Incumbent Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is surrounded by his family Tuesday at the W Hotel, as he gives his concession speech. Beset by political turmoil, Stroger failed to win re-election Tuesday, bringing an end to the Stroger family run at t
A longtime Chicago alderman defeated Cook County Board President Todd Stroger in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, ending the troubled legacy of a family that has held the county’s top post for more than a dozen years. “This is a bump in the road,” Stroger told his supporters who gathered with him Tuesday night at the W hotel, 172 W. Adams, downtown, conceding in his race for re-election. “Life goes on,” he said. And the county board will go on without him or another Stroger at the helm. Stroger, 47, who was elected to the county board in 2006, after his father suffered a debilitating stroke and went on to die as a result, lamented early in this campaign that he didn’t get a fair shake in the media for his efforts as board president. Tuesday, his campaign manager offered more of that sentiment. “From the start he was given a poison pill and he survived it,” said Vincent Williams. Still Stroger insisted Tuesday that he had been the man for the job. “I know county government better than anybody in the room. Sometimes the message doesn’t get out and sometimes people don’t see what’s really at stake,” Stroger told his supporters. Despite recent polls that showed voters had turned their back on Stroger, he maintained hefty backing from the faith-based community that characterized him as a strong leader who deserved another four-year term for balancing the county’s $3 billion budget during his tenure. In the last year, Stroger had been under fire for the controversial penny sales-tax increase, and, harsh criticism for patronage hires. Stroger insisted that the one cent sales tax increase was crucial to preserving hospital funding. Preckwinkle vowed to repeal it. But as voters would have it, Stroger is out. Toni Preckwinkle, 62, a former teacher, has represented portions of the city’s South Side for nearly two decades. With 92 percent of precincts reporting, Preckwinkle had 258,923 votes, or 49 percent. Stroger trailed among the four Democrats with about 13 percent. She will face Republican Roger Keats, a former state senator, in November. Keats won his party’s nomination; with 92 percent of precincts reporting, he had 69 percent of the vote. “This victory belongs to the people of Cook County – people who have demanded reform and accountability from their government,” said Preckwinkle, who received concession phone calls from the three other Democrats. “Our victory is all the more meaningful because our hope for change in Cook County and Illinois has often been tempered by cynicism, resignation and apathy. But not this time.” The two other Democratic challengers were Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, who had been in office since 2000, and Water Reclamation District President Terry O’Brien. Race had been a major focus leading up to the primary, and was even mentioned in victory speeches. Cook County has the largest Black population of any county in America and has had a Black board president since 1994. Recent fliers used racist terms like the N-word and “cracker” to imply Stroger’s challengers are controlled by white politicians. Stroger disavowed the fliers. “The people of Cook County have spoken with one voice, Black and white and Latino and Asian, gay and straight,” said Preckwinkle, who is black. “Their message is clear, now is the time.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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