Eight years after Kim Foxx rode a wave of voter outrage over the police murder of Laquan McDonald to take over the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, voters hewed closer to tradition, choosing a former prosecutor who’d worked in courtrooms for her entire career as Foxx’s successor.
Just before 9 p.m., Democrat Eileen O’Neill Burke declared victory over Republican candidate Bob Fioretti, shortly after The Associated Press called the race. She had 65% of the vote with 59% of votes counted, according to unofficial results.
“There were a million reasons not to get into this race,” she said from the stage at Moe’s Cantina in River North. “But I had this stubborn belief that I could not shake. I believed that we could make Cook County safer and have a justice system that works for everyone.”
Fioretti acknowledged to the Tribune Tuesday night that he “didn’t get enough votes.” He stopped short of saying whether he would consider running for office again in coming years.
“It’s still a Democratic city, a Democratic county, but I think we have a bench that is available that’s going to go to battle in the next times that are going to bring family, faith, and fiscal responsibility forward as their platforms,” Fioretti said. He had not yet had the chance to speak with O’Neill Burke, but said he wished her “the best of luck.”
Libertarian Andrew Kopinski garnered 4.4% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
A Chicago native raised in a family of police officers, O’Neill Burke described the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Chicago police Officer Enrique Martinez the previous night as a “gut punch” and promised to “get assault weapons off the street.”
“We can build the best prosecutor’s office in the country, where we set a new standard for integrity, effectiveness and innovation. Whether you voted for me or not, I promise you this: I will work tirelessly as your state’s attorney,” she said. She exited the stage to the tune of Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen” as bagpipers marched to the front of the room.
Election Day 2024 live results: Cook County state’s attorney race
Standing alongside O’Neill Burke was her husband, attorney John Burke, who broke the news of his wife’s victory to the assembled crowd, as well as Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, 3rd Ward Ald. Pat Dowell and 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway.
O’Neill Burke became an assistant state’s attorney in 1991, staying for a decade and working on juvenile cases, appeals and felony review. She left, transitioning to criminal defense until 2008, when she ran for judge on the county’s Circuit Court. In 2016, she ran unopposed for the Illinois Appellate Court, where she remained until stepping down for her bid to become the county’s top prosecutor.
Fioretti trailed with about 31% of the vote when the race was called, according to unofficial results. The former 2nd Ward alderman, a personal injury and civil rights attorney, ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for state’s attorney in 2020.
Either candidate would have been a departure from Foxx, whose leadership was focal point throughout the campaign. The first Black woman to run the office and one of the faces of the national progressive prosecutor movement, Foxx oversaw several reforms to the office that eventually led to the elimination of cash bail across the state and a precipitous drop in the county’s jail population.
O’Neill Burke and Fioretti both said they would tweak Foxx policies they deemed insufficient to address a spike in crime during the pandemic.
“Having no consequences is not working,” O’Neill Burke told the Tribune Editorial Board during the primary, pledging to more aggressively prosecute gun possession, carjacking, robbery and theft.
The office, O’Neill Burke said, was also suffering from “severe” morale and attrition problems — with several exits fueled by the pandemic and prosecutors being forced to take on unsustainable caseloads to make up the difference.
She faced Clayton Harris III in the Democratic primary. A fellow former prosecutor who left the office after roughly four years and went on to work in intergovernmental affairs for Mayor Richard M. Daley and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Harris also managed the state’s International Port District.
Both Harris and Fioretti seized on reporting about O’Neill Burke’s prosecution of an 11-year-old Black boy early in her career — and her subsequent response after the case resurfaced — as a signal of how she might take the office backwards.
O’Neill Burke also embraced many progressive reforms, including for the state’s landmark SAFE-T Act eliminating the use of cash bail, and Foxx’s restorative justice efforts to keep steering certain nonviolent or first-time offenders to diversionary courts.
But O’Neill Burke pledged to take a more rigid stance on prosecutions, proposing a blanket policy for requesting detention for certain crimes — including possession of assault weapons, attacks on the CTA, or if a weapon is used in a forcible felony. While Foxx opted not to pursue felony prosecutions of retail thefts unless stolen goods were worth more than $1,000, O’Neill Burke said she would bring that threshold back down to the state’s benchmark, $300.
Business leaders shook by the increase in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic stepped up to support O’Neill Burke’s campaign, with several contributing in excess of $100,000 ahead of the primary and doubling down during the general election.
Though Republicans held out for a “lightning strike” success for Fioretti, without televised debates, major ad blitzes or controversy, he struggled to make his message heard in deep blue Cook County. The county’s voters last elected a Republican to the post in 1992, when Jack O’Malley won.
Democrats swept further down ballot, too. The Associated Press called the race for county clerk — the office responsible for suburban elections, vital and property records, and legislative proceedings — for Democrat Monica Gordon. A member of the Cook County Board, Gordon was chosen to run for the post after Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s death.
She led with over 65% of the vote Tuesday over Republican Michelle Pennington and Libertarian Christopher Laurent, according to unofficial results.
It was similar dynamic for Circuit Court clerk, the massive bureaucratic office that oversees records for the county’s unified court system. With 61% of votes counted, Mariyana Spyropoulos, an attorney who currently sits on the board of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, led with 65% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
Spyropoulos won the party’s nod and defeated incumbent Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez during the March primary. Republican Lupe Aguirre, a Chicago police officer trailed with just over 28% of the vote, while Libertarian Michael Murphy had about 6.5% of the vote.