Sixth Circuit Race Updates

[Correction: This post has been updated and corrected to note that Cherie Kesler is running for the Jones vacancy, not the Difanis vacancy. More race information was also added.]

This is a followup on the last Sixth Circuit race Cheat Sheet update on the three open seats (more information on the Sixth Circuit on our Judges page). The last post had some specific information on the competitive Democratic Party primary for the Champaign County judge seat from Judge Jones' retirement (and being vacated by the appointed Judge Jason Bohm to run for the district-wide seat). Below is an update on the Republican Primary candidates. Bohm who is running for the full circuit seat currently held by Judge Difanis who is retiring. Cherie Kesler who is running for Champaign County vacancy being created by Bohm. And Judge Jeffrey Geisler who is running for another district-wide seat (being vacated by Judge A.G. Webber). From the News-Gazette's Tom Kacich a couple weeks ago:

Gifford Republican Sami Anderson, running for the Sixth Judicial Circuit judge nomination against Judge Jason Bohm, has dropped out of the race. They were vying for the position currently held by retiring Judge Tom Difanis,.

“It’s just too much,” she said. “Running in 2017-2018 (in which she lost the Republican primary to Judge Randy Rosenbaum) and then volunteering on Roger Webber’s campaign and then going right into this campaign, it’s just a lot.”

Anderson marched in parades as recently as Labor Day but recently decided to quit the race.

“I think the first time you run, you have a different way of thinking about it. You’re excited; you think it’s going to be great,” she said. “The second time you run, you know what’s coming, and that’s a lot different.”

Anderson she hasn’t committed to supporting Bohm — “I’m not that far along yet,” she said — but won’t be supporting any Democratic candidates, even though she said more female circuit judges are needed.

More at the full article here. Cherie Kesler has recently announced a run for the seat Bohm is vacating (which confusingly is referred to as the Jones vacancy due to the seat having been initially opened up by the retirement of Judge Michael Jones in 2018). From the News-Gazette:

A local attorney has formally announced her candidacy to become a judge in Champaign County.

Over the weekend, Cherie Kesler, 42, of rural Mahomet said she will be a Republican candidate for resident circuit court judge in the March 17, 2020, primary. She hopes to get the post to succeed retired judge Michael Jones.

Kesler has connections all over Champaign County. After attending Yankee Ridge school in Urbana and Holy Cross School in Champaign, she graduated from St. Joseph-Ogden High School in 1995. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, lives in rural Mahomet and has her law office in Savoy.

That full article here. WAND had coverage of the retirement of Circuit Judge A.G. Webber and Judge Jeffrey Geisler's interest in running for that vacancy here.

Macon County Presiding Circuit Judge A.G. Webber has announced he is retiring.

Webber said he will not seek retention in office at the end of his current term in December 2020.

He was elected to office in 2002 and retained in 2008 and 2014...

Judge Jeffrey Geisler told Webber he intends to run for the seat. "Jeff is a great judge, and I couldn't be more pleased," Webber said.

Full blurb available here.

For more News-Gazette coverage on Judge Difanis retiring in hopes of Judge Jason Bohm taking over the district-wide seat in 2020 click here. The News-Gazette also had a overview of Judge Bohm after he was appointed to the county-wide seat in 2018 here. Excerpt:

A central Illinois federal prosecutor with civil law experience has been named as Champaign County’s newest circuit judge...

A 2003 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Bohm has been a federal prosecutor in the Central District of Illinois for nine years — four in the Springfield office and the last five in the Urbana office.

For the last two years, he’s been doing mostly appellate work but prior to that handled anti-terrorism cases as well as fraud, guns and drugs. The latter three are typical assignments for most federal prosecutors.

After earning his law degree, Bohm clerked for the late Donald Stohr, a federal judge for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis, for two years before getting a job at the prestigious Chicago firm of Sidley Austin LLP. He was there from 2005 to 2008 handling securities-fraud litigation.

Full article with additional information here. More background on the appointment process Bohm was selected by for his current seat is available here (applicants) and here (process) from the News-Gazette. For more information on the Sixth Circuit and current races, see the Cheat Sheet's Judges page.