Loza, Morask win 12th subcircuit races

Two women will face off in November for a spot as judge in the 12th subcircuit of Cook County.

Pamela Elizabeth Loza, the Democratic candidate, and Laura Morask, the Republican candidate, won their respective spots in Tuesday's primary. They will be competing later this year for the 6-year spot left open by Judge Donald Devlin.

Unofficial results show that with 321 of 339 precincts reporting, Loza earned 36.6 percent of the vote in her four-person race, and Morask won 53 percent in the two-person Republican race.

The 12th judicial subcircuit includes parts of Wheeling, Northfield, Elk Grove, New Trier and Maine townships.

Morask, 51, of Park Ridge works in the Cook County state's attorney's office and is also a Maine Township trustee. She said she will step down from that office if elected judge.

"When you look at the qualifications and the things I've done, I've really devoted my life to public service," Morask said. "I think people really saw that."

Loza, 57, of Mount Prospect started out as an assistant state's attorney in Cook County and now has her own firm in Palatine. She said she didn't want to comment until all the results were in, but said that she was hoping for a good final outcome.

She was competing against Thomas Mulroy, 61, of Kenilworth, who was appointed as a judge last year to fill a vacancy; Michael Halloran, 52, of Glenview, a Cook County public defender; and Thomas Flannigan, 55, of Winnetka, who has his own practice.

Unofficial Democratic primary results show Mulroy with 30.9 percent of the vote; Halloran with 14 percent; and Flannigan with 18.5 percent.

Morask faced off against Michaela Nolan Ryan, 45, of Winnetka, who started her career as an assistant attorney general and is an attorney for a firm in Bannockburn. Ryan garnered 47 percent of the vote in the Republican primary.