Chicago suburbs held elections Tuesday in pivotal races for mayors, councils and more.
Voters reelect numerous suburban mayors, despite a few upsets of incumbents
Here are some election results from Aurora, Elgin, Elmhurst, Evanston, Glenbrook, Gurnee, Homer Glen, Lake Zurich, Naperville, Northbrook, North Chicago, Oak Park, Orland Park, Park Ridge, Skokie, the south suburbs, Thornton Township, Tinley Park and Waukegan.
Aurora
Incumbent Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin has admitted defeat to his challenger, Ald. John Laesch, in the Aurora mayoral election.
As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Laesch had 52.32% of the vote while Irvin had 47.68% of the vote, according to unofficial voting results from DuPage, Kendall, Kane and Will counties, with all precincts reporting.
Also, Aurora voters appear to have mostly kept incumbent candidates on City Council — except in the alderman at-large race. Incumbent at-large Ald. Ron Woerman trailed challenger Keith Larson with his 41.95% of the vote to Larson’s 58.05%, according to unofficial results Tuesday night from Kane, Kendall, DuPage and Will counties, with all precincts reporting.
In addition, two incumbents — board President Richard Kerns II and Julie Stone — as well as challenger Erika Garcia appear to have won four-year seats on the West Aurora School District board in Tuesday’s election. In a race of nine candidates for three spots, it appears East Aurora’s school board president will remain on the board, while two other incumbents seem to have lost their seats to challengers. And voters in Will and DuPage counties appear to have reelected four incumbent Indian Prairie School District 204 board members, per unofficial results.
Meanwhile, voters appear to have shot down a referendum question in Kane County that would have increased the sales tax by 0.75% to pay for public safety expenses in the county.
Elgin
It appears the three incumbent Elgin City Council members running in Tuesday’s election will return to the dais, joined by one newcomer.
Here are unofficial Elgin-area election results for council, village board and other races.
Elmhurst
Incumbent Elmhurst Mayor Scott Levin appeared to defeat challenger Mark Mulliner by a wide margin, taking 6,436 votes, or 71% of the 9,000 votes cast, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s voting. Mulliner, the city’s longest serving alderman before leaving the City Council two years ago, drew an unofficial tally of 2,625 votes, or 29%.
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Evanston
Evanston voters appear to want to keep the momentum going on a number of issues in the city, including Ryan Field, reparations, Envision Evanston and others, by retaining the incumbent mayor, unofficial Cook County Clerk’s office election results show.
Mayor Daniel Biss declared victory over challenger Jeff Boarini after unofficial results showed he had captured about 60% of the vote to about 40% for Boarini.
Glenbrook
A slate of candidates that received endorsements from a local caucus, an educator union and a support staff union appears poised to win seats on the Glenbrook School District 225 Board of Education.
With all 62 precincts reporting Tuesday night, unofficial results showed incumbents Peter Glowacki and Matthew O’Hara and newcomers John “Jack” Downing and Beth Hope receiving a majority of the vote over opponents, and newcomers, Julian Cheng, Lowell Paul Eisenstadt and Lisa Kane.
Gurnee
Gurnee Mayor Tom Hood appeared headed for a second term in office after his opponent, Trustee Quin O’Brien, conceded the election Tuesday night. Hood was leading 69.99% to 30.01%, or 2,533 to 1,086 votes, according to unofficial results posted Wednesday morning by the Lake County Clerk’s Office.
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Homer Glen
Rose Reynders, Michael LePore and Nicholas Muller had a commanding lead Tuesday night in a race for three 4-year seats on the Homer Glen Village Board. The Homer Glen trustee race featured mostly newcomers to village politics.
Lake Zurich
Voters for the Village of Lake Zurich races, presented with candidates in all uncontested races, returned a number of familiar faces to public office Tuesday. Only the school board race had any challengers.
Naperville
Wth all Naperville precincts in DuPage and Will counties reporting, incumbents Benny White and Ian Holzhauer appeared headed toward another term on Naperville City Council alongside newcomers Mary Gibson and Ashfaq Syed, according to unofficial results. Incumbent Jennifer Bruzan Tayor was trailing behind as the fifth-highest vote getter in the eight-way race for the four, four-year council seats up for election.
And with all the votes counted in Will and DuPage counties, unofficial results show incumbents Leslie Ruffing, Alison Thompson and Rhonda Ansier headed toward second terms on the Naperville Park Board, joined by newcomer Aishwarya Balakrishna.
