Marc Parker
MADISON COUNTY — A Democrat whose campaign for judge was backed by powerful local state lawmakers has won election in a hotly contested race in a so-called subcircuit judicial district Republicans have said was drawn specifically by Democratic lawmakers to elect a Democrat to the bench.
On Nov. 3, voters selected Democrat Marc Parker to serve on the Madison County Circuit Court, defeating Republican incumbent judge Patrick King in the election for the judgeship from the Second Judicial Subcircuit.
According to unofficial results posted by the Madison County clerk's office, Parker had received 18,692 votes, or 56.5% of votes cast in the race, compared to 14,377 votes for King.
Neither Parker nor King had posted statements to their campaign social media concerning the results, as of the early afternoon on Nov. 4.
The contest was the first held in the new subcircuit, which was one of three drawn by Democratic Illinois state lawmakers to carve up the Third Judicial Circuit in Madison County.
The Second Subcircuit roughly centers on Glen Carbon, and runs from Edwardsville in the north to Collinsville on the south, Pontoon Beach on the west to Maryville on the east.
None of the three subcircuits are rectangular, but rather the result of what critics called "gerrymandering" carried out by Democratic state lawmakers in Springfield in 2022. Madison County Republicans challenged the "gerrymandering" in court, asserting it was done solely to attempt to tilt the playing field to carve out potential judgeships for more Democratic judges in the overall Republican majority county.
The law, however, was upheld, setting the stage for the Second Subcircuit race this year.
The race drew attention from powerful political players from the region.
Backers of King, for instance, noted that Democrats, led by Illinois State Rep. and Assistant House Majority Leader Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, have chipped in $170,000 into a campaign committee, dubbed "Working Families for Madison County," which is supporting Parker's campaign.
Backers of King have also noted Hoffman played a leading role in carving up Madison County into the three judicial subcircuits.
Hoffman has donated $135,000 to "Working Families for Madison County" political action committee (PAC), while State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, has also donated an additional $35,000.
The campaign was marked by some late controversy, as a Republican Madison County Board member and supporter of King filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections, accusing Parker of disregarding state law by not creating his own campaign committee, even though his campaign had produced all the trappings of a normal political operation, including producing candidate signs, printed mailings and other campaign elements which collectively typically cost thousands of dollars.
According to the complaint filed by Paul Nicolussi through his attorney Michael Wesley, of Wood River, Parker's only listed campaign committee shut down in 2018, the last time he unsuccessfully ran for a countywide Madison County judgeship.
Nonetheless, Nicolussi asserted Parker appears to be continuing to fund a campaign, producing some signs which include the words "Paid for by Marc Parker," and other signs with no indication of who paid for them.
Nicolussi asserted Parker may have violated state campaign finance law by not creating a campaign committee to properly document where his funds came from and how they were spent.
Parker denied the accusations, calling the complaint "desperate" and saying on his campaign Facebook page that he had "NOT spent $5,000 on my campaign. PERIOD."
The ISBE site does not indicate the board took up the complaint before the election. The board had seven days from the date of the complaint’s filing, Oct. 29, according to law.
