Republicans break Democratic hold on Will County government

Republicans mounted a comeback in Will County government in the Tuesday election, reversing a trend that had put every countywide office under the opposing party’s flag.

Republicans now are poised to hold at least one countywide office and as many as three depending on the outcome in tight races still to be determined by late arriving write-in ballots.

Will County Board

Republicans also appear to have ended a Democratic majority on the county board, which will be made up of 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans if the the vote totals on Election Night hold up. Democrats would still have the deciding vote since ties are broken by the county executive, who is Democrat Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant.

But Republicans in this election made gains in county government on issues like inflation, taxes, and crime that by and large were not factors in state legislative and congressional races.

Will County Republican Party Chairman Tim Ozinga, a Republican state representative from Mokena who ran unopposed on Tuesday, said Will County “is still a very transitional county” where Republicans can appeal to voters.

“I think the voters spoke up,” Ozinga said of the election results. “A lot of our messaging was about cost of living, taxes and safety, and I think voters responded to our message.”

Republicans may have done a better job getting their message out.

Regional Superintendent

“We knocked on so many doors,” said Elizabeth Caparelli-Ruff.

Caparelli-Ruff’s 6,425-vote lead over incumbent Shawn Walsh in the race for regional superintendent of schools appears safe even with thousands of mail-in votes yet to be counted.

“On one day, we knocked on 1,100 doors in Bolingbrook,” Caparelli-Ruff said. “It was a real grass roots, boots on the ground campaign.”

The regional superintendent of schools is not a high-profile office. But Caparelli-Ruff said one of her priorities is to deal with fights and other violence in public schools, an issue that gets increasing attention.

Her victory is over one of the pedigree Democratic families in Will County. The Walsh family includes the late Larry Walsh, a former county executive and former state senator considered the county’s most influential Democrat before his death in 2020. State Rep. Larry Walsh Jr., D-Elwood, who coasted to a victory over Scott Greene in the 86th State House District that includes Joliet and runs south to Elwood.

Illinois Senate 43rd District

Will County Board Member Rachel Ventura, a Democrat from Joliet, won her race for state senate in the 43rd District by a large margin over Diane Harris, whose campaign appealed to voters’ concerns about safety and good schools.

Ventura said she had to overcome resistance to Democrats while on the campaign trail in which she, too, knocked on many doors.

“I’ll walk up to the door and I’ll hear, ‘What have Democrats done for me?’” Ventura said. “I hear the frustration in their voices.”

Ventura said she would make her case to voters. That along with social media and campaign advertising helped overcome the messages coming from the Republican camp.

The other county officers in which Republicans now hold small leads in the vote count are sheriff and treasurer.

Will County Treasurer

Incumbent Democratic Treasurer Tim Brophy said he believed a large number of female Democratic voters skipped over races in which men were running under the party label. He pointed to U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry getting 1,600 votes while he, Walsh and Sheriff Mike Kelley got 1,100 voters are fewer.

“They voted for Lauren, but they didn’t vote for me, Mike and Shawn,” Brophy said. “I don’t have any other explanation.”

Brophy also said he thinks this election shows Will County is not as Democratic as recent voting trends may have suggested.

“It kind of proves that Will County has a very strong independent streak,” he said. “There are a lot of people in the middle. If there was a middle party, I think a lot of us would be in it.”