O’Neill Burke maintains narrow lead in heated race for Cook County state's attorney

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A heated race likely to decide the next state’s attorney for Cook County remained too close to call early Wednesday as votes continued to be counted, including mail-in ballots that could take days to be tallied.

Eileen O’Neill Burke, who stepped down from a seat on the appellate court to run for state’s attorney, took an early lead against her opponent Clayton Harris III but the gap narrowed as the evening wore on.

As of 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, with 83% of the estimated votes counted, O’Neill Burke was leading with 51% to Harris’s 49%, according to the Associated Press. O’Neill Burke led in the suburbs by about eight points with all precincts reporting, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office. In the city, Harris was ahead by just over two points with 1,271 of 1,291 precincts reporting.

Anthony Vazquez | Sun-Times

O’Neill Burke told her supporters in a speech late Tuesday that she was “cautiously optimistic,” but asked them to be patient and “let the democratic process play out.”

“I got into this race because I did not want to give up on Chicago,” O’Neill Burke said. “And I know tonight that I can say that none of you want to give up on Chicago, either.”

The crowd roared as Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen” played over the loudspeaker.

Harris, trailing by about 10,000 votes, addressed his supporters about 30 minutes later and promised to hold out until every vote was counted.

“We have waited a long time for the moment, and we are going to have to wait a little longer,” he said to cheers at Taste 222 in the West Loop.

Harris spent most of the evening sequestered in a room next to the bar with his family and pastor and a handful of campaign staff. A few supporters could be heard parsing vote tallies and the number of mail-in votes outstanding.

Toni Preckwinkle showed up late and met briefly with Harris, whom she had backed, and expressed confidence that a win was possible with mail-in votes still uncounted.

“The party does pretty well with mail-in ballots,” said Preckwinkle, who noted that she won her first election by only 109 votes.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Among those at Harris’ party was Anjanette Young, who was handcuffed while naked inside her home during a botched raid by Chicago police. After spending the day trying to turn out votes for Harris, Young said: “I just feel like, with how I was treated by police, that he will be someone who will hold police accountable.”

Pastor Charlie Dates of Progressive Baptist Church in Bridgeport received a long hug from the candidate.

O’Neill Burke’s campaign had used Dates’ support for Harris to claim he had “troubling, anti-choice ties” and would not be as strong on the issue of abortion rights. O’Neill Burke has promised to create a unit in the office to defend the right to abortion in the county.

Among those at Burke’s party at RPM Events in River North were Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and Ald. Bill Conway (34th), who ran unsuccessfully for state’s attorney in the last election. Conway said he was reluctant to come out supporting O’Neill Burke because he “didn’t want people to be having to defend my race.”

“I really think that office needs some change,” Conway said. “I commend Kim (Foxx) for what she said about wrongful convictions. But at the end of the day I think the most important role of the … state’s attorney is to defend victims, and I think Eileen will be able to do that.”

Whoever wins the Democratic primary election would still face a Republican and a Libertarian challenger in the general election, but a Republican has not won the state’s attorney’s office since 1992 — making the race one of the closest watched and most consequential.

The Democratic primary pitted Harris, a former political aide with the backing of the county’s Democratic Party, against O’Neill Burke, a former assistant state’s attorney and appellate court justice.

O’Neill Burke said she stepped away from the bench to run because “the criminal justice system just isn’t working right now.” She claimed rising crime in Chicago was hurting growth because people were afraid to go downtown. She has promised to end some policies of Foxx, including charging retail thefts above $300 as a felony, as opposed to the $1,000 amount set by Foxx’s office.

Harris said his years of experience working in statewide offices and as an aide to former Mayor Richard M. Daley and ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich would help recruit new talent. Harris was vague about his policy goals but said he would largely continue Foxx’s policies.

The race was expected to be a referendum on the legacy of Foxx, who was part of the first wave of so-called progressive prosecutors to be elected across the country. Foxx announced last year she would not seek a third term, despite winning her races handily both times.

In 2016, Foxx beat the incumbent, Democrat Anita Alvarez, after the uproar over the Laquan McDonald police shooting. Foxx then won reelection despite widespread criticism of her decision to drop charges against actor Jussie Smollett after he faked a hate crime attack against himself and lied about it to police.

O’Neill Burke sought to distance herself from Foxx — but not too far. The former judge talked tough on crime, including claiming her office would seek to hold more people in custody under the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail in Illinois last year.

Unlike O’Neill Burke, Harris said he supported Foxx’s policies and hoped to build on them. Harris argued the managerial skills picked up from his time in public and private sectors made him the best person to lead the state’s attorney’s sprawling office after Foxx.

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