Former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger withdrew Monday from the March primary after a challenge to his petitions knocked him below the required number of signatures.
Stroger sought a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board but fell 1,821 signatures short of the 7,279 signatures needed to get on the ballot. Because of that, Stroger said “at this point I don’t think there’s any reason to keep going on with the process.”
“The Legislature should take this up,” Stroger said about the county’s signature requirements. “[They] should do a committee or task force to look at other states that are more open, and make a system so that people who wanted to run aren’t constrained by costs.”
Stroger filed the withdrawal of his candidacy with the Cook County Clerk Monday afternoon.
Stroger has kept busy since being ousted from the County Board; he was replaced by current Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
In 2017, Stroger briefly launched a bid to retake the County Board seat. Two weeks later, he dropped out of the race, saying he “just didn’t have enough time to get enough signatures.”
Earlier this year, Stroger landed a talk radio gig, joining WVON as a co-host on the Mornings with Maze Jackson show.
Before jumping into the MWRD race, Stroger eyed a bid to replace outgoing Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown.
“I still say I have something to offer,” Stroger said. “I know a lot about government and, in this office, I always cared about the health aspects and I know something about this having worked at the district. But I think the bigger picture is even if you do make it on the ballot, this is an exercise in trying to get people to spend money and even the party had a hard time getting signatures.”
