SKOKIE, IL — Voters picked a longtime Cook County prosecutor over a candidate backed by a bevy of local party officials to become a judge.
James Murphy led Liam Kelly by 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent in the Democratic primary for the Cook County’s 10th Judicial Subcircuit, according to unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s Office.
While late-arriving mail-in ballots may still be added to the tally, Murphy had a margin of nearly 3,000 votes in the subcircuit, which includes portions of Chicago’s Northwest Side and Niles and Northfield townships in the suburbs.
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Murphy, 51, is set to win the seat without opposition in November, since no Republicans signed up to run for the subcircuit.
Kelly, 42, was making his second unsuccessful run for the bench, having finished fourth out of five candidates in the subcircuit in the primary four years ago.
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While Kelly, a former president of the 39th Ward Democratic Organization in Chicago, was endorsed by local members of Congress, state lawmakers and Cook County Democratic Party boss Toni Preckwinkle.
But despite his support from elected Democrats, five different local bar associations rated Kelly “not qualified” or “not recommended.”
Murphy resigned as a prosecutor in 2022 in protest of outgoing Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. He had been leading the preliminary hearing, central bond court, grand jury and Chicago homicide/sex units for her office.
The prior year, was briefly placed on leave, but later cleared, following backlash against the office’s handling of child endangerment charges against the man accused of giving Adam Toledo a gun before the 13-year-old was shot by police in 2021.
In his goodbye letter to his former colleagues in the state’s attorney’s office, Murphy portrayed the senior leadership as tone-deaf and more interested with public relations and political narratives than public safety.
“This Administration routinely claims that they have shifted their focus from prosecuting low level crimes so that they can focus their resources on fighting violent crime and drivers of violence. This is simply not true,” Murphy said in the 2022 letter.
“If this Administration was truly concerned with effectively fighting violent crime, then they would fully staff those courtrooms and Units,” he said. “Not create more useless policy positions on the Executive Staff at the expense of hiring more [assistant state’s attorneys] who can work in the trenches.”
Earlier: Democratic Bosses Back ‘Not Qualified’ Candidate For Cook County Judge
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