Cook County's Democratic incumbents plant flags for 2026 re-election bids
With a year to go until the 2026 primary election, Democratic Cook County officials are marking their territory.
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Sheriff Tom Dart, Treasurer Maria Pappas and Assessor Fritz Kaegi have all declared or signaled they plan to run again.
Preckwinkle, who turned 78 Monday, announced her re-election bid to once again lead the board in an interview with Politico. Dart is hosting a re-election campaign kickoff and fundraiser next week. Kaegi sunk $500,000 into his campaign coffers earlier this month — filing a 'self-funding' notice for next year's primary — a reminder to any potential challengers of his deep pockets. Pappas didn't release a formal re-election announcement, but simply told the Tribune, 'I'm in.'
Pappas, Dart, and Preckwinkle have been in their current roles since 1998, 2006 and 2010, respectively.
Many believed Preckwinkle's current term would be her last, an assumption so baked in that preliminary jockeying among current members of the majority-Democratic board to succeed her had kicked off. But allies of Preckwinkle, who also chairs the county's Democratic Party, suggested she still had the energy and interest for another term. In a statement, she echoed another motivator allies have cited: maintaining a steady hand during the Trump presidency.
'With a new administration at the helm in the federal government causing chaos and uncertainty, now is not the time to step aside from this important work. Now is the time to lead the fight to protect all residents of Cook County,' she said in a written statement.
Pre-slating, where countywide candidates introduce themselves to members of the party, will be held mid-April.
Besides those countywide candidates, all 17 members of the Cook County board are up for re-election, as are judges, water reclamation district commissioners, and two of the members of the county's Board of Review. Petition passing doesn't begin until August 5, giving challengers plenty of time to bolster their bids.
Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele is widely rumored to be considering a run for Assessor, but has not yet publicly declared her intentions. If she runs for assessor, she would have to give up her board seat, which is also up in 2026 along with fellow commissioner George Cardenas. So far, Liz Nicholson, a Democratic fundraiser, has filed paperwork to run in Steele's district. Fellow commissioner Larry Rogers, who defeated a Kaegi-backed challenger last year, said he might run to unseat Kaegi next year, or help fund a candidate to challenge him.
Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon, who won a special election to replace the late Karen Yarbrough last year, is also expected to run.
Though he has not made a formal declaration either, Kaegi has filed paperwork with the state board of elections to run for a third term. In recent months, he has reminded taxpayers of their eligibility for property tax exemptions and pushed 'circuit breaker' reforms in the General Assembly. Those reforms, in theory, would help low-income people pay fast-rising property tax bills, but Kaegi and allies don't have a way to pay for it yet.
The $500,000 loan from Kaegi to his campaign brings his self-funding total to $5.6 million since he first ran for office in 2017, according to the Illinois Sunshine database.
'I love this work. I'm running for re-election because there's more work to be done. Making the Assessor's Office fairer is a crucial part of maintaining the public's trust in local government. We need that now more than ever,' Kaegi said in a written statement.
In explain her decision to go again, Pappas said she wanted to see through the publication of more 'brilliant' studies from her property tax research team, and talked about her desire to create an artificial intelligence unit. The treasurer is pursuing her own changes to the tax sale process in Springfield. The 75-year-old has also started a side hustle as a model signed with Lily's Talent Agency.
'The only reason I'm successful is I've hired people much smarter than me, but I know how to run it,' Pappas said Monday. 'That's what a good executive does.'
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