A former Cook County commissioner is in the race to replace Dorothy Brown just a day after she announced she wouldn’t be seeking another term.
Richard Boykin, a recently-ousted commissioner from Oak Park, said Thursday he wants to be the next clerk of the circuit court. Last month, Boykin said he was eyeing a bid to unseat Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
Two others — former county Board President Todd Stroger and 26th Ward aldermanic candidate Theresa Siaw — are also eyeing bids to replace Brown, as reported in Politico. Neither returned requests for comment for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Already running for the office are Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner and former President Mariyana Spyropoulos, Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi and lawyer Jacob Meister who ran against Brown in 2016.
Boykin sees a run for Brown’s office as a “better situation, because it’s an open seat and I can have maximum impact.”
“The common denominator in the state’s attorney’s office and the clerk’s office is justice and I’ve always been the kind of person to figure out how people can have access to justice,” Boykin said. “I talked to a lot of people yesterday … and the consensus was that it’s an open seat and Dorothy Brown’s not running and I have the qualifications to run here.”
Boykin served one term on the board and lost his reelection bid last year to Brandon Johnson, a Chicago Public Schools teacher who was endorsed by current Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
Brown Wednesday swatted down questions that the federal probe of her office played a role in her decision not to seek reelection.
“I feel very confident . . . that I would definitely win the election without a shadow of a doubt. This past Saturday when I was in the Bud Billiken parade, I was cheered like a rock star. I have great, solid foundational support. I had no apprehension about any of the challengers,” Brown said.
Spyropoulos, Cabonargi and Meister are seeking the endorsement from the Cook County Democratic Party. That endorsement is set to be announced Friday.
Boykin said he’ll also appear before the slate makers at their Friday meeting. He’s hoping his legislative history will help him woo the democratic committeemen.
“I intend to make the case that they should support me for [the office],” Boykin said. “I hope to persuade them to do that and make the case to Cook County residents too. They already know me from voting against the pop tax, voting against the sales tax and my work on gun violence. It’s a matter of me getting around and saying I’m still here and I want to make a difference.”
