Chicago Tribune - 05.11.2026 — 2026-11-05

A NEW BLUE ERA

ELECTION 2026

Across nation: Staggering results, historic surprises reshape power in Washington

In Illinois: Voters prove state's deep Democratic bona fides as Pritzker, Stratton roll

In Chicago: Biggs' school board president win delivers blow to CTU, City Hall allies

School board President-elect Jessica Biggs appears at her election night party at RPM Events in Chicago's River North neighborhood on Tuesday. E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

SCHOOL BOARD Facing split panel, mayor plants flag against closures

By Alice Yin and Kate Armanini

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday heralded the long-awaited advent of Chicago's first-ever elected school board before delivering an unequivocal warning should the new body try to close any schools.

"I can promise you this: the city of Chicago will make a considerable amount of noise if they're proposing to close schools," Johnson said in an interview with the Tribune. "I took an arrest standing up for our neighborhood schools and went on a hunger strike.

... There's a long legacy of people standing up against corporate control over our schools, so I fully anticipate that voices will continue to rise up."

The mayor and former Chicago Teachers Union organizer said he plans to speak with all members of the school board, including

See CLOSURES on Page A14

SCHOOL BOARD Biggs promises to forge ahead with focus on students

By Alice Yin, Kate Armanini, Kate Perez and Darcel Rockett CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Former South Side principal Jessica Biggs won the city's first election for school board president Tuesday, a major blow to the Chicago Teachers Union and its ally Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Early returns showed Biggs leading 48.6% to runner-up Hilario Dominguez's 30.9% share, with 96% of precincts counted, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. Victor Henderson trailed behind at 17.8%.

In a 20-minute interview with the Tribune on Wednesday, Biggs vowed to forge ahead with a new era of student-focused stewardship over the nation's third-largest school district. She also opined on why she triumphed over Dominguez, most recently the Chicago Teachers Union deputy political director.

See BIGGS on Page A3

Gov. JB Pritzker and Lt. Gov.-elect Christian Mitchell arrive to thank voters on Wednesday at Peach's in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. BRIAN CASSELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Vance seeks distance from war

Vice President JD Vance publicly broke from President Donald Trump's defense of the Iran war on Wednesday after GOP's election losses. Nation & World, Page B4

EIGHT FULL PAGES OF CHICAGOLAND MIDTERM ELECTION COVERAGE INSIDE TODAY'S PAPER

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ELECTION 2026

U.S. SENATE

Stratton vows to find common ground

Sen.-elect and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton greets Sen. Tammy Duckworth alongside Gov. JB Pritzker as they celebrate their elections and unveil an agenda for the years ahead Wednesday at the Columbus Park Refectory in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. BRIAN CASSELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Supporters cheer Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton during her election night watch party at the Ramova Theatre on Tuesday in Chicago. JOHN J. KIM/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Democrat promises

to focus on cost of

living, health care

By Olivia Olander and Talia Soglin

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Hours after winning Illinois' open U.S. Senate seat, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on Wednesday embraced a lengthy federal legislative agenda put forward by her most prominent ally, Gov. JB Pritzker, and vowed to find common ground on the progressive policies she promised on the campaign trail.

"Elections have consequences, and it's a brand new day in Illinois and in America," Stratton said at a news conference at the Columbus Park Refectory on the West Side. "The people have made their voices heard. It's clear that they are ready to turn the page on the failed leadership in the White House."

Stratton, a Democrat, defeated Republican Don Tracy on Tuesday to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, on a night when Democrats retook control of the U.S. Senate. With 93% of the estimated vote counted, Stratton had 60.9% to Tracy's 37.5%, according to unofficial returns.

Pritzker, who won a rare third term Tuesday, rolled out his federal agenda hours later with Stratton and Illinois' soon-to-be senior U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth at his side — once again fueling speculation about a possible Pritzker presidential campaign in 2028. Stratton backed many of the plan's "policy solutions," including repealing food assistance eligibility restrictions, ending the war in Iran and "holding federal immigration officers accountable for the terror that they have caused."

"It's going to be important that we find these unifying areas where we can all come together and say, 'How are we going to raise wages for people? How are we going to expand access to health care?" Stratton said at the park news conference, surrounded by trees with changing leaves.

Stratton is set to become the fourth Black senator in Illinois history, after Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama and Roland Burris, who was appointed to the post by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. With Duckworth, Illinois is expected to become the first state represented in the U.S. Senate by two women of color at the same time.

The race was Illinois' first open-seat contest for the U.S. Senate since 2010. Voters first sent Durbin to the Senate 30 years ago this week, and he rose to become the chamber's No. 2 Democrat before announcing last year that he would not seek a sixth term.

“Let me tell you something about this campaign. It was never supposed to be easy — and it wasn’t,” Stratton told supporters Tuesday night at the Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport, where she gathered with other Illinois Democrats. “There were low lows, and days when we needed to dig deep. None of us could have walked this path alone. But we linked arms, we leaned on one another, and together, we have not only won this seat, but we have won it decisively.”

Tracy, addressing reporters in Springfield late Tuesday, said he had no regrets about the campaign.

"If you believe in the cause, you need to charge the hill every now and then," Tracy said. "We didn't win it this time, but perhaps those who follow me will win the next time because of the work we did on this campaign.”

