Three seats on the Oak Park village board will be up for election this upcoming spring and a new candidate has kicked off the cycle by announcing plans to run.
Sarah Abboreno Corbin posted to Facebook sharing her intention to run earlier this month marking the first official announcement for the race. She is not new to Oak Park elections, calling herself a “local politics geek,” as she served as Village President Vicki Scaman’s campaign manager and was involved in former trustee Susan Buchanan’s campaign.
The official election does not take place until April 6, 2027, but candidates are able to start getting petition signatures as early as next week and nomination paperwork is due in November. Corbin said she hopes that starting the conversation early will get more people involved and “the more the merrier” when it comes to other candidates.
“Whether someone wants to run for school board or library or the park district, there are a lot of opportunities for people to tap in, and I hope more people do. It’s a great time to get involved in local politics,” said Corbin.
There are many major topics currently at the forefront of local politics conversations such as property taxes and proposed changes to single-family zoning that could be a driving force behind the upcoming election. Corbin said she is not running with a rigid stance on these policies but instead wants to be a mouthpiece for residents.
“It really is about listening to what people want, and if I were to say, this is how I feel like I will vote, that is not who I’m going to be as a trustee, so I don’t want to say I’m coming into position with a set of opinions as to who we should be as a village,” said Corbin. “I feel like my real reason for running is to come into position so that I can use my voice to serve our community through how they want their voices to be heard.”
Trustee Derek Eder shared in an email with Wednesday Journal that he plans to run to retain his seat on the board. Eder was appointed to the board in June 2025 to finish the term of his predecessor, Susan Buchanan, who resigned her seat.
“With the collaboration of my colleagues at the board table and staff, we’ve already accomplished a lot: launching programs and grants to help residents transition to clean energy in their homes, protecting our residents from the abuses of ICE and mass surveillance, and continuing to make Oak Park an affordable, safe, and healthy place to live,” wrote Eder in the email. “There’s still a lot more to do and I look forward to sharing my policy goals in the coming months.”
Trustees Brian Straw and Cory Wesley will also be up for reelection next spring but did not respond to inquiries about their plans to run.