North Shore voters will see Circuit Court Judge Daniel Edward Maloney's name on their Nov. 3 ballot. Maloney faces a Cook County retention vote in the 2026 general election.
Residents of Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth, Glencoe and Northfield will all encounter this nonpartisan race. In a retention election, there is no opposing candidate. Voters mark "yes" or "no."
Maloney presides over preliminary hearings in the Sixth Municipal District. He also leads three problem-solving courts at the Markham Courthouse (16501 S. Kedzie Parkway, Markham): Drug Treatment Court, Mental Health Treatment Court and Veterans Treatment Court. Each court is designed to address a specific issue that can drive criminal behavior. Drug Treatment Court handles cases involving substance addiction, Mental Health Treatment Court serves defendants with mental illness, and Veterans Treatment Court focuses on cases involving military veterans, according to the Circuit Court of Cook County. Maloney has served as a Circuit Court judge since 2019, according to BallotReady.
Candidate information
- Name: Daniel Edward Maloney
- Office sought: Illinois Circuit Court Judge, Cook County Circuit (retention)
- Election date: Nov. 3, 2026
- Party: Nonpartisan
- Ballot status: Certified
Experience and public service
Before taking the bench, Maloney served as an assistant state's attorney at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office from 2001 to 2017. He then worked as division counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice's Drug Enforcement Administration from 2017 to 2019, according to BallotReady.
Maloney also served as adjunct faculty at Saint Xavier University from 2012 to 2014.
He earned a high school diploma from Brother Rice High School, a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1998 and a juris doctor from Valparaiso University in 2001, according to BallotReady.
On the issues
No issue responses or policy statements from Maloney were available for this profile.
Endorsements
The Chicago Council of Lawyers rated Maloney "Qualified" for the Circuit Court during the November 2020 retention cycle. No updated evaluation was available at the time of publication.
- Chicago Council of Lawyers — Qualified (2020)
Candidate profile information is drawn from BallotReady, the Circuit Court of Cook County and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. No candidate questionnaire responses were available at the time of publication.
