February 2012 – Today’s Chicago Woman
Illinois Appellate Court Justice Joy Cunningham has always had high aspirations. In 2006, she beat five other candidates in a tough race to win her seat on the bench, including the candidate who had the Democratic Party’s endorsement, David Erickson. Hundreds of thousands of votes were cast in the election, but she won by just 510. “Nobody voted for me by accident. I ran a grassroots campaign and worked hard,” she says.
Today, she’s going for a repeat, running against four other candidates, including the party-endorsed contender Mary Jane Theis, for the only open seat on the Illinois Supreme Court. If she wins, it will make her the first woman of color to be an Illinois Supreme Court justice.
Read more: Joy Cunningham (‘JD ’82) Goes for the Supreme Spot