Deb Conroy will be the first woman to chair the DuPage County Board in the county’s history and the first Democrat elected to the position in more than 75 years following Tuesday’s election.
“It’s time to write a new chapter in DuPage County and we’re very excited about it,” said Conroy, 60, of Elmhurst.
Unofficial results show Conroy with 51% of the vote over Republican Greg Hart, 35, a Republican County Board member, with 49%. The vote count won’t be certified until later this month, after final mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday and resolved ballot challenges are added.
Conroy succeeds Dan Cronin, a Republican who last fall announced he would not seek a fourth term.
Conroy, a longtime Illinois state representative for the 46th District, chose not to seek reelection to the House so she could run for County Board chairman.
In a statement sent out Wednesday, Hart said he called Conroy on Tuesday to congratulate her on her hard-fought victory. “I wish her all the best and am rooting for her success as she prepares to lead the community we both love,” Hart said.
Hart was appointed to the County Board in 2017 by Cronin and won election to a full term the following year. Hart opted to give up a run for a second term in order to pursue the chairmanship — with Cronin’s endorsement.
Conroy said all her predecessors as County Board chairs have been white Republican men, a trend her campaign aimed to change.
As recently as about 10 years ago, “almost everyone in power was an older, white man,” she said.
“And today that is not the face of DuPage County,” she said. “DuPage County today is richly diverse.”
The county of about 925,000 residents was roughly 15% Hispanic or Latino, 13% Asian and about 5% Black, according to 2021 census population estimates. In 2000, only 9% of the county population was Hispanic, 8% was Asian and 3% of residents were Black, according to census figures.
“We want to write the next chapter and embrace the richness of our community,” Conroy said.
She also wants the county to do more to help the environment and limit climate change, in part by bringing more green energy and buildings to DuPage. She would like to add a mental health committee to the board, to expand services and help link residents to those that already exist through the DuPage County Health Department and local nonprofits.
“There’s so many people who need to know where to go,” she said. “I think we can help to make some of those connections.”
DuPage County once was considered a bastion for Republican politics. But Democrats have gained power in recent years, now holding most state legislative offices and a majority of the 18 County Board seats.
As chair, Conroy will lead a board of 10 Democrats and eight Republicans.
Conroy characterized her win as a greater triumph for Democrats across the county.
“This race was … about so many Democrats out in DuPage County who thought they were by themselves many years ago,” she said. “It was their fight that we all won together.”
That win included Democrat Michael Childress, who will become the first Black man elected to the DuPage County Board in county’s 183-year history.
The president of the DuPage chapter of the NAACP will represent District 1 in the northeast corner of the county.
As for the other county-wide races, all three incumbents won reelection to four-year terms.
Unofficial results show Clerk Jean Kaczmarek, a Democrat from Glen Ellyn, received 53% of the vote, enough to give her a second term. Republican Evelyn Sanguinetti, a Wheaton resident who was Illinois lieutenant governor until 2018, won 47%.
In treasurer’s race, unofficial figures show incumbent Republican Gwen Henry with 52% of the vote, which will allow her to serve her fourth term in office. Her opponent, Democrat Don Potoczny, of Naperville, received 48%.
Republican Sheriff James Mendrick ran unopposed in the general election.
County-wide officers will be sworn in for their new terms in December.
baiduhai’s Angie Leventis Lourgos and freelance reporter Bob Goldsborough contributed.