2022 Cook County, Illinois Elections

The Cook County, Illinois, general elections were held on November 8, 2022. Primaries were be held on June 28, 2022.

Elections were held for Assessor, Clerk, Sheriff, Treasurer, President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, all 17 seats of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, all three seats of the Cook County Board of Review, three seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and for judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County.

The Republican Party saw its representation on the Cook County Board of Commissioners reduced from two seats to a single seat. Cook County Commissioner Sean M. Morrison's victory by a margin of 2.58% marked the only victory in a partisan county race for a Republican nominee, with Democrats winning all other partisan elections.

Election information

2022 was a midterm election year in the United States. The primaries and general elections for Cook County races coincided with those for federal (House and Senate) and those for state elections.

In the primary, turnout among registered voters was 21.14%. Turnout among registered voters in suburban Cook County was 19.61%, with 319,825 ballots cast. Turnout among registered voters in the City of Chicago was 22.81%, with 341,901 ballots cast.

Assessor

First-term incumbent assessor Fritz Kaegi, a Democrat, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

In the Democratic primary, the incumbent Kaegi was challenged by Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Kari Steele.

Polling

Endorsements

Republican nomination

No candidates ran in the Republican primary.

Libertarian primary

Nico Tsatsoulis ran uncontested in the Libertarian primary for assessor.

General election

Clerk

Incumbent clerk is Karen Yarbrough, a Democrat, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

Yarbrough ran uncontested in the Democratic primary.

Republican nomination

No candidate ran in the Republican primary. The Republican Party ultimately nominated former Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.

Libertarian primary

Joseph Schreiner, an occasional candidate for office and 2020 Illinois House of Representatives Libertarian candidate in District 19, ran uncontested in the Libertarian primary.

Marco Gomez expressed interest, but did not run.

General election

Sheriff

The incumbent sheriff Tom Dart, a Democrat, was reelected to a fifth term.

Only Democrats have held this office ever since Michael F. Sheahan unseated Republican James E. O'Grady in 1990.

Democratic primary

Dart was challenged in the Democratic primary by Noland Rivera, Carmen Navarro Gercone, LaTonya Ruffin, and Kirk Ortiz. Only Rivera made the ballot.

Republican nomination

No candidates ran in the Republican Party primary. The Republican Party later nominated Lupe Aguirre.

Libertarian primary

Cook County Sheriff's Department Deputy Brad Sandefur ran uncontested in the Libertarian primary after perennial candidate Richard Mayers was disqualified and removed from the ballot. Jack Kozlowski had expressed interest, but did not run.

General election

Treasurer

Incumbent treasurer Maria Pappas, a Democrat, was reelected to a seventh term.

Democratic primary

Pappas ran unchallenged in the Democratic primary.

Republican primary

No candidates ran in the Republican primary. Republican later nominated Peter Kopsaftis.

Libertarian primary

Michael Murphy ran unchallenged in the Libertarian primary.

General election

President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners

Incumbent president Toni Preckwinkle, a Democrat, was elected to a fourth term.

Democratic primary

Community activist Zerlina Smith-Members and former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin challenged Preckwinkle in the Democratic primary. Only Boykins made the ballot.

Republican primary

No candidates ran in the Republican primary. Subsequently, Bob Fioretti, who previously ran for the office in the Democratic primary in 2018, was nominated by the Republican Party.

Libertarian primary

Thea Tsatsos, a 2002 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in District 1, ran unchallenged in the Libertarian primary.

Ruben Pantoja considered running, but did not file.

General election

Cook County Board of Commissioners

The 2022 Cook County Board of Commissioners election saw all seventeen seats of the Cook County Board of Commissioners up for election to four-year terms.

As this was the first elections held following the 2020 United States Census, the seats faced redistricting before this election. A new map was unanimously adopted by the Cook County Board of Commissioners in September 2021.

Democrats won 16 seats, while Republicans won only a single seat.

Cook County Board of Review

In the 2022 Cook County Board of Review election, all three seats, all of which are Democratic-held, will be up for reelection.

The Cook County Board of Review has its three seats rotate the length of terms. In a staggered fashion (in which no two seats have coinciding two-year terms), the seats rotate between two consecutive four-year terms and a two-year term. This will be the first year since 2012 that all three seats are coincidingly up for election.

The seats will face redistricting before this election.

1st district

Democratic nominee George Cardenas, a Chicago alderman, won the general election without an opponent. First-term Commissioner Tammy Wendt, a Democrat first elected in 2020, had been defeated for renomination by Cardenas. This election was for a four-year term.

Democratic primary

;Candidates
*George Cardenas Chicago Alderman, 12th ward, 2003–present
* Tammy Wendt, incumbent commissioner of the Board of Review

;Results

Republican primary

No candidates ran in the Republican primary.

General election

2nd district

Democratic nominee Samantha Steele won election to the 2nd district seat. Incumbent second-term Commissioner Michael Cabonargi, a Democrat, was defeated for renomination by Steele in the Democratic primary. This election was for a four-year term.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

No candidates ran in the Republican primary.

General election

3rd district

Incumbent commissioner Larry Rogers, Jr., a Democrat, was reelected to a sixth term. He was unopposed in both the Democratic primary and the general election. This election was for a two-year term.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

No candidates ran in the Republican primary.

General election

Water Reclamation District Board

In the 2022 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election, three six-year term seats were up for a regularly-scheduled election and an additional seat was upon for election to a partial term in a special election.

Regular election

Three seats were with six-year terms were up for election in the regular election, with voters able to vote for up to three candidates. In both the primaries and general election, the top-three finishers were the winners.

Incumbent Democrat Mariyana T. Spyropoulos was reelected alongside New Democratic members Yumeka Brown and Patricia Theresa Flynn. Incumbent Democrats Josina Morita and Barbara McGowan did not seek reelection.

Democratic primary

Incumbent Mariana T. Spyropoulos was renominated. Among the unsuccessful candidates was former commissioner Rick Avila.

Republican primary

Only one candidate, R. Cary Capparelli, ran in the Republican primary.

Green nomination

The Green Party nominated only one candidate, Mark E. Buettner.

General election

Special election

A seat with a partial unexpired term was up for election. Incumbent Perry D. Chakena, who had been appointed to fill the vacancy, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination to finish the partial term that she had been appointed to.

Democratic primary

Republican nomination

No candidate ran in the Republican primary

Green nomination

The Green Party nominated Toneal M. Jackson.

Circuit Court of Cook County

Judicial elections to the Circuit Court of Cook County were also held. All 61 justices up for retention elections were retained. There were 29 partisan elections to fill judicial vacancies. Democratic nominees won all of these, with only one judicial race having a competitive general election (featuring a Republican Party opponent).

Other elections

Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect both the Democratic and Republican committeepeople for the suburban townships.

See also

* 2022 Illinois elections

Notes

References

{{Illinois elections

Cook County
2022
Cook County 2022