Mayor Nancy Rotering Launches Bid For Illinois Supreme Court

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Mayor Nancy Rotering has entered the race for Illinois Supreme Court, filing paperwork Tuesday to create a campaign committee to become a justice on the recently redistricted court.

Rotering, 59, spent two years on the City Council before becoming the first woman elected mayor of Highland Park in 2011. She has won re-election twice since then.

Rotering worked for the treasurer's office at General Motors before becoming an attorney and taking a job at the firm McDermott, Will & Emery. In 2008, she entered politics as a legislative aid for former State Rep. Karen May, a fellow Highland Park Democrat.

In 2015, Rotering founded the North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic, formerly known as the Highland Park-Highwood Legal Aid Clinic, to provide legal support to area residents with incomes below 250 percent of the poverty level. The nonprofit, whose board Rotering chairs, is listed as the beneficiary of any funds remaining in her new campaign committee's coffers when it is dissolved.

Rotering's entry into the field of Supreme Court candidates for the recently redrawn 2nd District, which now includes DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Lake and McHenry counties, will be her third Democratic Party primary.

In 2016, she ran against U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Deerfield) for the party's nomination to challenge Bob Dold (R-Kenilworth), losing by a margin of 54-46.

The next year, Rotering declared her candidacy for Illinois attorney general. She finished in fourth place with about 9 percent of the vote in the primary.

Highland Park Patch requested comment from Rotering about her Supreme Court campaign committee and will update to include here any response received. Last week, Rotering declined to say if she planned to run for the seat, saying only that she was "exploring" a bid.

According to a filing with the Illinois State Board of Elections, her campaign committee — Nancy Rotering for Justice — will be chaired by Steve Elrod, who also serves as city attorney. Its treasurer is Karl Snoblin, a former Rockland Fire Protection District commissioner.

Next year's election for the 2nd District seat has been triggered by last year's retirement of former Associate Justice Robert Thomas, who stepped down after 20 years on the state's highest court to join the Chicago-based law firm Powers Rogers. His appointed replacement, Republican Michael Burke, is due to serve until December 2022.

Supreme Court hopefuls who have so far publicly declared their candidacy include Lake County Associate Judge Elizabeth Rochford, 60, a Lake Forest Democrat, and Lake County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Shanes, 54, a Mundelein Republican.

The redistricting of Illinois judicial districts followed the state's first-ever rejection of a sitting Supreme Court justice last year. Last November, former 3rd District Justice Thomas Kilbride fell 5 percentage points short of the 60 percent of the vote needed for retention.

This spring, state lawmakers approved new maps of Illinois Supreme Court districts. It was the first time the boundaries were adjusted in nearly 60 years.

Democrats, who hold a 4-3 majority on the court, argued the redistricting was needed to adjust for shifts in population and pointed to the fact that under the old districts, the 2nd District had about 3.2 million residents, compared to fewer than 1.3 million in the 4th and 5th districts. Republicans portrayed the new maps as an effort by politicians to rig the maps to maintain control of the court.