The often-sleepy general election campaign was a sharp contrast to the bruising, expensive Democratic primary that preceded it in March. In a crowded field dominated by Stratton and U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, Stratton won with 40.4% of the vote. She beat Krishnamoorthi by almost 8 percentage points, even though his campaign spent about \$28 million, and Kelly by more than 22 percentage points.

Pritzker gave Stratton her decisive edge. The billionaire governor, who picked Stratton as his running mate for the 2018 race while she was still in her first term as a state representative, endorsed Stratton the day after she entered the Senate race. More importantly, he put \$10 million into Illinois Future PAC, a super PAC run by former Pritzker aides that backed Stratton's campaign, and appeared alongside Stratton in her most notable TV commercial ripping President Donald Trump with the tagline, "F---Trump, vote Juliana."

While their election night parties were separate, Pritzker stayed at Stratton's side through the campaign's final days, including a series of get-out-the-vote rallies Monday from Collinsville to Rockford. Her victory further consolidates the influence of Pritzker and his allies over Illinois Democrats as he decides his own political future.

Tracy, by contrast, ran a relatively quiet campaign. He and Stratton met before voters only once, at a forum on WTTW-Ch. 11. He did little campaigning the final weekend before the election and instead spent Halloween with family in Jacksonville. And even before Election Day arrived, his campaign declared it would not hold an election night party, a sign of low expectations.

A 76-year-old Springfield attorney whose parents founded Mount Sterling-based Dot Foods, one of the state's largest family-owned businesses, Tracy loaned his campaign \$4.25 million but raised relatively little from outside donors.

His candidacy also capped an unusual political path. Tracy ran for a Springfield-area state Senate seat as a Democrat in 2002. He later joined the GOP, finished a distant third in the party's 2010 lieutenant governor primary and led the state party from 2021 until he resigned in 2024 amid infighting.

Tracy's loss adds another deep wound for Illinois Republicans who have not won a statewide race in Illinois since 2014. The GOP's last U.S. Senate win came in 2010, when Mark Kirk defeated Alexi Giannoulias, now secretary of state and a candidate for Chicago mayor.

Nationally, voter dissatisfaction with the Republican Party under Trump allowed Democrats to retake the Senate, with their path to victory running through states where Trump won resoundingly two years ago, according to the Associated Press.

"There's a lot to be scared about. There's a lot to be angry about. But joy is resistance," Stratton told supporters on Tuesday night after the AP called the race for her. "If we want to be ready for the fight ahead, we're gonna need that joy and we're gonna need the strength that we find in one another."

Because Illinois held its primary election early in the year, Stratton largely avoided much of the national narrative surrounding prominent progressive candidates elsewhere. Stratton doesn't identify as a democratic socialist, and she's been hesitant to label herself otherwise.

Nevertheless, she campaigned on a progressive agenda and championed progressive policies, including a \$25 minimum wage, Medicare for All and changes to the U.S. Supreme

Court. She also called for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the Trump administration's sweeping immigration enforcement raids in the Chicago area last year.

She's stopped short of pushing for a moratorium on data center construction, but she's called for guardrails to ensure they don't raise energy costs.

Tracy focused on the cost of living, taxes and political polarization. He sought to paint Stratton as a socialist who would make impeaching Trump her top priority, following a national Republican playbook of casting Democrats as too far left.

At the WTTW forum, he called her proposed \$25 minimum wage “a death sentence for small businesses everywhere.” He also tried to toe the line between showing he supported many of Trump’s policies while also suggesting he wouldn’t be a rubber stamp for the president. Stratton used the forum to blast “corporate greed,” saying the Trump administration has encouraged it.

"The corruption in Washington is directly connected to the struggles people face around their kitchen tables," Stratton said Tuesday.

Earlier, Durbin and Duckworth took to the stage together before Stratton spoke to supporters.

"The polls are closing across America, and good news is coming in," Durbin said, adding that "this is not the end of the national debate, it's just the end of the campaign."

Duckworth thanked Illinoisans for electing Stratton, saying she "could not be more grateful because now I get to go kick some ass with the best partner I could ever ask for."

"The road ahead is not gonna be easy," Duckworth said. "The worst is yet to come if we don't stop Trump's Medicaid cuts. We need to pull the middle class out from skyrocketing costs and we need to end his illegal war in Iran. But I know that Juliana is more than ready for the fight."

Later Tuesday, Stratton danced – even hopping onstage – before a jubilant crowd as election returns continued playing on the Ramova's big screen.

Her victory caps a decade-long rise that began with her watching state politics unfold on television.

Stratton, 61, grew up on the South Side and lives in Bronzeville.

A longtime mediator who also worked for stints at the University of Illinois Chicago and on criminal justice reform in Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's office, Stratton entered elected office after winning a Democratic primary in 2016 against a sitting state legislator, a race that cost both sides \$6 million.

As she often recalled on the Senate campaign trail, Stratton entered that race after watching the news and seeing that the incumbent, state Rep. Ken Dunkin, sided with Republican then-Gov. Bruce Rauner on cuts to childcare and senior services.

At the time, Stratton was caring for her mother, who had Alzheimer's disease. She said she saw her state representative making problems worse for her family and others, so she decided to run.

