Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison wins reelection as Democrat concedes

Manuel Martinez / WBEZ

Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison, the lone incumbent Republican seeking to keep his seat on the County Board, won his reelection bid Wednesday with the concession of Democratic challenger Dan Calandriello. 

Morrison’s victory ensures there will be at least one Republican on the 17-member Cook County Board of Commissioners.

“I’m proud of the race that we ran,” the Palos Park Republican told a WBEZ reporter Tuesday evening as the once packed crowd inside a banquet hall in southwest suburban Orland Park thinned out.

Morrison, who also doubles as head of the Cook County GOP, shared the party with Republican 6th Congressional candidate Keith Pekau, who had hoped but failed to unseat Democratic Rep. Sean Casten.

Despite an apparent victory Tuesday night, Morrison said he was saddened for the county, as it appeared that Democrats would continue to dominate the County Board.

“I don’t believe that either party should ever have complete control,” Morrison said. “There has to be checks and balances in government.”

The entire County Board plus its president, Toni Preckwinkle, was on the ballot, though several commissioners either did not run again or couldn’t because they lost in the June primary.

Preckwinkle handily won her own reelection, and told WBEZ’s Reset Wednesday that her win was a reflection of the Democratic Party’s focus on issues county residents care about. That included, she said, the pilot basic income program she championed and mental health initiatives.

She also defended her calls for criminal justice reform after Democrats won campaigns in which Republicans frequently tried to use policy changes, such as the end of cash bail in Illinois, which is scheduled to be phased out next year.

“I think we’re committed to a criminal justice system that is both more fair and more just and doesn’t penalize people for poverty, or reward people for affluence,” Preckwinkle said.

Democrats have long dominated the County Board. Heading into the election, there were only two Republican commissioners to 15 Democrats. Morrison was the only incumbent Republican on the ballot. The other Republican commissioner, Peter Silvestri, did not run for re-election.

The Republican seeking to replace Silvestri, Matt Podgorski, continues to be neck-and-neck in the 9th District with Democrat Maggie Trevor.

When asked by a Chicago Sun-Times reporter whether the County Board’s lack of Republican voices limits dissent, Preckwinkle countered that it’s Republicans who are limiting opposing views.

“I definitely believe in dissent. But … we’re at a moment in history in which the Republican Party has committed itself to election denial, committed itself to denying women comprehensive health care, committed itself to a very definite narrow definition of who is an American,” Preckwinkle said on Reset.

“I mean, if you listen to some of the Republicans, you would think that anyone who is not a native born white Christian is not an American. I mean, what kind of nonsense is that?”

“The Democratic Party has always, at least in my lifetime, stood for inclusion. … That inclusion is religion, it’s race, it’s gender identity. It’s … women’s ability to control their own bodies,” Preckwinkle said. “And I wish there were more people on the Republican side who shared what I believe are reasonable positions on those subjects. And there aren’t.”

The County Board oversees one of the largest counties in the U.S. With a roughly $8 billion budget, the county operates a jail, Circuit Court system and vast public health network that is a destination for people who are low-income or don’t have health insurance.

Preckwinkle won her fourth four-year term, and she was buoyed by a remap that changed commissioners’ district boundaries in an effort to strengthen her Democratic foothold, while the suburbs have shifted more blue.

Preckwinkle, who also is head of the Cook County Democratic Party, had sought to defeat Morrison, flip Silvestri’s seat blue, and protect two sitting Democratic commissioners who ran for re-election.

Commissioners begin their new terms on Dec. 5.