Ward Committeepeople and Township Committeepeople are political party officials who serve many standard

committeemen In the United States, a political party committee is an organization, officially affiliated with a political party and registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which raises and spends money for political campaigning. Political party c ...

duties on behalf of their

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

Structure and election

The city of Chicago, the largest municipality in Cook County, elects committeepeople (known as "committeemen" until 2018) from each of its 50 wards. Each of the 30 suburban

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a County (United States), county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England town, Ne ...

s in Cook County also elect committeepeople from each township. Each established party in Cook County, currently Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians, elects its own committeeperson. Elections for Chicago ward committeepeople coincide with the primaries for presidential candidates, while elections for township committeepeople coincide with primaries for gubernatorial candidates.

Roles

The positions are unpaid, with responsibilities that include voter registration, community forums, election materials, and election operations. In Chicago, the committeepeople are responsible for producing smooth political processes during the elections in their wards, which includes attempting to produce high voter turnout. Committeepeople are voting members in the political organization of their party in the County. This role gives them authority on behalf of the party to select replacements for some vacated political posts such as

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and state legislators. Replacements for some other vacancies are selected through other processes: vacated

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

posts are appointed by the Illinois Governor and vacated

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...

posts are appointed by the

Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...

. Operationally in Chicago, the committeeperson plays an important role in ward politics. The post of

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

and committeeperson are often closely linked: sometimes the former controls the latter and sometimes the same person holds both posts. In many cases, the committeeman also has influence over the doling out of jobs, favors, and services around the ward. Sometimes a committeeperson accumulates sufficient influence to place their loyalists into political positions outside of the ward. However, in recent years, the position has lost its power and luster due to the decline in patronage hiring in local Illinois government.

Cook County Democratic Party The Cook County Democratic Party is an American county-level political party organization which represents voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County. The organization has dominated Chicago politics (and ...

As of March 2024.

Cook County Republican Party

As of December 2024.

Notes

External links

Cook County Directory of Elected Officials

Green Party Ward and Precinct Committeepersons
{{Cook County, Illinois government Government of Cook County, Illinois