She served less than one term in the Illinois House when Pritzker tapped her as his running mate.

As lieutenant governor, Stratton's priorities included promoting equity in women's health and leading a program aimed at putting tax dollars from cannabis sales into the communities most affected by the war on drugs.

She launched her Senate campaign more than a year and a half ago, entering the race before Krishnamoorthi or Kelly.

The lieutenant governor's allies have said she's come into each role ready to work — a reputation Stratton alluded to in her victory speech.

"When I became a state representative in 2017, people told me, 'Don't ruffle too many feathers. Don't make too many waves. You're a freshman. Sit back, just learn,'" Stratton said. "Well, I ignored that advice then. And I certainly won't be sitting back and listening quietly when I get to Washington, D.C."

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CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD

Split verdict for CTU leaves uncertainty

A supporter checks their phone during an election night watch party for Ellen Sherratt, candidate for Chicago school board, at George Street Pub on Tuesday. TALIA SPRAGUE/FOR THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

By Kate Armanini,

Alice Yin, Kate Perez,

Darcel Rockett and

Laura Rodríguez Presa

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Chicago's first-ever full school board election delivered mixed results for the Chicago Teachers Union that fought for the elected board's existence, with the union's slate faring ahead in most contested district seats even as it lost the coveted board presidency.

Early returns from the Chicago Board of Elections showed the union ahead in eight of the 14 district seats it endorsed as of midday Wednesday, with another race too close to call. But current board member Jessica Biggs declared victory in the race for board president, a major setback to the CTU, which had backed its former deputy political director, Hilario Dominguez.

At its core, the races had become a contest between the CTU and several outside groups opposed to the union's influence. A CTU-aligned bloc has held a majority on the 21-member board since last January, after Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer, appointed half of its members.

While that majority is poised to slip away, the CTU will still wield sizable influence on the board. And the union's showing so far is notable considering it was heavily outspent by its opponents.

The CTU sought to cast the race as a David-and-Goliath fight between its endorsed candidates and deep-pocketed special interests. The union and its affiliated Our Schools PAC reported \$626,000 in direct contributions to district candidates, but union opponents spent far more.

Common Ground Collective, a relatively new group bankrolled largely by billionaire Democratic donor Michael Sacks, led all spending by a wide margin. Its super PAC poured \$3 million into district-level races, including more than \$1.2 million to oppose CTU-backed candidates. Super PACs tied to two pro-school-choice groups, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and Urban Center, spent \$2.9 million and \$323,000, respectively, in district races. It was a sharp reversal from 2024, when the CTU was the top spender.

Speaking at union headquarters on the Near West Side Tuesday night, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said billionaires were not welcome in the Democratic Party before quoting the late Karen Lewis, the CTU president who first propelled the union to its progressive bulwark status.

"I'm telling you what Karen taught me. She said to fight to get to the next plateau to fight again," Davis Gates said.

She also characterized the early returns as a draw. "Look, I know it feels a way, but ain't nobody got a governing majority," Davis Gates said. "They didn't win, and we didn't win. But maybe that's OK, because I know how to negotiate."

Several incumbents are poised to lose their seats, two by wide margins: Ed Bannon, who was appointed by Johnson to represent a Far Northwest Side district, fell behind retired police Officer Margie Luczak in early returns. Long-time community organizer Jitu Brown, a vocal CTU ally from the West Side, lost to real-estate agent LaPamela Williams. Brown won his seat in 2024.

District 3B on the North-west Side is still too close to call, with CTU-backed Jason

Dónes ahead of incumbent Carlos Rivas by 200 votes and nearly 95% of precincts counted.

The stakes for CPS extend well beyond the politics. The school board will weigh in on CPS's most consequential issues, from property taxes to potential school closures. How to tackle the district's beleaguered finances and shrinking enrollment became a dividing line in the races.

CTU-endorsed candidates echoed the union's opposition to school closures, and made the fight for full state funding a centerpiece of their campaigns. Candidates backed by anti-CTU groups, meanwhile, have emphasized fiscal restraint and independence from City Hall.

Both camps chased an

11-member board majority, though a handful of candidates don't align cleanly with either side. The CTU endorsed candidates in only 14 district races, partly because five went uncontested after ballot challenges. None of the candidates in those races aligned with the union.

Whoever sits on the board will inherit a district facing potential midyear cuts. This summer, CTU-aligned board members passed a budget banking on \$150 million in unconfirmed state funding. The CTU pointed to commitments from several state lawmakers, but, a week out from the fall veto session, Springfield has yet to deliver. That means layoffs, furloughs or other cuts could be back on the table.

Chicago's first fully elected school board is the culmination of decades of advocacy, fueled in part by the widespread outcry over the 2013 mass school closures. The CTU positioned itself at the forefront of that movement, arguing that an elected board would pave the way for equity in CPS. Now the election is putting the union's vision to the test.

For nearly three decades, the board consisted of seven members appointed by the mayor, but in 2021, state legislators codified the shift to an elected board. The district is wrapping up a two-year transition, with 10 members elected in 2024 and 11 appointed by Johnson. Board members will serve two- or four-year terms.

BIGGS from Page A1

“Families are actually really tired of the chaos and the political back-and-forth that has been largely the storyline of this hybrid board, and I think there was really great fear of continuing in that direction,” Biggs said.

