Judges Koester, Hartigan Retained for Another Term; Other Judicial Races

The judges up for retention in the 4th Judicial Circuit were retained for another term in Tuesday's election.

Judge Kimberly Koester, who is Chief Circuit Judge for the 4th Circuit and Resident Circuit Judge for Effingham County, was retained in all nine counties in the circuit. Her percentage of Yes votes, by county, are: Christian--83.13%...Clay--76.83%...Clinton--77.48%...Effingham--82.07%...Fayette--76.31%...Jasper--79.26%...Marion--78.42%...Montgomery--76.25%...Shelby--80.54%. That comes to a circuit-wide retention rate of 79.30%.

Judge Daniel Hartigan, who is Resident Circuit Judge for Jasper County, was retained in all nine counties in the circuit. His percentage of Yes votes, by county, are: Christian--82.96%...Clay--75.85%...Clinton--76.57%...Effingham--76.57%...Fayette--71.66%...Jasper--82.19%...Marion--77.67%...Montgomery--75.72%...Shelby--78.77%. That comes to a circuit-wide retention rate of 77.62%.

We had reported earlier that in the contest for Shelby County Resident Circuit Judge, Judge Amanda Ade-Harlow defeated State's Attorney Gina Vonderheide 6,073 to 3,126. Ade-Harlow was elected to the office held by the late Judge Allen Bennett.

In the 5th Judicial District Appellate Court race, Republican David Overstreet defeated Democrat Kevin Hoerner, 276,042 to 192,132.