Democrats may have won most of the major state offices in Illinois, but their success at the top of the ticket seems not to have trickled down to the local races in Chicago’s suburban counties.
Energized by the campaigns of Rod Blagojevich for governor and Lisa Madigan for attorney general, many suburban Democrats were looking for better-than-usual results in contests for County Board seats and countywide offices such as sheriff.
Instead, Tuesday’s election returns showed few gains for the party in DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane and McHenry Counties. Though Democrats picked up some legislative seats in the suburbs, they failed to win any of the contested races for countywide office and lost County Board seats in DuPage, Kane and Will.
One of the lessons appears to be that a well-funded, well-organized effort by precinct workers still makes a difference to candidates for local offices, who generally attract little media coverage and cannot afford to pay big money for television commercials.
Patrick Durante, a veteran Republican Party official in DuPage, said voters will listen to a pitch from their precinct committeemen before choosing candidates for local office, though they often ignore sample ballots for offices at the top of the ticket.
In the statewide races, Durante said, “voters know who they’re voting for before you show up at their door.”
But the changing demographics in the suburbs are bringing some Democrats and more independents willing to split their votes.
For example, Jim Ryan, the Republican candidate for governor, and Joe Birkett, the GOP candidate for attorney general, ran well in Lake County, but so did Democrat Jesse White, who won re-election as secretary of state.
In DuPage, White defeated his opponent, Republican Kris O’Rouke Cohn, but the leading vote-getter in the county was incumbent Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, the only Republican to win re-election on the statewide ticket. The vote for Topinka in DuPage was higher than that for Ryan and Birkett, though the county is their home turf.
“Parties need to understand that the electorate has changed, and I don’t think it’s partisan,” said Tom Adams, Lake County GOP chief. “Figuring how to capture that independent vote will be the big challenge for both Republicans and Democrats.”
Republicans in Lake County maintained their 17-to-6 advantage on the County Board and won contested races for sheriff and county clerk.
In DuPage, the GOP swept the countywide offices up for election and won all 18 County Board seats–recapturing the seat taken in 2000 by the board’s lone Democrat. The Republican slate also was an easy winner in the contests for a soon-to-be independent DuPage Forest Preserve Commission.
“We worked hard. We had good candidates, and we were embarrassed at losing the seat two years ago,” Durante said.
Republicans also gained County Board seats in Kane and Will, and maintained control of county offices in McHenry.
“That just goes to show we’re still a very Republican county,” said Mary Lou Zierer, a Republican from Harvard who has been on the County Board for 14 years. McHenry has been a GOP stronghold since the Civil War.
The victories in Kane came despite some unexpectedly strong challenges from Democrats in Elgin and Aurora, where local candidates benefited from a push by the Blagojevich and Madigan campaigns.
“It should have never been close,” said Jack Cook (R-Elgin), a longtime County Board member and president of the Kane Forest Preserve Commission. “I could have competed with it, but I didn’t think it was necessary. I blame nobody but myself. We took things for granted.”
In suburban County Board races, Republicans also had the same sort of advantage that helped state Democrats win majorities in both the Illinois Senate and House. Because Republicans dominate the boards in DuPage, Lake, Kane, Will and McHenry, they were able to draw new district maps that maintain their control.
“You benefit by that–no doubt about it,” Durante said.
With some carefully redrawn legislative districts, Democrats were able to pick up some state House and Senate seats in suburban areas that traditionally have voted Republican.
Democrat Kathy Ryg, a Vernon Hills trustee, defeated Vernon Hills Mayor Roger Byrne to win election to the House in a new district in central Lake County that was thought to be GOP territory.
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“We keep making gains, which is what’s really important,” said state Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills), the county’s Democratic chairman.
In DuPage, Democrats voiced disappointment, not only at the loss by County Board member Linda Bourke Hilbert (D-Elmhurst) but also at the showings of board candidates Peter M. O’Malley and Megan McCarthy Schroeder.
“I thought I had a good chance,” said O’Malley, who was defeated by more than 6,700 votes, according to unofficial results, in his bid for one of three County Board seats in DuPage’s District 4. “I thought that people would be more amenable to the idea that we need better balance on the board.”
O’Malley said he had hoped to benefit from the coattails of Blagojevich and Madigan.
“I was hoping it would trickle down, the general push for change,” he said. “I thought that especially out in DuPage, where I spent my whole life, people would be willing to vote for Democrats based on their qualifications.”