School board President-elect Jessica Biggs appears at her election night party at RPM Events in Chicago's River North neighborhood. E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Unlike Dominguez, Biggs notably left the door open to closing schools — a possible reflection of how the long-time political third rail has grown less damaging. On Wednesday, she confirmed she will let the district's school closure moratorium lift at the end of the 2026-27 school year.

"My intention is to let the moratorium expire," Biggs said, while stressing no schools would close without community input. "We need to make sure that we're thinking through how to provide a really robust educational experience for all of our kids."

That would, of course, set the board up for a showdown against the CTU and Johnson, who planted a flag Wednesday against any school closures.

Dominguez, meanwhile, took the stage at CTU's watch party Tuesday evening shortly after Biggs declared victory with a defiant message: "We won't be going anywhere." He ended his remarks with the biblical story of Gideon, who fought off a massive army with only 300 men.

“They did not surrender,” Dominguez said at the union’s headquarters on the Near West Side. “They took their trumpets, their torches and they marched forward.”

At her election night watch party on the Near North Side, Biggs portrayed herself as a consensus builder – though her campaign couldn't help but make a dig at the signature baseball cap Dominguez wore throughout the race by handing out hats that read, "Chicago School Board President" with Biggs' logo on the side.

Tuesday's results were a remarkable comeback for Biggs, the former Burke Elementary School principal who was once fired for attendance-reporting issues but later won her 2024 school board race against better-funded rivals. She will preside over a new era at Chicago Public Schools after three decades of mayoral control.

This chapter of independence has been a long time coming for the teachers' union, which ushered in Chicago's first elected school board with a bill that passed Springfield in 2021.

Now, the board president's race, largely viewed as a referendum on the CTU, likely will be used by its foes to hammer in on a narrative of waning political might more than three years after Johnson, a former organizer, won the mayor's race in a remarkable upset.

However, early returns show a more mixed showing down-ballot, with CTU poised to win 9 out of 14 contested seats, giving it just shy of a majority in the 21-member board. That's an improvement from two years ago, when CTU-endorsed candidates won four of 10 board seats that were up for grabs. Dominguez's campaign also took up almost $75\%$ of the union's spending this cycle.

The vast majority of the \$7.2 million in PAC spending, including independent expenditures, came from anti-CTU groups, state campaign finance records show. The teachers' union condemned the flood of money, seeking to cast the election as a rematch of the battle between the deep-pocketed financiers of ex-Mayor Rahm Emanuel versus the union's scrappy progressive leadership that rose in power following Emanuel's 2013 mass school closures.

However, a majority of union members voted down a proposed dues increase in May that would have bolstered political spending ahead of school board elections.

Dominguez ran a campaign almost entirely CTU-funded and echoed its unequivocal red line against shuttering schools. He frequently attacked Biggs over her support from billionaire Democratic megadonor Michael Sacks, a close adviser to the Emanuel administration who is hoping to counter the union's influence on the board, and lambasted him again throughout his speech Tuesday night.

When CTU president Stacy Davis Gates spoke after Dominguez on Tuesday, she reminded her members — and Chicagoans tuning in — that no election can take away the union’s power to “take it to the picket line.”

Then she appeared to warn Sacks, “Billionaires of both parties need to get kicked out.”

Biggs, who earned backing from the left-leaning Service Employees International Union, portrayed herself as a progressive who prioritized student learning and understood the fiscal realities of CPS' \$10.1 billion budget.

Despite adding almost 10,000 positions and growing its budget by about \$4.3 billion since 2019, CPS continues to see an enrollment downturn: 20% in the last decade.

Dominguez also faced resurfaced sexual misconduct allegations from a woman who accused him of making her uncomfortable when she was a minor participating in a summer project at a Pilsen nonprofit in 2017, though the CPS inspector general ultimately found the claims were unsubstantiated.

He's not the only candidate with past controversies. CTU-funded ads hit Biggs over her 2018 firing as a CPS principal after the district's inspector general found she altered attendance data and transported students without documentation. She has said the controversy stemmed from "minor, bureaucratic issues." And Henderson has had to contend with a 2010 divorce filing in which his ex-wife accused him of abusing his teenage son — allegations that he said were exaggerated.

In her Tribune interview, Biggs said on her first day as board president-elect she called former CPS CEO Janice Jackson – who was schools chief when Biggs was dismissed but later endorsed her school board campaign – to help with a transition plan.

At the top of Biggs' to do list: Convincing state leaders to provide more funding to CPS, an argument she believes will be more persuasive once they see “a clear plan that we are using the resources that we have responsibly.”

After her firing at Burke, Biggs became an organizer at the Southwest Organizing Project, then led the Southwest System of Care, a network linking schools with health care providers and social services.

In 2024, she ran for the District 6B seat on the school board, which stretches from the Loop to Englewood, and won decisively as an independent candidate.

One position Biggs and Dominguez agreed on: They both indicated the district, which has limited options to raise its own revenue and has increased property taxes to the maximum for more than a decade, should continue raising that levy. Henderson, an attorney, billed himself as an outsider in the race and self-funded his campaign.

