Challenger Sharon Waller is facing incumbent Daniel “Pogo” Pogorzelski in the Democratic race to claim a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s board of commissioners. (Provided)
Challenger Sharon Waller holds a slight lead over incumbent Daniel “Pogo” Pogorzelski in the Democratic race to claim a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s board of commissioners.
With four candidates on the Democratic ballot to fill three 6-year terms, Waller and Pogorzelski are separated by roughly 13,000 votes to nab the third slot. Incumbents Kari Steele (the current board president) and Marcelino Garcia are comfortably positioned to advance to November’s general election, where they will face one Green Party and three Republican challengers.
“We are just waiting for all the results to be counted at this point, including the outstanding vote-by-mail ballots,” Pogorzelski told WTTW News via email.
Waller echoed her competitor's statement, holding off on any declaration of victory or concession of defeat until mail ballots are tallied.
"Whatever the outcome, I want to thank everyone who volunteered to make our democracy work," Waller said.
According to Chicago Board of Elections officials, there are approximately 100,000 unreturned mail ballots, nearly 90,000 of which are Democratic ballots. Given the low turnout at the polls on Election Day, mail-in votes could be the deciding factor in a number of races, including MWRD and Cook County state’s attorney.
Between Chicago and suburban Cook County, Waller has received 226,546 of the votes counted so far compared with 213,286 for Pogorzelski.
Waller, who holds a doctorate in water quality, campaigned on her experience as a water engineer. She ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for the MWRD board, where she finished fourth in a crowded field. Three of the board’s nine seats are up for election every two years.
Pogorzelski was elected in 2022 to complete the remainder of outgoing Commissioner Deborah Shore’s term, after Shore was appointed the regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5.
The Chicago Board of Elections has paused counting of mail-in ballots until Friday to accommodate requests from the state’s attorney candidates to review the process.
This article originally published March 20. It has been updated with new information from the Chicago Board of Elections and a statement from Sharon Waller.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
