The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district, and a president who is elected county-wide, all for four-year terms.

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

, which includes the City of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, is the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

' second-largest county with a population of 5.2 million residents. The county board sets policy and laws for the county regarding property, public health services, public safety, and maintenance of county highways. It is presided over by its president, currently

Toni Preckwinkle Toni Lynn Preckwinkle (née Reed; born March 17, 1947) is an American politician and the current County Board President in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was first elected as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the ...

. The commissioners, president, and county clerk (who serves as clerk of the board), hold the same offices ''ex officio'' on the separate governmental taxing body, the

Cook County Forest Preserve District The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages a network of open spaces, containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes, that are mostly set aside as natural areas ...

Board of Commissioners.

History

Until 1870, Cook County had been governed under the "township supervisor" system, under which each Chicago ward elected a

supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position that is primarily based on authority over workers or ...

, and each township elected one or more as well depending on population, creating a board of 50 members, less than half from Chicago. In the wake of a scandal involving then board chairman J. J. Kearney (who was eventually unseated and expelled from the board), the new commission was created pursuant to an amendment to the state constitution, initially with ten Chicago commissioners elected from groups of wards within the city, and five members elected from groups of townships outside the city, presided over by a chairman elected by the board from among their own number. The commissioners were elected for three-year terms, on a staggered basis. The first meeting of the new board took place December 4, 1871; they elected businessman and Civil War general

Julius White Julius White (September 23, 1816May 12, 1890) was an American businessman and brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he served as U.S. Minister (ambassador) to Argentina. Early life and career Bor ...

of Evanston as their chairman.

Elections

The board's seventeen commissioners are elected from individual constituencies for four year terms, with elections for all constituencies held during

United States midterm election Midterm elections in the United States are the Elections in the United States, general elections that are held near the midpoint of a President of the United States, president's four-year term of office, on Election Day (United States), Elec ...

s. Its president is elected at-large to a four-year term in elections held during United States midterm elections. Prior to

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, commissioners were elected through two sets of elections, one held in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to elect ten commissioners and another held in suburban Cook County to elect the remaining seven commissioners. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, the board switched to having commissioners elected from individual constituencies.

Commissioners

Current

This is a list of the Cook County Commissioners in order by district. This list is current as of December 2022.

Past

Before 1994

Individuals who, before 1994, served as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners included J. Frank Aldrich, Edward J. Brundage,

Anton Cermak Anton Joseph Cermak ( cs, Antonín Josef Čermák, ; May 9, 1873 – March 6, 1933) was an American politician who served as the 44th mayor of Chicago, Illinois from April 7, 1931 until his death on March 6, 1933. He was killed by an assassin, ...

George Dunne George W. Dunne (February 20, 1913 – May 28, 2006) was an American politician within the Democratic Party from Chicago, Illinois. He was President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners from 1969 to 1991; the longest service of anyone ...

Richard B. Ogilvie Richard Buell Ogilvie (February 22, 1923 – May 10, 1988) was the 35th governor of Illinois and served from 1969 to 1973. A wounded combat veteran of World War II, he became known as the mafia-fighting sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, in t ...

Richard Phelan Richard Phelan, D.D. (January 1, 1828 – December 20, 1904) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, in the United States from 1889 to 1904. Bio ...

Dan Ryan Jr. Daniel B. Ryan Jr. (1894 – April 8, 1961) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician who served as a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners from 1923 to 1926 and again from 1930 until his death in 1961. He was a Democrat. T ...

Charles C. P. Holden, and

Seymour Simon Seymour Simon (August 10, 1915 – September 26, 2006) was an American lawyer, Appellate Court and Supreme Court Justice in Illinois, and City Council member (alderman) in Chicago, Illinois. Life Simon was born in Chicago, and grew up in the ...

. The first county board chairman (a role which preceded the creation of the president position) was

. Individuals who served as commissioners before the move to individual constituencies in 1994 included Charles Bernardini, George Marquis Bogue, Charles S. Bonk,

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame i ...

Allan C. Carr Allan C. Carr (c.1929–November 12, 2021) was an American politician who served as Cook County commissioner from 1988 to 2002, serving from suburban Cook County at-large from 1988–1994 and from the Cook County Board of Commissioners 16th d ...

, Carl R. Chindblom,

John P. Daley John P. Daley (born December 5, 1946) is the 11th Ward Democratic Committeeman in Chicago, Illinois, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners ( 11th district), and the Chair of the Cook County Board Audit and Finance Committee. He has ...

Danny K. Davis Daniel K. Davis (born September 6, 1941) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative from , elected in 1996. The district serves much of western Chicago, including the Loop. It also includes several of Chicago's inner western subu ...

Oscar Stanton De Priest Oscar Stanton De Priest (March 9, 1871 – May 12, 1951) was an American politician and civil rights advocate from Chicago. A member of the Illinois Republican Party, he was the first African American to be elected to Congress in the 20th centur ...

Marco Domico Marco Domico (November 20, 1917 – July 11, 2010) was an American politician. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Domico went to the Chicago public schools. Domico served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1975 to 1984 and was a Democrat ...

Martin Emerich Martin Emerich (April 27, 1846 – September 25, 1922) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Emerich attended the public schools. He engaged in the importing business. He was appointed ward commissioner of th ...

, Carter Harrison Sr., John Humphrey, John Jones, Walter J. LaBuy,

Ted Lechowicz Thaddeus S. "Ted" Lechowicz (December 20, 1938 – January 5, 2009) was an American politician and businessman. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Lechowicz went to Weber High School in Chicago. He received his associate degree from Wright Junior Col ...

Maria Pappas Maria Pappas is an American attorney, Greek American, and politician who has served as the Cook County Treasurer since 1998. Prior to that, she served two terms on the Cook County Board of Commissioners; first as one of ten members elected fro ...

, Lillian Piotrowski, Herb Schumann,

Harry H. Semrow Harry H. Semrow (August 19, 1915 – November 23, 1987) was an American politician, businessman, baseball team owner. From 1957 until 1961, Semrow served in the Illinois House of Representatives as a Democratic Party (United States), Democr ...

Francis Cornwall Sherman Francis Cornwall Sherman (September 18, 1805November 7, 1870) served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, for three terms (1841–1842, 1862–1865) as a member of the Democratic Party. Early life Sherman was born September 17, 1805 in Newtown, Co ...

Horace M. Singer Horace Meach Singer (October 1, 1823 – December 28, 1896) was an American businessman and politician from New York. Coming with his father to Lockport, Illinois work on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, Singer rose to become superintendent of repa ...

Bobbie L. Steele Bobbie L. Steele was sworn in as the 32nd president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners on August 1, 2006.Steve Patterson. "Steele vows changes". ''Chicago Sun-Times''. August 2, 2006. 10. She had been commissioner for the 2nd district of C ...

, Alanson Sweet,

William Hale Thompson William Hale Thompson (May 14, 1869 – March 19, 1944) was an American politician who served as mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931. Known as "Big Bill", Reynolds, Paul (November 29, 2009)"US-UK 'Special Relationshi ...

, and Jill Zwick.

Since 1994

References

External links

Cook County
''official government website'' *
Commissioners & Elected Officials
*

Collection of news and information about the Cook County Board
from the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. {{Authority control