About the Candidate
Name: Kim Foxx
DOB: April 9, 1972
Occupation: Cook County State’s Attorney
Political Experience: Assistant State’s Attorney for 12 years, and was also a guardian ad litem, where she worked as an attorney advocating for children navigating the child welfare system. Prior to being elected State’s Attorney, Kim served as Chief of Staff for the Cook County Board President, where she was the lead architect of the county’s criminal justice reform agenda to address racial disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.
Website: kimfoxx.com
Twitter: @KimFoxxforSA
Candidate Statement
Hello, I’m Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
I learned early that your background and your zip code does not determine your ability to make a positive difference for others. I was born in Chicago and raised by a single mother in Cabrini Green. I’ve always lived and worked in Cook County.
I am a wife, a mother of four teenagers, a former Assistant State’s Attorney and today I have the privilege of being your Cook County State’s Attorney.
Over the past three years, we’ve focused on prosecuting violent crimes instead of spending disproportionate resources towards low-level offenses. We’re bringing greater accountability to police-involved shootings, and are leading the nation in creating innovative criminal justice reform.
We created the Gun Crimes Strategies Unit, that placed prosecutors directly in the police districts experiencing the highest levels of violence which led to a DROP in violent crime. We bought unprecedented transparency to the State’s Attorney's office by releasing 6 years of data outlining every felony that had been brought to the office and we’ve given people a fresh start through our historic expungement efforts after Illinois legalized cannabis.
With your support on March 17, we can continue to provide the progress that you deserve in molding an equitable justice system. Our work has just begun.
Candidate Q&A
Why are you running?
I have the life experience, the track record, and the vision to lead at this moment when the movement to reform the criminal court system and to correct the results of the failed war on drugs is gaining traction. Chicago has always been my home. I grew up in Cabrini Green public housing projects, and even as a young girl, I knew that our system needs to change. I’m running for re-election because I want to work every single day to continue the vital work of reforming justice and making a fairer, safer court system in Cook County. I learned early on that your background and your zip code does not determine your ability to make a positive difference for others.
My peers from around the country are learning from our innovations in lifting the veil to offer transparency for thousands of records, and historic steps to give low-level cannabis offenders a fresh start to be contributors to their families and communities. Authoritarianism is on the rise as Trump, the NRA, and the FOP want us to make false choices between freedom and safety. Changing power dynamics is never easy, but when I look at how our structural inequities have caused damage, my only response is to act. My work to make the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office efficient, trustworthy and a model for criminal court reform has just begun. Together we can rise above politics to do what’s best for families, communities, and co-create a justice system that works for all.
What is your vision for this office?
When I took Office in December 2016, I set out to reform the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office to make it more effective, efficient, and just. Well, I am proud of the progress we’ve made over the past four years, we still have work to do. My vision is to transform the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office into a fairer; more just agency focused on promoting public safety while building trust in the criminal justice system.
The job of the State’s Attorney’s Office is to promote public safety, but that can only be achieved through an office that operates and is perceived to act with integrity, discretion, accountability, and fairness. At the time of my election, trust in the criminal justice system was at a critical low, and violence was spiking, especially in our most vulnerable communities. We could not increase public safety without recognition and ownership of the problems in our criminal justice system, including racial disparities and the disproportionate impact of violence and mass incarceration. With this in mind, I focused on rebuilding trust through an unprecedented level of transparency around court records, increasing public safety through smart prosecution strategies, and creating a mission-driven, professional workforce. My top priority has always been to use the Office's resources in the most efficient manner to combat violent crime, which is why I started the Gun Crimes Strategies Unit to place prosecutors in our most vulnerable neighborhoods. Through Gun Crimes Strategies, we have increased the charges against gun offenders and seen reductions in violence. Gun prosecutions are my priority; shootings are down. False confessions are out, and unjust prosecutions are being vacated. This is my vision in action.
What do you think is the most pressing issue facing your constituents and how do you plan on addressing it?
At first glance, the fear of violent crime is the most pressing issue for my constituents. However, when you look below the surface, there are other factors.
Mental health issues, including drug addiction and trauma are the most pressing issues facing far too many of my constituents. Community trauma is real from the impact of policies like the war on drugs to the residual effects of generational poverty. I stand for people who have been invisible. In my second term, I want to focus on ways to bring mental health resources to more people because these issues are the root cause of much of our crime and community stress. I also believe we can have a community where no one is expendable.