Biggs has pitched a five-year “financial recovery plan” she said will alleviate the district’s reliance on borrowing and build up reserves for at least two months’ expenses.

Though she has said the state could pitch in more, Gov. JB Pritzker has cast doubt on any midyear bailout for CPS, meaning potential cuts remain on the horizon for a Biggs-led board as it inherits a district with billions of dollars in long-term debt.

On the table are potential layoffs, furloughs or a spending freeze.

Biggs and the rest of the 21-member, newly elected board will work with CPS CEO Macquiline King to tackle these issues and more. Although the board president is an unpaid position, Biggs can control the board meetings' agenda.

The Chicago Board of Education previously was composed of seven mayoral appointees but currently is in a two-year transition period, split between 10 elected and 11 Johnson-appointed members.

That delicate balance has granted the pro-CTU bloc enough votes to win a simple majority but not enough to clear the hurdle for budget amendments such as short-term loans, a major plank of Johnson's stalled education platform.

Now, Biggs will be the one governing with a precarious majority. But she rejected that the board was as fractured as this heated campaign cycle made it seem.

“I’m not ready to accept that this is a divided board,” Biggs said Wednesday. “I think we have a lot to learn about one another.”

The Tribune's Gregory Royal Pratt contributed reporting.

ELECTION 2026

U.S. HOUSE 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

In Congress, Miller ‘won’t back down’

U.S. Rep.-elect Donna Miller walks into her election night party flanked by her husband, David Miller, and sons, Daniel and Donovan, on Tuesday in Chicago Heights. VINCENT D. JOHNSON/FOR THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

By Adriana Pérez and Allison Kiehl

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller will succeed Robin Kelly as Illinois' 2nd Congressional District representative in the U.S. House, according to Associated Press.

With 85% of the ballots counted, unofficial results showed Miller leading with 72.7% of the vote to Republican candidate Michael Noack's 27.3%.

Miller will represent a district that has long been a Democratic stronghold and stretches along the lakefront on Chicago's South Side, as well as suburbs like Harvey and Dolton and parts of Will, Kankakee, Vermilion and Iroquois counties. Miller's term on the Cook County Board of Commissioners ends on Dec. 7. She will officially assume her new role in January.

"I'm going to Washington to work," Miller said after she took the stage at her election night party. "But make no mistake. If you know me, you know I will not back down from a fight. Anyone who messes with me knows I'll be in it to win it."

An easy sense of confidence had encompassed Miller's election night celebration before her victory turned the atmosphere outright jovial as she entered the Chicago Heights ballroom around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. She was greeted with thunderous cheers and DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win" played in the background as she took her place at the podium to declare victory.

One of her priorities for the district, she said, will be to advance a long-stalled project for a south suburban airport near Peotone.

“This is a great day in our history, our personal history and in the history of my family, and the legacy of my ancestors,” she said. “And I look forward to us working together all the time for the 2nd Congressional District.”

Earlier this year, Miller, 61, won a crowded Democratic primary to replace Kelly, who, after more than a decade in her seat, opted to run for U.S. Senate. Kelly was one of almost two dozen incumbent

Democrats not running for reelection in the House this year.

In her primary victory, Miller beat nine other contenders, including Jesse Jackson Jr. — the son of late civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson — who once represented the district for 17 years before resigning in 2012 amid a campaign finance misuse investigation that landed him in prison.

Miller's Republican opponent, 64-year-old Noack, is a commercial truck driver from Bonfield, a small village in Kankakee County. He touted his status as a political outsider throughout his long-shot campaign. The 2nd District has not sent a Republican to Congress since 1951, though the boundaries have been redrawn since.

"Trucker. Taxpayer. Fed Up. That's Why He's Running," a slogan on Noack's campaign website read. "He's a working man... who's spent

32 years in Kankakee County watching the same broken promises while your property taxes climb, your healthcare costs more, and Washington couldn't care less."

Noack declined an interview with the Tribune earlier this month.

Miller previously told the Tribune that, if she won, she planned to make it the district's last open-seat race for years.

"My plan is to keep going as long as people want to keep me in office, and I want to make them proud of electing someone they can keep around," she said.

A progressive in Cook County politics since 2018, Miller landed on a more moderate approach in the House race. Miller, a healthcare consultant who served as board chair for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, focused on improving healthcare and expanding access as her top priority on the campaign trail, including protecting Medicaid and Medicare.

On the County Board, Miller led efforts in 2024 to fund a free countywide doula program for high-risk pregnancies and supported the county's medical debt relief initiative. In 2023, she backed a resolution supporting federal Medicare and Medicaid coverage and sponsored a resolution supporting gender-affirming care.

Miller has raised more than \$2.6 million since July 1, 2025, and had about \$102,000 on hand at the end of September, according to Federal Election Commission records. Noack has not reported any fundraising.

During the primary race, Miller was criticized for receiving contributions from people affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — a pro-Israel lobbying group that supports both Democrats and Republicans — which accounted for two-thirds of the \$2 million she raised through late February. The super PAC Affordable Chicago Now, which opponents have described as an AIPAC front group, spent \$4.4 million to support her.

Miller has distanced herself from AIPAC's support.

“Individual donors are the ones supporting my campaign,” she previously told the Tribune. “If it’s something else, then we’re not coordinating that on my campaign.”

