The race for a judicial position in Peoria’s 10th District Circuit Court remains too close to call Wednesday morning.
As of Tuesday night, with all precincts reporting, Republican candidate and resident circuit judge Frank Ierulli and Democratic challenger John Spears were tied, exactly 50/50. Spears holds an extremely thin lead of just seven votes.
In Illinois, mail-in votes can be received and counted for the next 14 days, as long as they are postmarked before election day. The mail-in ballots counted on election day favored Spears by almost 30%. However, with a margin so small, the final result could flip either way. The close race will also likely require a recount.
“I did expect that it would be close, I didn’t know if it would necessarily be this close, but, you know, I’m excited to see where it ends,” Spears said Wednesday morning. “Though, we’ve been, you know, we’ve been enjoying the campaign thus far, so I guess we all thought maybe we’d prolong it a bit longer.”
The Tazewell County public defender has less experience than Ierulli, has not held a judicial position before and did not receive a recommendation from the Illinois State Bar Association. However, both candidates have worked on the side of prosecution and defense.
Ierulli told WCBU Wednesday that there’s nothing to do now but wait.
“This is similar to waiting for a jury verdict,” he said. “We need to wait until the ballots are counted.”
Ierulli was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the vacancy left when Judge Michael Risinger retired in 2022. He currently oversees large commercial disputes and medical malpractice cases.
Spears says he’s not entirely sure what accounts for the support he’s seen from voters.
“I went to as many events as I could, that allowed me to get out and talk to as many people as possible,” he said. “I had a lot of support, you know, my family helped me tremendously.”
In a pair of October interviews, both candidates gave WCBU similar answers on issues like pretrial release, important judicial qualities and preventing violent crime from the bench. For example, both say they see pretrial release reform as a positive development, though they also both acknowledge that additional work could be done to some of the specifics of the laws.
Ierulli has also been closely involved with the development of a Juvenile Treatment Court in Peoria County.
The last day late arriving mail-in votes can be counted is Tuesday, Nov. 19.