Here are unofficial Naperville election results for council, park board and other races.
Northbrook
In unofficial results from Tuesday’s election, voters supported referendums in both Northbrook School District 28 and Northbrook School District 27.
North Chicago
Already North Chicago’s longest-serving chief executive, Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. claimed victory Tuesday night in his bid for an unprecedented sixth term that will give him another four years to add to his 20-year tenure and continue to push his agenda forward.
Oak Park
After what was an unusually contentious and at times personal battle, incumbent Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman appeared to win a convincing victory over challenger Ravi Parakkat, a member of the Village Board, according to preliminary results from Tuesday’s municipal elections.
Also, the liberal status quo appeared to have scored a big victory in the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 School Board race after Tuesday’s election, although whether it was a clean sweep won’t be known for a few weeks. The West Cook Branch of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America got involved at the last moments of the race by distributing a flyer attacking candidates Nate Mellman and Josh Gertz and also sending an email attacking Mellman and Gertz as well as three Oak Park Library Board candidates. The DSA also advocated for three of the four eventual winning candidates in the Library Board race in the email.
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Orland Park
Keith Pekau conceded defeat Tuesday evening in his bid for a third term as Orland Park mayor, with challenger Jim Dodge ahead with nearly all precincts reporting. With 44 of 45 precincts reporting, Dodge had 57% of the vote to 43% for Pekau, unofficial results show.
Park Ridge
In Park Ridge, Martin “Marty” Maloney appears to have breezed to another term as mayor, holding off a challenge from the current city clerk Sal Raspanti.
And sfter squeaking out a win last election for his current role as Park Ridge city clerk, Sal Raspanti was on pace Tuesday night to be decisively defeated in his bid for mayor, with incumbent Martin “Marty” Maloney appearing to breeze into another term. Michael Lupo, however, captured 56% of the vote to replace Raspanti as city clerk, according to unofficial vote totals from the Cook County clerk’s office.
Park Ridge Alderperson Richard “Rick” Biagi had decided not to seek reelection to be 6th Ward leader, creating a contest to replace him where, according to unofficial vote totals from the election, Lauren Rapisand appears to have prevailed.
Skokie
Former Skokie official Ann Tennes declared victory in the race for Skokie mayor Tuesday, with unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s office showing she commanded a hefty percentage of vote totals. The victory starts a new era in the village of about 65,000 after 24-year mayor George Van Dusen chose not to run for another term.
A historic election in Skokie resulted in voters selecting both reform-minded and more traditional candidates for the Village Board. It was the first election to implement a new governmental structure, calling for one Village Board trustee to be elected from each of four geographic districts and two trustees to be elected at-large by the entire village, that Skoieans had approved in 2022.
South suburbs
There were more than two dozen mayor and village president races to be decided Tuesday night in the south and southwest suburbs. Unofficial results from Cook and Will counties show some incumbents heading toward defeat. See unofficial results of those races.
Also, several high school district boards were on the ballot in Tuesday’s election, with voters in the south and southwest suburbs electing members to full and shortened terms. See unofficial results from the Cook and Will county clerk offices.
Thornton Township
State Sen. Napoleon Harris and members of his Democratic slate were far ahead of other candidates seeking positions on the Thornton Township Board, according to unofficial results Tuesday from the Cook County clerk’s office.
With 102 of 104 precincts reporting, Harris had 74%, followed by Independent candidate Nate Fields with 10.8%, Republican Richard Nolan with 10.4% and Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark with 4.6%.
Tinley Park
More than 50 people packed the dining room of a Tinley Park restaurant Tuesday night, rallying in support of Mayor Michael Glotz as he seeks a second term, along with his One Tinley Park slate. Unofficial results show Glotz leading with 59.7% of the vote over Michael Maloney, a former union executive, with all precincts reporting.
Also leading was Glotz’s One Tinley Park slate, which includes Village Clerk Nancy O’Connor, with 58.8% of the vote or Cynthia “Cindy” O’Boyle.
Waukegan
Former Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham, the city’s first Black chief executive, declared victory Tuesday night in his bid to regain the office he lost four years ago, thus extending the city’s 28-year string of one-term mayors.
Leading in a four-candidate race, Cunningham was ahead of incumbent Mayor Ann Taylor, who defeated him four years ago to become the city’s first woman chief executive, according to unofficial results.