Jonathan Wright
Judge of the 11th Circuit Court of Illinois
Assumed office
January 7, 2019
Preceded byThomas Harris
Logan County State's Attorney
In office
December 3, 2012 – December 7, 2018
Preceded byMichael McIntosh
Succeeded byBrad Hague
Member of the
Illinois House of Representatives
from the 90th district
In office
June 21, 2002 – January 8, 2003
Preceded byJohn Turner
Succeeded byJerry Mitchell (district renumbered)
Personal details
Born (1966-10-11) October 11, 1966
Winfield, Illinois
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMelanie
ChildrenFive
ResidenceLincoln, Illinois
Alma materMonmouth College (B.A.)
Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D.)
ProfessionAttorney

Jonathan C. Wright is an American politician who currently serves as a judge in Illinois's 11th Circuit. A member of the Republican Party, he served a partial term in the Illinois House of Representatives from June 21, 2001, until January 8, 2003, and served as the State's Attorney for Logan County, Illinois from December 3, 2012, to December 7, 2018.

Early life

Wright was born October 11, 1966, in Winfield, Illinois and raised in the neighboring village of Carol Stream. He graduated from Monmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts and later from Chicago-Kent College of Law with a Juris Doctor.[1] Upon receiving a position with the Illinois Attorney General he moved to Lincoln, Illinois. He met his wife Melanie with whom he has five children.[2] Sometime prior to 2001, he went into private practice, which included serving as the city attorney for Atlanta, Illinois.[3]

Illinois House of Representatives

He was appointed to succeed Representative John Turner who was appointed to a judgeship on the Illinois 4th District Appellate Court.[3] Soon after his appointment, in the decennial redistricting process, Wright was drawn into the same district as longtime Republican Gwenn Klingler of Springfield. Wright chose not to run for reelection. Klinger, a moderate, was defeated by conservative Rich Brauer of Petersburg in that cycle's Republican primary.[4][5]

His committee assignments included; Agriculture; Judiciary I-Civil Law; Judiciary II-Criminal Law; and Labor. He served on the Special Committee for Prosecutorial Misconduct and was the minority spokesman for the Special Committees on Tobacco Settlement Proceeds.[1] Notably, he was the sponsor of a bill to allow student-led school prayer in public schools. The bill was criticized due to Wright's hope that the bill would lead students to convert to Christianity. The bill itself did nothing but reiterate the rights students already had under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[6] After the end of his term, he joined the Office of the Logan County State's Attorney as an Assistant State's Attorney.

Campaigns for federal office

Wright became a candidate in the 2004 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Peter Fitzgerald. He ran on a conservative platform of opposition to same-sex marriage and support for the criminalization of abortion. He was the only candidate from either major party not from northern region of the state. In a year notable for a record number of millionaire candidates, Wright had to keep his day job during the primary campaign.[7][8] A perpetual longshot throughout the campaign, he finished fifth of eight candidates, receiving 17,189 (2.3%) of 661,804 votes cast.[9]

Republican Primary, United States Senate, March 16, 2004
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jack Ryan 234,791 35.5%
Republican Jim Oberweis 155,794 23.5%
Republican Steven J. Rauschenberger 132,655 20.0%
Republican Andrew McKenna 97,238 14.7%
Republican Jonathan C. Wright 17,189 2.6%
Republican John Borling 13,390 2.0%
Republican Norm Hill 5,637 0.9%
Republican Chirinjeev Kathuria 5,110 0.8%
Majority 78,997 11.9%
Turnout 661,804

In 2006, he briefly explored a campaign for Congress in Illinois's 18th congressional district before dropping out in favor of incumbent Ray LaHood.[10]

State’s Attorney

In 2012, Wright was elected Logan County State's Attorney, succeeding fellow Republican Michael McIntosh. He was sworn in on December 3, 2012.[2] He was elected to a second term in 2016.[11] Brad Hague, an Assistant State's Attorney, was appointed by the Logan County Board to succeed Wright as State's Attorney.[12]

Judge

In 2018, Wright was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to succeed Thomas Harris after Harris was elected to the appellette court. Wright's term as a judge began January 7, 2019.[13] Wright will seek election to the Eleventh Circuit which covers McLean, Ford, Livingston, Logan, Woodford in the 2020 general election.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Illinois Blue Book, 2001-2002. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois Secretary of State. 1994. p. 116.
  2. 1 2 Woodside, Nathan (November 28, 2012). "The 'Wright' Man". Lincoln Courier. Lincoln, Illinois: GateHouse Media. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Murphy, Peter M. (December 2001). "New Legislators". Illinois Issues. Vol. 26, no. 11. Springfield, Illinois: Sangamon State University. pp. 13–14. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ Pearson, Rick (September 26, 2001). "Democrat remap clears panel over GOP protests". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  5. ↑ Miller, David R., ed. (December 15, 2002). "Biographies of New Senate Members" (PDF). First Reading. Vol. 16, no. 3. Illinois Legislative Research Unit. pp. 8–16. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  6. ↑ Pelzer, Jeremy (September 5, 2002). "Illinois prayer in school laws amended". The Daily Eastern News. Charleston, Illinois: Eastern Illinois University. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  7. ↑ Bode, Gus (February 24, 2004). "SIU law students welcomes another candidate for U.S. Senate". The Daily Egyptian. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  8. ↑ Sweet, Lynn (January 2004). "Running to the right". Illinois Issues Online. Vol. 29, no. 1. Springfield, Illinois: University of Illinois Springfield. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Republican Primary, United States Senate, March 16, 2004". Illinois State Board of Elections. March 16, 2004. Archived from the original on November 25, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  10. ↑ "IL District 18- R Primary". Our Campaigns. November 23, 2006. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  11. ↑ Lema, Jessica (December 1, 2016). "Newly elected officials take their seats". Lincoln Courier. Lincoln, Illinois: GateHouse Media. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  12. ↑ Miller, Jean Ann (January 4, 2019). "Hauge appointed Logan County State's Attorney". Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  13. ↑ Stock, Eric (December 20, 2018). "Logan County State's Attorney Named Circuit Judge". WGLT 89.1 FM NPR from Illinois State University. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  14. ↑ Barlow, Kevin (July 23, 2019). "Wright to seek Logan Co. resident judge position". The Pantagraph. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
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