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, 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. 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 Born ...

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 At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

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 James Franklin Aldrich (April 6, 1853 – March 8, 1933) was a United States representative from Illinois. Biography He was born on April 6, 1853, in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. He moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois, in April 1861 where he ...

, Edward J. Brundage, Anton Cermak,

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 th ...

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 George Marquis Bogue (January 21, 1842 – December 30, 1903) was an American politician and real estate agent from New York. Bogue came to Chicago when he was fourteen and soon found employment with his brother. He was elected to the Board of C ...

, Charles S. Bonk, Jerry Butler,

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 Carl Richard Chindblom (December 21, 1870 – September 12, 1956) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois to Swedish immigrant parents, Chindblom attended public schools. He was graduated from Augustana ...

, John P. Daley,

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 suburb ...

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 centu ...

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,

Carter Harrison Sr. Carter Henry Harrison Sr. (February 15, 1825October 28, 1893) was an American politician who served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1879 until 1887; he was subsequently elected to a fifth term in 1893 but was assassinated before completing t ...

, John Humphrey, John Jones, Walter J. LaBuy, Ted Lechowicz,

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 Democrat. In 1961, President John F. Ken ...

, Francis Cornwall Sherman,

, Horace M. Singer,

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 Alanson Sweet (March 12, 1804 – April 18, 1891) was an American pioneer, businessman and politician. Born in Owasco, New York, in 1831, he settled on a farm in Naperville, Illinois. He served in a militia company in 1832 during the Black Ha ...

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