Daniel Calandriello, a former Orland Park trustee, said Wednesday he conceded to Cook County 17th District Commissioner Sean Morrison in the county board election.
“Overall, I’m very grateful for the voters,” Calandriello, an attorney in private practice in Palos Hills, said. “I sit today proud of what we accomplished.”
Tuesday’s midterm elections included several contested races for seats on the 17-member Cook County Board that oversees an $8.75 billion budget.
With all precincts reporting, unofficial results Wednesday showed Morrison pulling 52% of the vote to Calandriello’s 48%. Morrison chairs the Cook County Republican Party and will be the only GOP member of the county board.
“I don’t know how that works out for an equal representative form of government,” he told reporters Tuesday night at Keith Pekau’s election night headquarters in Orland Park.
Fellow Republican Pekau, who is Orland Park’s mayor, lost in his bid to unseat two-term U.S. Rep. Sean Casten in the newly configured 6th Congressional District.
Morrison noted there had been four Republicans on the board in 2018, when he was first elected to a full term.
“Toni Preckwinkle is going to have carte blanche to do whatever the hell she wants,” he said.
He said the 17th District “has been the firewall to one-party rule,” but sees that eroding.
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“We ran a very good, clean race,” he said. “I feel very thankful to the residents that voted for me.”
The 17th District hugs the county’s western border and includes parts of Orland Park, Tinley Park, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Palos Park, Lemont, Hickory Hills, Western Springs and La Grange Park.
Calandriello said the district is not solidly red, noting the 48% of the vote he garnered.
“I think it’s fading and maybe getting more light red and purple,” he said. “If we had the funding other county commissioners had we would have won the race.”
Morrison became the district’s commissioner in July 2015, replacing Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman, who left the county board after almost 13 years to take a position in the private sector.
He was elected to a full term in 2018, and in this past June’s Republican primary defeated Gorman. He lives in Palos Park with his wife and two daughters and is founder and chief executive of Alsip-based Morrison Security Corp.
In the 6th District, Republican Anna Biedrzycki of Palos Hills lost her challenge to incumbent Democrat Donna Miller of Lynwood. With 96% of precincts reporting as of Wednesday, Miller was carrying 68% of the vote to 32% for Biedrzycki, unofficial totals showed.
The U-shaped district runs along the county’s southern border and covers parts of Dolton, South Holland, Thornton, Homewood, Lynwood, Sauk Village, Steger, South Chicago Heights, Park Forest, Richton Park, Matteson, Tinley Park, Oak Forest, Palos Hills, Crestwood, Alsip, Worth, Chicago Ridge, Bridgeview and Justice.
Democrat Monica Gordon of Flossmoor sailed to a win in the 5th District, an open seat created by the retirement of Deborah Sims. With 95% of precincts reporting, Gordon had 91% of the vote over Libertarian Jason Decker of Midlothian. No Republican ran in the 5th District.
Gordon, a trustee at Chicago Heights-based Prairie State College, beat Hazel Crest Mayor Vernard Alsberry and Jaylin D. McClinton of Chicago in the June Democratic primary.
The 5th District covers parts of Blue Island, Calumet Park, Merrionette Park, Riverdale, Dixmoor, Robbins, Markham, Harvey, Phoenix, Hazel Crest, Ford Heights, Country Club Hills, East Hazel Crest, Olympia Fields, Flossmoor, Glenwood and Chicago Heights.
In the 4th District, unofficial results showed incumbent Chicago Democrat Stanley Moore cruising toward another term with 82% of the vote over Republican challenger Lynn Franco of Chicago. The district covers Chicago’s Southeast Side, Burnham, Calumet City and Lansing.
Matteson Village Clerk Yumeka Brown was among five seeking three seats on the nine-member board that oversees the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Brown was among three Democrats, along with incumbent Mariyana T. Spyropoulos and newcomer Patricia Theresa Flynn, a Crestwood trustee.
With 99% of precincts reporting, unofficial results showed the three Democrats pulling significantly more votes than Republican R. Cary Capparelli and Green Party candidate Mark E. Buettner.