Veteran incumbent Toni Preckwinkle looks to fend off rival in Democratic primary

Longtime Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle faced off Tuesday in the Democratic primary against veteran Chicago Ald. Brendan Reilly.

She’s running for a fifth, four-year term.

The campaign trail has been intense, with both candidates trying to woo voters through attack ads and heated debates.

Reilly has repeatedly criticized Preckwinkle about a long-delayed upgrade to the county’s property tax system. Property tax bills went out late. School districts that rely on that tax revenue had to take out loans with interest.

During a recent debate on Fox 32, Preckwinkle said the modernization is done. Reilly didn’t buy it.

“There are still mistakes as we speak,” Reilly said. “This idea that the problem’s been solved, no one’s believing that.”

Preckwinkle quickly pivoted. She touted how she’s never raised Cook County’s share of property taxes during her 16 years in office, and how the county’s budget is balanced, unlike Chicago’s rocky finances. Reilly has been on the City Council representing downtown for about 19 years.

“He championed a budget that raised taxes,” Preckwinkle said before Reilly interjected.

“I didn’t champion the budget,” Reilly said. “I voted for it because your protege, Brandon Johnson, who you foisted upon the city of Chicago …”

They shouted over each other.

“If you’re so concerned about the city of Chicago, why don’t you run for mayor?” Preckwinkle said. “This is a county race.”

Reilly recently joined a group of conservative and moderate City Council members who defied Mayor Brandon Johnson. They muscled through a city budget with a host of tax hikes. Johnson is a former county commissioner whom Preckwinkle backed for mayor, and Reilly is a fierce critic of Johnson.

Preckwinkle, who turns 79 on Election Day, doubles as the powerful head of the Cook County Democratic Party and has helped mentor many into higher office. As Cook County Board president, she oversees one of the biggest counties in the U.S., including the county’s jail, vast court system and large public health system that has a mission to treat patients no matter if they can pay.

The county employs more than 20,000 people and has a roughly $10 billion annual budget that must be approved by a 17-member board of separately elected commissioners. Preckwinkle also oversees the Forest Preserves of Cook County.

She’s a former history teacher and Chicago alderperson who represented the South Side’s 4th Ward for 19 years before she was elected Cook County Board president in 2010.

Preckwinkle is known for running a tight financial ship. Her political power and progressive values shape how the county spends money. She has championed guaranteed income for low- to moderate-income residents, erased more than $800 million of medical debt and helped eliminate cash bail in Illinois.

Reilly, 54, is one of the more conservative Democrats on the council and bills himself as an independent voice. He got his start in public service in the 1990s and worked as an aide to convicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. He left for the private sector and worked as an AT&T executive before defeating long-serving City Council incumbent, Burt Natarus, in 2007.

Reilly hasn’t faced an opponent since. In 2020, he broke with the Democratic Party to endorse Republican Patrick O’Brien over Kim Foxx, Preckwinkle’s former chief of staff, for Cook County state’s attorney. Reilly worked on Paul Vallas’ 2002 campaign for governor and endorsed Vallas for Chicago mayor over incumbent Lori Lightfoot in 2023.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary would likely win in the November general election. There is no Republican candidate for Cook County Board president. Michael Murphy is running as a Libertarian. Preckwinkle last won with about 69% of the vote in 2022 against Bob Fioretti.

Should she win, Preckwinkle said it would be her last term as County Board president. She said she also plans to run for just one more two-year term this spring to lead the Democratic Party.

Kristen Schorsch and Mariah Woelfel cover government for WBEZ.