Miller said she received an endorsement from former Vice President Kamala Harris last week. Both women are Howard University alumni and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters. Also last week, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker canvassed alongside Miller in the village of Lynwood to get out the vote.

"I'm with somebody who's gonna make a great congresswoman for the south suburbs," Pritzker said in a social media video.

On Election Day, Miller stopped at Pullman National Historical Park to honor her great-grandfather, who she said was a Pullman porter for Chicago's railroad sleeping cars. "The start of building the Black middle class," she said. "Where I stand today is a testimony to them."

"I believe in an America where everyone can afford the essentials, where healthcare is driven by medicine, not politics, and where the long march toward equality, in its many forms, moves forward, and not backwards," she said in a video shared to social media. "But today, Washington is tearing up so much of our progress for working families and giving tax breaks to billionaires. I refuse to let them. I'm running for Congress because I am determined to rise to the challenge of this fateful moment."

Chicago Tribune's Jake Sheridan and Olivia Olander contributed.

U.S. HOUSE 7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Ford captures one of nation's bluest seats

By Gregory Royal Pratt and Cam'ron Hardy

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Democratic state Rep. La Shawn Ford was elected to succeed longtime U.S. Rep. Danny Davis as the 7th District congressman, ushering in a new era for one of America's bluest congressional districts.

Ford's election, which was called by Associated Press at 7:54 p.m. Tuesday, represents the first change in congressional leadership for the district in three decades.

Ford was endorsed by Davis, who joined him for photos with supporters, friends and family on a decorated indoor court at the XS Tennis Village in Washington Park on election night.

Davis introduced Ford and they embraced in a warm hug. The new congressman raised his arms in victory while Marvin Sapp's “Never Would Have Made It” played.

"When I raise my right hand in January, I'll take the oath, not to a party, but to you," Ford told the crowd.

"This role reflects what the 7th Congressional District looks like and tonight the 7th District has spoken," Ford said. "Let me put it plainly, when this campaign began, I was applying for a job. Tonight, I got hired."

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a West Side resident, also attended the victory celebration and hailed wins by Democrats in the city and beyond.

"It's a new day not just in Chicago but the country because we are sending a strong message to (President) Donald Trump and the Republicans," he said.

La Shawn Ford, Democratic nominee for the 7th Congressional District, right, takes the stage with retiring U.S. Rep. Danny Davis at his election night gathering at XS Tennis Village on Tuesday in Chicago. JOHN KONSTANTARAS/FOR THE TRIBUNE

With an estimated 74% of votes counted Wednesday, Ford was ahead with 89% of the total, unofficial results showed.

Ford was challenged by Republican nominee Chad Koppie, an 88-year-old frequent candidate who does not live in the district.

Ford, 54, is a former social studies teacher and real estate broker who has served in the Illinois House since 2007.

Davis announced plans to retire in July 2025, setting off a frenzied dash of more than a dozen candidates to represent the blue districts. The 7th Congressional District stretches from the western suburbs of Oak Park, Maywood and Bellwood through the West Side, to downtown and Navy Pier. It juts south along I-90 to encompass the White Sox ballpark and West Englewood.

Altogether, the district includes some of the wealthiest parts of the city and some of the poorest.

Ford campaigned on a promise to repeal tax cuts for the “ultrarich” enacted through Republicans’ massive tax-and-spend bill that Trump signed last year. His campaign materials say he would work to protect institutions such as the federal civil service and Justice Department, codify abortion rights and strengthen federal affordable housing programs. And he agrees with other Democrats who would push to end the war in Iran.

He also campaigned on securing money for financial aid, behavioral health and test-prep programs at colleges and universities while pledging support to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and promoting so-called Medicare for All.

At his election party, the Ford campaign distributed a flyer illustrating the district's challenges under the headline, "Why we fight." In it, the Ford campaign noted high opioid overdose deaths, firearm homicides and child poverty in the district, among other issues.

In March's primary, Ford defeated Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, labor leader Anthony Driver, activist Kina Collins and others.

Conyears-Ervin received more than \$5 million from a PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Another PAC, pro-cryptocurrency Fairshake, took shots at Ford after he voted for Springfield regulations of the digital asset.

The group ran ads about past felony bank fraud charges that Ford decried as slanderous.

In 2012, federal prosecutors alleged he made false statements to a bank to obtain a \$500,000 increase on a line of credit. But in 2014, prosecutors agreed to drop all 17 felony charges against Ford in exchange for his guilty plea to a single misdemeanor tax count.

“This is going to allow me to focus on my community and my family and make my mother proud of me,” Ford said at the time.

Ford faced a challenge from Koppie, who describes himself as a retired farmer and pilot in his online biography. Koppie was a long shot in the heavily Democratic district, in part because he lives outside of it in far northwest suburban Gilberts. Koppie once delivered manure to the state capitol to protest a tax increase and, in the early 1990s, launched sensational campaign ads showing dismembered fetuses.

Despite a tough primary, Ford pulled out the win in the crowded field. The rough and tumble of the campaign was a distant memory at Ford's party on Tuesday night.

Family members spoke in front of the audience on the impact Ford made in their lives. His daughter, Tia, a second grade teacher, shed tears while speaking about her father.

