Close races make continued Democratic control of DuPage County Board uncertain

Democrats struggled to retain control of the DuPage County Board with several of the races for the 18 board seats still too close to call late Tuesday.

In the northeastern part of DuPage, two Republicans will be elected in District 1 on the county board, but a Democrat led the pack in the race for three seats.

Unofficial results, with 100% of the votes counted as of 11 p.m. Tuesday but mail-in ballots still arriving until the election is certified in two weeks, showed DuPage NAACP President Michael Childress, the lone Democrat running in District 1, with 21,616 votes. Republican incumbent Sam Tornatore of Roselle had 19,584 votes and Elmhurst accountant Cindy Cronin Cahill, the sister of departing county board Chairman Dan Cronin, had 18,743 votes.

Republican incumbent Donald Puchalski of Addison trailed with 16,430 votes.

In District 2, Democrat Yeena Yoo, an Elmhurst resident and legal aid attorney, led the six-candidate field with 27,984 votes, followed by Democratic incumbent Liz Chaplin of Downers Grove with 26,595 votes.

Elmhurst Republican Sean Noonan led Democratic incumbent Paula Deacon Garcia for the final district seat by a margin of 568 votes.

Republican Daniel Kordik, an attorney from Oak Brook, and Republican Nicole Giannini, a real estate and property manager assistant from Villa Park, trailed.

In the southeast corner of DuPage, unofficial results from District 3 showed Democrat Lucy Chang Evans, a civil engineer from Naperville, leading the six-candidate race with 27,599 votes. Republican Kari Galassi, a certified public accountant from Hinsdale, was in second place with 25,864 while incumbent Republican Brian Krajewski of Downers Grove had 25,148 votes.

Republican Greg Abbott, a Woodridge trustee, had 24,433 votes while Democrat Amanda Roudebush, an educator from Hinsdale, had 23,879 votes and Democrat Rosemary Spann, a Naperville resident and small business owner, had 22,966 votes.

In District 4, all three incumbents appeared poised to keep their seats.

Unofficial results showed Democratic incumbent Mary Ozog of Glen Ellyn leading the group with 26,462 votes, followed by Republican incumbent Grant Eckhoff with 24,285 votes. Wheaton Democratic incumbent Lynn LaPlante of Glen Ellyn was in position for the third and final seat with 24,147 votes.

Republican Annette Corrigan, an attorney and College of DuPage trustee, had 22,677 votes while Democrat Shawn Ryan, a retired teacher from Glen Ellyn, had 22,316 votes and Republican Reid Foltyniewicz, a deputy chief who lives in Lombard, had 20,415 votes.

In District 5, Democrats were guaranteed two seats, but a Republican was in position to prevent a sweep.

Democratic incumbent Dawn DeSart of Aurora led the district candidates with 27,170 votes. Patty Gustin, the lone Republican running in District 5 and a Naperville City Council member, had 23,637 votes

In the race for the third seat, Democratic incumbent Sadia Covert of Naperville held a 21,848 to 20,872 edge over Democrat Saba Haider, an Aurora resident and small business owner.

Finally, in DuPage’s sixth district, three incumbents were leading in the race to retain their seats,

Unofficial results showed Democratic incumbent Sheila Rutledge of West Chicago leading five other candidates with 22,454 votes. Republican incumbent James Zay of Carol Stream was second with 21,871 votes and Democratic incumbent Greg Schwarze of Carol Stream had 20,315 votes.

For the third and final seat, though, Republican Bob Larsen, an attorney from Wheaton who served on the county board from 2010 to 2020, trailed Schwarze by only 135 votes.

Republican Christine Winger, a substitute teacher and Bartlett resident, had 18,872 and Democrat Jaime Ricklefs, a supply chain manager from Warrenville, had 16,360 votes.

All 18 seats on the county board were available because DuPage had to redraw district boundaries based on the 2020 U.S. Census results. A lottery will be held to determine which of the three seats in each of the six districts will have 4-year or 2-year terms.

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20221108/close-races-make-continued-democratic-control-of-dupage-county-board-uncertain