Field of challengers to State’s Attorney Kim Foxx grows

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The crowd of candidates formally seeking to oust Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx grew Tuesday, with both a Republican and a Democrat joining the field.

Former Cook County Circuit Judge Pat O’Brien announced Tuesday he’s formally in the race as a Republican. That’s a change in party for the former judge, who ran for his circuit court spot as a Democrat.

He told the Chicago Sun-Times in July he was in, and at his news conference Tuesday he went after Foxx, saying she lacks the “integrity” and “experience” to run the office.

Sun-Times file

“For the past three years, Kim Foxx has talked about rebuilding trust in the state’s attorney’s office,” O’Brien said. “Based upon her actions and inactions over the last few years, I tell you that the only way to rebuild that trust is by replacing her as state’s attorney.”

O’Brien’s formal entry into the race makes him the second Republican to seek the spot; Christopher Pfannkuche, who ran against Foxx in 2016, is the other.

.Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Donna More, a Democrat who also ran for the seat in 2016, also formally announced her bid for the office Tuesday. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday she was in the race. More and former prosecutor Bill Conway are the two Democratic hopefuls officially in the race for the office.

Many candidates who’ve waded into the field have talked about a lack of trust in the office and pointed to Foxx’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case.

Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times and campaign photo

Foxx recused herself from that case about a month after the now-former “Empire” actor alleged he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in late January. A spokesman for Foxx cited conversations she’d had with one of Smollett’s relatives as the reason for her recusal at the time.

Accused of making a false report to police, Smollett was indicted in March on 16 counts of disorderly conduct. Weeks later, the state’s attorney’s office abruptly dropped the charges, sparking outrage as well as confusion.

O’Brien called the handling of that case “just the tip of the iceberg” in terms of Foxx’s handling of the office.

Foxx has “displayed an indifference to the statutes of the state of Illinois, she’s failed to prosecute statutes involving felony theft ... and even going so far as to not prosecute persons who are accountable for murders,” O’Brien said.

As for getting elected in the heavily Democratic county, O’Brien said he’s served four state’s attorneys — two Republicans and two Democrats. If those Republicans could get elected, so can he, he said.

“I don’t think the office of state’s attorney is a partisan office,” O’Brien said. “When a criminal is on the street and they’re snatching your phone the first question that they ask [isn’t] ‘Are you Republican or Democrat?’ They’re nonpartisan. The state’s attorney should be the same.”