"My entire life I have watched my father be a leader, a mentor and someone that so many people in our community look for for guidance," she said.

In his victory speech, Ford expressed appreciation for his supporters, family, friends and mentors. He pledged to hire a strong staff that is familiar and involved with the district's neighborhoods. He encouraged attendees to bring their ideas, concerns and energy to him so he can fight for their issues.

“Thank you for believing in this campaign, thank you for believing in me and most of all, thank you for believing that our community deserves a voice in Washington, that knows our streets, knows our struggles and will never forget where we came from,” Ford said. “Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we go to work.

Chicago Tribune's Olivia Olander contributed.

U.S. HOUSE 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Voters back García's progressive vision

Patty García celebrates with supporters after claiming victory in her congressional race at Teamsters Local 743 in Archer Heights on Tuesday. EILEEN T. MESLAR/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Southwest Side

electorate sends

first-timer to D.C.

By Jake Sheridan,

Andrew Carter and

Lila Hempel-Edgers

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

After voters elected Democrat Patty García to represent Illinois' 4th Congressional District, the incoming congresswoman-elect doubled down Wednesday on her progressive vision for immigration reform.

But even before she spoke alongside immigrant rights groups and other allies, her T-shirt did the talking: "ABOLISH ICE," it read, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"We showed them last night. That's the movement that we've got to do to make sure we abolish ICE, we bring a pathway to citizenship (for immigrants without legal status) and we make sure we bring back all our deported families," she said. "The people power will always win over corporations, over hate, and over Donald Trump."

García will succeed outgoing four-term U.S. Rep Jesús “Chuy” García, whom she previously worked for as chief of staff. Her dominant win as a first-time candidate in a four-way race was a clear sign voters saw past the heavy-handed political maneuvering that cleared her way to the ballot, an issue that defined campaign.

Before confetti rained upon her Tuesday night, García promised a victory party crowd gathered at the Teamsters Local 743 union hall in the Archer Heights neighborhood that she would fight “for the American promise.”

“But today, that promise goes unfulfilled for so many families working across the districts of this country. Groceries cost more, rent keeps going up and our families are working harder and harder just to get by,” she said. “I’m going to Washington to fight for them.”

The unusual race she won featured a rare well-funded independent bid by Lyons Mayor Chris Getty. But Getty's long-shot candidacy, built on the premise that voters in the deep-blue district would reject both major parties in favor of a moderate, came to a decisive end as votes poured in.

With about 82% of expected votes counted Wednesday afternoon, García had received almost 71% to Getty's 9.3%, according to unofficial results from Associated Press. Retired pharmacy technician Lupe Castillo, a Republican, had about 16.3%, and schoolteacher Ed Hershey, representing the Working Class Party, had 3.5%.

García's election night crowd of about 200 people grew more festive as results came in, crowding a bar as bass-heavy music paused only to broadcast the Democratic victory speeches that kept coming. Around two hours after polls closed, it was the staffer-turned-candidate's turn.

She quickly praised Rep. García, who spoke before her, crediting him with paving the way for Latino candidates.

“You opened doors for a generation of leaders who look like us, who grew up where we grew up, who believed our communities deserved to sit at the table,” she told her former boss. “You’ve taught us to lead with courage and conviction.”

García, of no relation to the retiring congressman, will represent the Midwest's only majority-Latino district, which covers much of Chicago's Southwest Side and stretches into the western suburbs, including parts of Berwyn, Brookfield, Hinsdale and Melrose Park.

It's a seat a Latino Democrat has held for more than three decades and a race where the Latina Democrat received critical boosts from her party's power long before voters cast their ballots.

Last year, Rep. García already had filed nominating petitions to seek a fifth term. Instead, he bowed out at the last minute, leaving Patty García, his then-chief of staff who quietly filed to run just before the November deadline, as the only candidate on the March primary ballot. The move quickly drew widespread criticism and later a formal House resolution admonishing the congressman. Allies of the congressman and his chosen successor then challenged the nominating petitions of two progressive Latinos hoping to run as independents: Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, and Mayra Macías. The Illinois State Board of Elections removed both from the ballot, finding them hundreds of valid signatures short.

Candidate García staunchly defended the moves throughout the campaign and remained unapologetic in victory. In a brief interview with the Tribune, she maintained the moves did not affect voters and argued she won because her campaign knocked on more than

100,000 and spoke directly to the concerns around immigration and affordability that voters cared about.

As she ran for office, García cast herself as a progressive poised to represent the district she grew up in with forceful support for workers and vigorous opposition to President Donald Trump's agenda. She promises to push for higher taxes on the rich, calls Israel's war in Gaza "a genocide," and hopes to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the latter a stance the sitting congressman has not taken up.

She doubled down on her progressive vision in her victory speech, calling for “Medicare for All” and calling “accountability for ICE” her top priority.

"Making sure that they pay for all the injustices and the violations to our Constitution, to people's rights, and making sure that we bring justice to all the families that have been torn apart and separated by this lawless agency," she told the Tribune.

Moments earlier, she had described to the crowd how her immigrant mother arrived in Chicago: In winter, wearing sandals, and pregnant.

“She didn’t come here to take anything from anyone. She came here to build a better life, and no president, no agency and no agent hiding behind a mask will ever tell families like mine we don’t belong in the country we help build,” García said.

