Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories about contested races in the March 17 primary election.
In the upcoming March 17 primary election, two candidates are facing off for the Republican nomination for Kane County sheriff – former Kane County Coroner Rob Russell and Elburn Trustee Luis Santoyo.
The seat is open in the 2026 election, as current Sheriff Ron Hain said last spring that he would not be running for a third term. Hain, a Democrat, was first elected
More Top Picks Best Meal Kits For Low Cholesterol Cooking
in 2018.Whoever wins the nomination in the March primary will go up against either current Undersheriff Amy Johnson or former Sheriff’s Office employee Salvador Rodriguez, who are both seeking the Democratic nomination.
Rob Russell
Rob Russell, 58, served as the Kane County coroner from 2012 to 2024, when he lost reelection to Democratic challenger Monica Silva. Before that, he worked in the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office. He has law enforcement experience in corrections, court security and patrol, he told The Beacon-News, and he ultimately retired as a sergeant from the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office when he was elected in Kane County.
He’s originally from the Rockford area, but has lived in Kane County for nearly 30 years and currently lives in Hampshire.
Now, he provides consulting services to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office for its forensics lab project, and works as a campus police officer at Harper College in Palatine, a role that’s given him a new type of experience in law enforcement.
“I enjoy spending time with them, and their energy and helping them out,” Russell said of the job at Harper College. “They got locked out of their cars, or their car, especially in this weather, the battery goes and I have to jump start them. And there’s some criminal stuff, too, things get stolen and (I) try to help them out as much as I can. So, it’s actually very service-oriented.”
Now, as he runs for sheriff, Russell pointed to his decades of law enforcement experience, but said he also brings “a lot of innovation … to the table.”
One thing he’d plan to do if elected is accredit the Sheriff’s Office — an initiative he also undertook when he was leading the Coroner’s Office.
Russell said he’s received some criticism about the costs of pursuing accreditation, but said there are costs associated with “any worthwhile adventure.” He thinks being accredited could make the Sheriff’s Office better insulated for lawsuits, in that the office could point to its following accredited standards if legal action were to be taken against the office. Accreditation could also make it more competitive for grants, he said.
If elected, Russell said he’d also prioritize continued work on the county’s forensics lab — with the goal of it ultimately serving the broader region — and would initiate the creation of volunteer units within the Sheriff’s Office for services that can be done by non-police officers, like lockouts and house watches.
He also pointed to the importance of maintaining positive relationships with the community.
“Making sure that the people understand and know that we’re there as peace officers, that we’re there to …create, establish and maintain peace and not to cause harm to them in any way,” Russell said.
Another initiative he would pursue if elected is creating a task force to assist smaller law enforcement agencies in the area with property crimes — things like burglaries, criminal damage to property and check fraud.
As for handling budgetary concerns within the county, Russell said he is the “only candidate that’s bringing any type of possible source of revenue” to the county, by way of the forensics lab.
And he pointed to his past experience overseeing a budget as preparing him for the job.
“When I took over the Coroner’s Office … it was in shambles, from personnel issues all the way to union contracts to funding,” Russell said. “I was able to work with the County Board and solve a lot of those issues over time.”
Luis Santoyo
Luis “Lou” Santoyo started his career working in the Cook County Jail, and then worked as a police officer and detective in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
Santoyo, 56, was born in Mexico and grew up in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, and said it was an experience he had as a child seeing a man shot that informed his decision to pursue a career in law enforcement.
He ultimately spent much of his career as a detective investigating violent crimes, and has worked as a hostage negotiator and a forensic artist, he told The Beacon-News.
He’s also worked for the Elburn Police Department, he said, and, in 2023, was elected
More Top Picks Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro
an Elburn village trustee.Now running for sheriff, Santoyo said his prior experience with investigations, jails and courts prepare him for the role’s responsibilities.
He also has teaching experience, he noted, which has fed his interest in partnering with the educational system to provide support and “target young kids … who are prone to gangs.”
If elected sheriff, Santoyo said he would incorporate more training for officers on identifying mental illness so they are better equipped when such issues arise on calls. And he wants to include mental health experts in the investigative process so that the Sheriff’s Office has done “due diligence” before an incident lands in court.
Fiscal responsibility is another priority, Santoyo said. He described Kane County as in a “very challenging financial position,” noting its use of reserve funds to balance its annual budgets — meaning the Sheriff’s Office will “have to work with the allocation” they’re given as the county handles its budget issues.
He suggested a need to “chop from the top” in terms of streamlining upper administration, as well as reducing the number of squad cars brought home by non-officers, and expressed some hesitation on the forensics lab, saying that “putting money into a crime lab right now, in the condition that our … county is (in) financially, is irresponsible.”
Santoyo also said he would want the Sheriff’s Office to “reconnect with (residents) at a more personal level,” by understanding the changing demographics of Kane County and the many cultures that exist there.
“Cultural awareness is not a one-hour class that we take and we think we got it figure(d) out,” Santoyo said. “Awareness means you just know something exists. I’m talking about immersing ourselves into the demographic makeup of our county and understanding each culture and doing our best to reach them where they’re at.”
He said residents want to see greater presence of deputies and more accountability from police, and said law enforcement needs to “rise up to the occasion and show them that (they) are the professionals that … (they’re) supposed to be.”
In addition to relationships with the community, Santoyo spoke of a need for the office to strengthen its relationships with local police departments.
“I’m going to build … bridges with each department in Kane County, not only as a support system, but as a partnership, that when they need us, we’re there,” Santoyo said of what he’d do if he were elected. “We’re going to share information, we’re going to cooperate and, if we can train together, we will even train together … but we also understand … how we can stay in our lane.”