyes, whose campaign had not conceded.

Reyes and his family hosted a party at Moe’s Cantina in River North, where he had arrived to a roar of applause from his supporters amid bachata music playing over the speakers. But as the early results flashed over the TV favoring Cunningham, the room fell quiet.

“We’re really proud of our race,” Reyes told the Chicago Sun-Times by telephone. “We were able to expose two major issues, lack of diversity and lack of transparency.

“I want to congratulate Joy Cunningham.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Cunningham, the second Black female justice in Illinois, was appointed to the seat in 2022 to fill a vacancy left by retiring Chief Justice Anne Burke. Reyes, an appellate justice, launched his challenge not on complaints about her performance but on grounds that Latinos have grown to make up more than 25% of Cook County’s population — and should be represented on the state’s highest court.

With no Republicans running as candidates in the 1st District, one of three seats representing the uber-Democratic Cook County, Cunningham will likely run unopposed in November’s general election for a 10-year term. The Democratic party endorsed her over Reyes.

It’s likely Democrats will maintain their 5-2 majority on the Supreme Court, but both candidates argued their contest matters especially now that state supreme courts have been asked to weigh in on national issues, such as voting rights and reproductive rights.

In an interview with the Sun-Times in January, Cunningham called Illinois “an oasis in a desert of red states and suppressed rights in many respects … state supreme courts are now at the forefront of guarding constitutional rights for the people who live within their borders because the federal courts have stepped away from the protections that we previously looked to the federal courts to give us.”

The Illinois Supreme Court also acts as the administrative authority for all state courts — in addition to ruling on cases. Following the implementation of the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail and required major changes to court operations, Illinois appellate courts have confronted new procedural challenges.

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In terms of qualifications, the two have similar backgrounds. They have been colleagues on the Illinois Appellate Court, with Reyes serving from 2012, when he became the first Latino elected to that court, and Cunningham from 2006 until 2022. Both have spent significant time on lower court benches in Cook County after earning law degrees at the John Marshall Law School.

And both candidates attracted high ratings from local bar associations.

Cunningham’s campaign website touts her as the first Black woman elected president of the Chicago Bar Association, the country’s largest. She was an associate judge then moved to private practice as general counsel for Northwestern Memorial Health Care. Before her law career, Cunningham worked as an intensive care nurse.

Reyes worked in the office of the city’s corporation counsel under Mayor Harold Washington before being elected an associate judge. He ran unsuccessfully in 2020 for the Illinois Supreme Court, eventually conceding to Justice P. Scott Neville Jr.

He secured the endorsements of U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” Garcia, D-Chicago, and Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, and labor unions such as IBEW Local 134, the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, International Brotherhood of Teamsters – Joint Council No. 25 and Chicago Fire Fighters Union–Local 2.

Cunningham attracted endorsements from powerful labor unions, including the SEIU Illinois State Council, the Illinois AFL-CIO, Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. She also has the backing of the Fraternal Order of Police. U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Chicago, and two-time presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson also have endorsed her candidacy.