Wisconsin

Campaign contributions from out-of-staters and so-called dark money groups will be banned in Illinois judicial campaigns beginning in January under legislation Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law Monday.

The measure’s sponsor, State Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville), said the ban is something that’s been in the works for a while, especially as leaders in the legal community and scholars become progressively worried about undue influence in judicial elections, especially appellate and supreme court justices whose terms last a decade.

The law also bans out-of-state contributions to judicial candidates and clarifies already-illegal campaign contributions in Illinois, including money from anonymous sources.

But making Illinois the first state to outright ban certain political contributions to judicial candidates is the biggest change contained in the law, which comes a year after an Illinois Supreme Court justice first elected as a Democrat became the first sitting high court member in state history to lose his retention bid — an expensive race fueled in part by dark money.