The “blue wave” had a powerful impact in Cook County on Tuesday.
Democrats won two Republican-held seats on the Cook County Board of Commissioners and another on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
14th District Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin, who’s held his seat for 20 years, and Tim Schneider, the Illinois GOP chairman who served 12 years on the board, were unseated by Democrats Scott Britton and Kevin B. Morrison, respectively.
Morrison, who was backed by more than a quarter million dollars from the Cook County Democratic Party, will make history as both the youngest and the first openly gay member of board. Commissioner-elect Britton, a Village of Glenview trustee, was also backed by party funds.
Despite their role in further moving the board toward total Democratic control, Britton and Morrison pledged their loyal to their constituents, not their party. Britton says his priorities include guaranteeing paid sick leave, a living minimum wage, banning tobacco sales to people under the age of 21, and potentially expanding the county’s assault weapons ban. Morrison says that among other things, he wants to make health care more affordable, expand access to mental health care, and reduce costs for new small businesses.
The two Republicans remaining on the 17-member board are 9th District Commissioner Peter Silvestri and 17th District Commissioner Sean Morrison.
Nine Democratic commissioners ran unopposed: Brandon Johnson (1st District), Dennis Deer (2nd District), Stanley Moore (4th District), Deborah Sims (5th District), Donna Miller (6th District), Alma Anaya (7th District), Bridget Gainer (10th District), Bridget Degnen (12th District) and Jeffrey Tobolski (16th District).
See election results for the contested races below.
MWRD
On the board of the MWRD, an agency tasked with treating wastewater and fighting flooding, Democrat Cameron Davis, a lawyer and environmental policy expert who’s worked for the Obama administration, will replace David Walsh, a Republican appointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner to fill the seat of Cook County Commissioner Tim Bradford, who died suddenly last December.
A successful write-in campaign for Davis and his Green Party opponent in the March primary initially allowed the pair to run in November for Bradford’s vacant seat.
But Rauner then appointed Walsh to the vacancy, arguing he would fill the remainder of the late politician’s tenure until 2020.
And in another twist to the story, a circuit court judge ruled last month that Davis and Cubbage were eligible to appear on the November ballot.
“I knew we had the law on our side,” Davis said. “To me, it really came down to not whether or not there would be litigation. I know that there was, I knew we’d be ready for it.”
Davis, who beat Cubbage by more than 800,000 votes, will serve a two-year term, as will Democrat Kimberly Neely Dubuclet, who beat out Green Party candidate Rachel Wales to serve the remainder of MWRD Commissioner-turned-Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson’s term.
See election results for the race below.
The top three vote-getters for full, six-year MWRD commissioner terms were all Democrats: incumbent Kari Steele, Debra Shore and Marcelino Garcia.
See election results for the race below.
Related stories:
Dems Make Big Moves on Cook County and MWRD Boards
2018 General Election: Cook County Commissioner
2018 General Election: Commissioner, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
