Kim Foxx wins first spot on March primary ballot — but also picks up challenge to her candidacy

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx won the top spot on the March ballot and former 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti the last position for that race in a lottery Monday morning to set the ballot order for candidates in the primary election.

Lotteries were held for 29 Democratic candidates in seven countywide races, with 21 vying for the top ballot position, and eight seeking to have their names appear last. The lottery for state races is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Candidates competing for the same office who filed “simultaneously” at 9 a.m. Nov. 25, the first day of candidate filing, were eligible for a chance to win the top ballot spot. Candidates who filed between 4 and 5 p.m. Dec. 2, the last day of filing, were included in a separate lottery for the last spot on the ballot.

Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulled candidates’ names from a golden lottery basket Monday morning to determine the ballot order. In the state’s attorney’s race, former prosecutors Bill Conway and Donna More will be sandwiched between Foxx and Fioretti in the second and third spots, respectively.

Campaign photos and Ashlee Rezin Garcia and Rich Hein/Chicago Sun-Times

Pat O’Brien, one of Foxx’s Republican opponents, will appear first on the Republican ballot. Christopher Pfannkuche, who ran for the position in 2016, will appear second on that ballot.

Conventional political wisdom holds that the first and final spots provide candidates a slight edge in crowded races.

Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulls candidates’ names from a golden lottery basket to determine their positions on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulls the name of former 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti, one of four Democratic candidates for Cook County state’s attorney, determining that his name would appear last on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. Yarbrough pulled candidates’ names from a golden lottery basket to determine their ballot positions. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Deputy Clerk Edmund Michalowski spins a golden lottery basket for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough to pull candidates’ names and determine their positions on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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(From left) Patricia Theresa Flynn, Michael Grace and Mike Cashman, all candidates for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners, watch as Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulls names from a golden lottery basket to determine candidates’ positions on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulls candidates’ names from a golden lottery basket to determine their positions on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulls candidates’ names from a golden lottery basket to determine their positions on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Michael Grace (center), candidate for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners, gets congratulated by other candidates after Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulled his name from a golden lottery basket, determining his name would appear first on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulls candidates’ names from a golden lottery basket to determine their positions on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Deputy Clerk Edmund Michalowski spins a golden lottery basket for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough to pull candidates’ names and determine their positions on the 2020 Presidential Primary Election ballot, Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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“Candidates certainly like to have their name first, but there’s something to be said having it last as well, and then there’s something to be said about having it there at all,” Yarbrough said.

Lawyer Jacob Meister’s name will appear first on the ballot in the race for clerk of the circuit court. State Sen. Iris Martinez took the second spot, followed by former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin. Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi took the last spot.

Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times; Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times; Rich Hein/Sun-Times; James Foster/For the Sun-Times

Other races in the lottery were the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District commissioners; the 1st District Board of Review commissioner; and 12th, 15th and 50th Ward Democratic committeepersons.

Some candidates could still be kicked off the ballot before March. The deadline to file objections to a candidate’s petitions was 5 p.m. Monday.

There was no mad dash to file challenges against potential candidates in the primary election. Fioretti filed a challenge against Foxx not long before the clerk’s office closed its doors. He alleged Foxx’s petitions exhibit a “pattern of fraud, forgery and round tabling.”

“You have to wonder where her ethics are ... where’s the integrity?” Fioretti said.

Delmarie Cobb, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Democratic Party, said in a statement it’s “disappointing that candidates Bob Fioretti and Jacob Meister would frivolously challenge the petitions of Kim Foxx and Mike Cabonargi. While filing objections against one’s opponent may be a time-honored tradition in local politics, it’s a waste of resources.”

“The petitions for Foxx and Cabonargi reflect the electorate and were circulated in all parts of Cook County,” the statement continued. “They will easily survive this frivolous challenge. The irony is that Fioretti and Meister are engaging in the same behavior for which they often accuse the Democratic Party of doing, yet the Party is not objecting to any candidates itself. If the objectors believe they are the best candidates, they should spend their time making their case to Cook County voters.”

In the race to replace outgoing Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, Cabonargi will also see a challenge to his petitions. Fioretti said that challenge was filed by the Meister campaign. A Meister spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Cabonargi and Foxx filed their petitions together, but the objections are separate.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

In state races, all the candidates seeking to replace former state Rep. Luis Arroyo are facing challenges to their nominating petitions.

David Feller, Nidia Carranza, Joaquin Vazquez and Eva-Dina Delgado all face challenges in their race for the House seat. Delgado was appointed last month to finish out Arroyo’s current term.

Feller, Carranza and Delgado were all challenged by Xavier Vazquez, according to the state’s Board of Elections site. Vazquez was challenged by Irma Roman and Anna Alfaro.

Arroyo stepped down after he was hit with a federal bribery charge.

Seth Perlman/AP

Monday also marked the deadline for a separate filing period to replace outgoing state Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago. State Rep. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, was the only candidate to file petitions with the state Board of Elections. Sandoval resigned on Nov. 27 — about two months after the FBI raided his offices. He has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Contributing: Tina Sfondeles