Connor announces 2022 run for Will County circuit judge vacancy

State Sen. John Connor announced he will run for the 12th Circuit judicial vacancy in Will County in the 2022 election.

Connor, D-Lockport, has spent the last four years as a member of the Illinois General Assembly.

“While my years in the legislature as a state representative and state senator have been very rewarding, I know that service as a judge will provide me a better opportunity to benefit the community, as I can help the people of Will County directly every day,” Connor said in a news release. “As a legislator, my service involves significant time in Springfield, and I miss the ability to help people in person in the courtroom.”

Connor had a 20-year career as a prosecutor at the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office before heading to Springfield.

“I have always had a passion for the justice system, since my work as a prosecutor,” he said in the release. “I will not be running again for the state senate, but instead will be running for judge for the 12th Circuit vacancy on the ballot in 2022.”

Connor was appointed to fill a vacancy representing the 85th District in the House in 2017. He won a full term in 2018 and then was elected to the Senate representing the 43rd District in 2020 where he chairs the Criminal Law Committee.

He said he will finish his two-year term in the Senate before as he runs for judge.

His late father, Charles Connor, served as chief judge in Will County and later as mayor of Joliet.

“Helping everyone, no matter who they are, to feel that they’ve been heard and treated fairly when they come to the Joliet courthouse is a task that my experience has well prepared me to do,” Connor said in the release.

During his career in the Will County State’s Attorney’s office, he oversaw major crimes and digital forensics and led the special grand jury investigation that resulted in the 2012 conviction of former Bolingbrook police officer Drew Peterson.

Connor lives in Lockport with his wife and three sons, and was born and raised in Joliet. He’s a graduate of Joliet High School and attended the University of Notre Dame and law school at the University of Illinois.