With 20 days until the primary election, the gloves are off in the race for Cook County Board President, pitting two political heavyweights against each other in the Democratic primary.
With 20 days until the primary election, the gloves are off in the race for Cook County Board President, pitting two political heavyweights against each other in the Democratic primary.Incumbent Toni Preckwinkle is running for her fifth term as the county's top executive, facing challenger Brendan Reilly , the longtime alderman of the 42nd Ward in Chicago, which includes much of the city's downtown.
Preckwinkle has touted 15 years of balanced budgets during her time in office without any property tax hikes.Reilly, who has been on the City Council for nearly 20 years, said if voters pull back the cover on Preckwinkle's record there's more there, including a costly technology contract that resulted in months of delays for property tax bills and refunds.The alderman is pitching himself as a fresh and new choice for county leadership, while the incumbent touts her expertise and experience at the helm.'I think she lost a little bit more of the fire in her belly, became a bit more complacent, started playing small ball rather than trying to hit home runs for Cook County taxpayers,' Reilly said.Preckwinkle said that's not true.'This is a moment that requires somebody who has the courage and the vision to stand up for our residents and the programs that they need, and I've shown that willingness while he's been silent,' she said.Preckwinkle said Reilly was 'missing in action' amid the Trump administration's controversial immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area, but Reilly said that's 'patently false.''She knows as well as anybody that I have the great distaste for Donald Trump that most people in the Democratic Party do. My colleagues and I were together on stage with Toni Preckwinkle, actually, just a few months ago at the 'No Kings' rally in Grant Park,' he said.Tying Reilly to Trump has been a recurring theme for the Preckwinkle campaign. 'First of all, he's got a long-standing tie to Donald Trump,' she said. 'Financial contributions, and those contributions were made to him and his political funds.'Reilly has said campaign contributions he received from President Trump were donated to two charities, and argued the Cook County Democratic Party – which Preckwinkle leads – also took money from Mr. Trump. 'I think there's a difference between the Democratic Party taking money from somebody and him taking it in his personal campaign accounts,' Preckwinkle said.Reilly called Preckwinkle's accusations 'a desperate attempt to distract from her recent record, which is very poor when it comes to taxes and executing on contracts and the like.' 'So I hope that voters see through that for what it is,' he added. Reilly also defended himself from Preckwinkle's attacks on his votes regarding Chicago's sanctuary city law. In 2021, he voted against an expansion of the Welcoming City Ordinance to prohibit Chicago police officers from cooperating with federal immigration agents in all cases. In 2025, he was part of a group of more conservative alders who failed in a bid to partially roll back those restrictions.Reilly said he does not regret those votes.'And again, context is important. President Biden was in office at that time, so there was no attempt to empower Trump to misuse ICE the way he is now,' he said.But Preckwinkle noted Reilly's support for rolling back some sanctuary city protections came just one week before President Trump was sworn in for his second term.'It was like January 15th, and Trump was sworn in on the 22nd or the 21st,' she said. 'It was a week before.'Reilly has repeatedly criticized Preckwinkle for what he said has been mismanagement of Cook County property tax bills and the technology company Preckwinkle signed off on to oversee an overhaul of the county's property tax system.'That was supposed to be a three-year, $30 million contract to get this upgrade done. That was 11 years ago. All these years later, the bills came out over four months late. So, telling us to trust her now, that's a really big leap,' he said.Preckwinkle said she knew upgrading the county's property tax system was going to be a challenge, but she underestimated just how significant it would be. Nonetheless, she said she's confident the problem has been solved once and for all.'The hard work is now done. The system has been modernized. The tax bills are going out on time. They're actually at the printer as we speak. They'll be out by March 2, due April 1, and we'll have a transparent and accountable system going forward,' she said. 'It's a lock.'Preckwinkle and Reilly both served on the City Council in 2008 when Mayor Richard M. Daley pushed through the controversial sale of the city's parking meters. Preckwinkle voted against the parking meter deal, and Reilly voted for it.Preckwinkle also has defended Cook County's embattled electronic monitoring system. Reilly said an arson attack on the Blue Line when a man with an extensive criminal history allegedly set a woman on fire while he was on electronic monitoring signals there's a lot of work yet to be done to get the system right.
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