Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering announced on Monday that she will seek reelection for a third term in April, emphasizing the city’s need for “compassionate leadership” as it continues on after a horrific mass shooting this summer.
Rotering became the first woman to be elected as Highland Park’s mayor in 2011, has three decades of experience as an attorney and has for years been an outspoken proponent for measures to curb gun violence, supporting an assault weapons ban the city council adopted in 2013.
In a Facebook post announcing that she had filed her statement of candidacy, Rotering said she is focused on fiscal stability, public safety, infrastructure investment and community vibrancy” and touted the city’s AAA Bond rating due to skilled management “possessed by only a handful of Illinois cities.”
Rotering told the News-Sun/Pioneer Press her top priority is helping Highland Park “move forward in the aftermath of this horrific tragedy,” and that she has built strong working relationships and partnerships with local schools, the park district, and in state, county and township governments.
“It’s absolutely been an honor to serve my community as the mayor, and now as we are walking through this new and unchartered territory I felt it was important to continue to provide responsible leadership,” Rotering said Monday afternoon. “I have an unbelievable team at city hall, we have a great group on the city council, so it’s really a matter of all of us working together to continue to support our community as we transition through this new time in all of our lives.
As of Monday afternoon, she was the only candidate who announced plans to seek the office.
Rotering won reelection in 2019 with more than 70% of the vote, defeating Bob Crimo, the father of the 22-year-old accused of murdering seven people at the city’s Fourth of July parade.
She said Monday that she doesn’t want the tragedy to define the community, which she called “special and unique.”
“We’re proud to be from Highland Park,” Rotering said. “We don’t want this one event to define us. We want to show everybody that we not only are strong and supportive of each other, but we’re caring, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that other communities are protected as well from gun violence.”
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“Highland Park is a place that people like to return to, if they’ve grown up here, they like to bring their families here and to raise their families,” she said.
Rotering’s announcement follows her defeat in the Democrat primary for an Illinois Supreme Court seat in June. She has also previously campaigned in Democratic primaries for U.S. Congress and Illinois Attorney General.
Rotering said that under her leadership, Highland Park has been “responsible with taxpayer dollars” while proving the city is committed to improving the community in the present with “an eye towards the future.”
“We’re one of the only cities that has a 10-year capital improvement plan, we’ve prioritized investment in infrastructure,” Rotering said. “For years and years, that was something that I brought, along with my council colleagues, to the fore. We’ve been focusing on really building on what is a strong and vibrant community, with great love of the arts, great love of the outdoors, our parks, support for our schools.”
She said her legal experience and her role in founding the North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic, which offers free legal services to low-income residents experience in areas of domestic violence, housing and immigration, shows her drive to “advocate (for) and support” people in need.
“It’s that kind of compassion that I tried to bring to my to my leadership foundation,” she said.
Rotering also said she is also focused on the “basics,” which are always a challenge to municipalities.
“Trying to work with the Illinois General Assembly on reducing unfunded mandates, urging them to restore the local government distribution fund, making sure we have all the necessary resources and we’re using them as efficiently as we can to provide the highest quality of services to the community,” she said.