Kim Foxx handily defeated embattled incumbent Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in Tuesday’s election. The incumbent state’s attorney was beaten soundly in Chicago and in many suburban communities, but what may have hurt most was the fact that Alvarez lost by double digits in her own hometown of River Forest.
Unofficial election results show Alvarez losing to Foxx by 12.57 percentage points countywide, but the outgoing state’s attorney also was defeated in River Forest by 13.8 percentage points.
Alvarez managed to win three of River Forest’s eight precincts – the 2nd Precinct, where Alvarez resides, broke for her with 51.53 percent of the vote, compared to Foxx’s 41.98 percent and challenger Donna More’s 6.49 percent.
Alvarez faced a tough re-election campaign following the release of police dash camera footage showing Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting and killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014. It took Alvarez, Chicago’s top prosecutor, more than a year to file criminal charges against Van Dyke, and that’s only after a Cook County judge forced the video footage to be released.
Foxx also defeated Alvarez in the neighboring community of Oak Park by an almost 3-to-1 margin. Foxx took 64.1 percent of the vote in Oak Park, compared to Alvarez’s 22.2 percent and More’s 13.69 percent.
River Forest goes for Clinton, Kasich
In the Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton won River Forest with 56.71 percent of the vote to Bernie Sanders’ 42.56 percent.
It was a good night for Republican presidential candidate John Kasich in River Forest, where he captured 29 percent of the vote. Donald Trump came in second with 25.59 percent and was followed by Ted Cruz with 20.35 percent and Marco Rubio 11.73 percent.
Tammy Duckworth had a blowout election in the Democratic primary race for U.S. senate in River Forest – she took 70.56 percent, followed by Andrea Zopp with 23.07 percent and Napoleon Harris with 6.37 percent. Her Republican counterpart, Mark Kirk, beat challenger James Marter with 76.77 percent in River Forest.
Oak Parkers overwhelmingly voted for Tammy Duckworth in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, handing her 75.02 percent; they also chose incumbent Mark Kirk in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez is headed back to Congress with the help of River Forest residents, who handed him 81.73 percent of the vote to challenger Javier Salas’ 19.27 percent. Gutierrez’s district includes only one precinct in River Forest bounded by North and Thatcher avenues and William and Division streets.
U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (7th), who represents all of Oak Park and all but one precinct of River Forest, also retained his seat. Davis won by a more than 2-to-1 margin with 68.14 percent against challenger Thomas Day, who captured 31.86 percent.
Neither Gutierrez nor Davis face a Republican challenge in November.
Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court Dorothy Brown won the Democratic nomination countywide with 44.24 percent of the vote, but River Forest residents had a different opinion. Challenger Jacob Meister beat her with 41.61 percent, compared to Brown’s 31.33 percent and Michelle Harris’ 27.06 percent.
Oak Parkers supported Dorothy Brown for Cook County clerk of the circuit court, giving her 37.31 percent of the vote to Jacob Meister’s 33.9 percent and Michelle Harris’s 28.79 percent.
Brown will face Republican nominee Diane Shapiro in the General Election in November.
Trumped in Oak Park
Oak Park voters closely almost mirrored the election results of Cook County and its suburban communities in the Democratic primary race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, choosing Clinton by a slim margin in both cases.
But in the Republican presidential contest, local voters swung for Kasich and Ted Cruz over Donald Trump, who claimed a strong victory countywide.
Clinton beat Sanders across Chicago and its suburbs with 53.4 percent of the vote to Sanders’ 45.72 percent, and in Oak Park she captured 52.97 percent to Sanders’ 46.66 percent. A total of 19,137 votes were cast in the Democratic presidential primary race in Oak Park.
It was a different story in the Republican primary, where a mere 3,078 votes were cast.
Less than a quarter of those votes – 23.1 percent – went to Donald Trump, who won the countywide election handily with 40.5 percent.
Oak Park Republicans instead chose John Kasich with 37.75 percent of the vote. Ted Cruz barely beat Trump in Oak Park with 23.88 percent, followed by Marco Rubio at 13.39 percent.
CONTACT: tim@oakpark.com