Legislative career In 1980, Topinka first pursued her own career in politics by running for the
Illinois General Assembly. She won a seat in the
Illinois House of Representatives and served two two-year terms, respectively for the 7th and 43rd districts. In 1984, she set her sights on the upper house of the Illinois General Assembly and won a seat in the
Illinois Senate where she represented the 22nd district for ten years.
Illinois State Treasurer George W. Bush in April 2005 In the middle of a term as state senator, Topinka joined the Illinois State Treasurer race in 1994 and won the election. She was reelected in 1998 and 2002. As state treasurer, Topinka cut a deal to allow hotels that were owned by indicted Springfield power-broker Bill Cellini to pay $10 million to settle their debts which totaled $40.3 million. This deal was quashed by Attorney General
Jim Ryan who stated that the hotels were worth more than the $10 million for which Topinka had attempted to settle the debt.
Illinois gubernatorial campaign On November 7, 2005, Topinka announced that she would not seek re-election as state treasurer—instead, she entered the gubernatorial primary, hoping to challenge Democratic Governor
Rod Blagojevich. The Republican primary was deeply divisive; her tenure as Party chairman destroyed her support from the conservative wing of her party, and it was feared that her
pro-choice and positive
gay rights positions would be detrimental to her standing with the same conservatives. In December she announced that she would join forces with
DuPage County State's Attorney
Joe Birkett as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. In February 2006, the candidates for the Republican nomination for Illinois Governor began running their first TV ads for the March statewide primary election. Rival candidate Ron Gidwitz's advertisements, attacking Topinka, were rebuked in the same week by the Illinois Republican Party: "In an unprecedented action, the Illinois Republican Party has officially rebuked the Gidwitz campaign for this ad because the Party found that the ad violates the Party's "Code of Conduct," which was enacted to police proper conduct among Republican candidates." Later in February, candidate
Jim Oberweis, another rival for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, started a series of attack ads against Topinka for television markets that were even more widely criticized, mostly for using "fake" headlines on the images of actual Illinois newspapers. • Judy Baar Topinka (R) (inc.), 50% •
Sheila Simon (D), 46% • Julie Fox (L), 5% •
2010 election for Illinois State Comptroller • Judy Baar Topinka (R), 53% • David Miller (D), 41% • Julie Fox (L), 3% • R. Erika Schafer (G), 3% •
2006 election for Governor of Illinois •
Rod Blagojevich (D) (inc.), 50% • Judy Baar Topinka (R), 39% • Rich Whitney (Green), 10% •
2002 election for Illinois State Treasurer • Judy Baar Topinka (Republican) (inc.), 55% •
Tom Dart (Democrat), 43% •
1998 election for Illinois State Treasurer • Judy Baar Topinka (Republican) (inc.), 50% • Dan McLaughlin (Democrat), 48% •
1994 election for Illinois State Treasurer • Judy Baar Topinka (Republican), 51% • Nancy Shaheen (Democrat), 49% ==Personal life and death==