The room erupted in cheers when news of the election loss of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who led the effort to bus around 40,000 immigrant refugees to Chicago, to Democrat Gina Hinojosa appeared on a TV. Later in the night, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who was elected to a second term Tuesday while also campaigning in Chicago's February mayoral election, made an appearance.

Meanwhile, at the McCook Athletic & Exposition Center, Getty told supporters he'd been warned that an independent could neither make it onto the ballot nor compete against candidates backed by the Democratic and Republican parties. But the thousands who supported his campaign, he said, were proof voters are willing to put aside political differences to build something new.

"Our government still needs leaders who are willing to put people over party politics," he said. "Problems and issues don't belong to one party, and the responsibility to solve them doesn't belong to one party either."

Getty, an insurance broker who also serves as Lyons Township supervisor, campaigned on a moderate platform calling for compromise immigration reform, expanded federal incentives for housing construction and no major tax hikes on the rich. He cast himself as an alternative to Democrats and Republicans, despite running twice as a Democrat himself, and carried political baggage complicating his run, from a father imprisoned for public corruption and a 2019 FBI raid on Lyons village hall that included his office to questions about his use of state campaign funds.

"I hope you never look back at this campaign and wonder if it mattered, because it did," Getty told supporters. "Because there's something far more important than winning an election — it's having the courage to stand up for what you believe in."

Chicago Tribune's Olivia Olander contributed.

U.S. HOUSE 11TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Democrat Foster breezes to 8th consecutive term

By Russell Lissau

DAILY HERALD

Even with 17 years of elected service under his belt, Republican congressional hopeful Jeff Walter knew unseating veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville would be an uphill battle from the very beginning of his campaign.

Not only was the 11th District gerrymandered to benefit Democrats, but as Election Day approached, it became clearer and clearer that the growing opposition to President Donald Trump's agenda was going to drag down Republican candidates across the region and country.

Still, Walter — who's been Elburn's mayor since 2017 after eight years as a trustee — gave it his all. He marched in parades, spread his message on social media and put campaign material in every hand he could.

It wasn't enough.

With an estimated 60% of votes counted, Foster was leading with about 69% of the total, unofficial results showed. That was more than enough for Associated Press to declare Foster the winner of an eighth consecutive term on Capitol Hill.

Foster

Foster spent much of election night at Go Brewing in Naperville, where fellow Democrats had gathered to watch results come in and celebrate the anticipated wins of state Sen. Laura

Ellman and state Rep. Janet Yang Rohr. Late Tuesday, a campaign representative said a statement was being prepared for the media.

Walter sounded

disheartened after

being told of Associated Press' declaration. He thanked supporters and said he and his team "put a heck of an effort into it."

“It’s unfortunate that this is the way it went, but the voters have spoken,” said Walter, who spent election night at his campaign headquarters in St. Charles.

Foster, a former scientist who briefly represented the 14th District before the people of the neighboring 11th sent him to Congress in 2012, ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination this year. Walter, a U.S. Navy veteran and retired IT consultant, won a four-way GOP primary in March for the right to face Foster in the general election.

Walter generally stuck to the Republican Party playbook during the campaign. He criticized former President Joe Biden's economic and immigration polices, praised President Donald Trump's tariffs and Trump's approach to border security and supported legislation to keep biologically male athletes out of women's sports.

Foster, however, called

Trump's tariffs reckless and haphazard; remained a proud supporter of the Affordable Care Act; and opposed Trump's efforts to restrict mail-in voting.

Foster's campaign was significantly better funded than Walter's, which meant he was better able to disseminate his message.

Team Foster raised nearly \$2.6 million through mid-October and spent about \$1.5 million.

In contrast, Walter's campaign collected less than \$432,000 in donations during the cycle — and of that sum, more than \$198,000 came in as loans from the candidate, records show. The Walter campaign spent nearly every dollar it had, nearly \$424,000 as of mid-October.

Without enough money for valuable — and costly — TV commercials, Walter had to stick with grassroots campaigning.

"It would've been nice to have another half-million dollars," Walter said Tuesday before polls closed. "We would love to have done more formal advertising — but we just didn't have the budget for it."

The 11th District encompasses portions of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, DeKalb and Boone counties.

ELECTION 2026

U.S. HOUSE 9TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Biss maintains Dems' dominance

Democrat Daniel Biss speaks with supporters at Jarvis Square Tavern in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood on Tuesday after winning his congressional race. ARMANDO L. SANCHEZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Former Evanston

mayor takes over

for Schakowsky

By Russell Lissau and Claire Murphy

DAILY HERALD

Voters in Illinois' 9th Congressional District haven't sent a Republican to the Capitol since Harry Truman was president – and that decades-long streak of Democratic victories was extended Tuesday.

As expected, Evanston Democrat Daniel Biss cruised to victory over Republican John Elleson of Arlington Heights in the contest to succeed veteran U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, also of Evanston.

With an estimated 60% of estimated votes counted, Biss was ahead with roughly 79% of the total, unofficial results showed. That was more than enough for Associated Press to declare Biss the winner.

The crowd at Biss' watch party cheered when word spread of the declaration at about 7:50 p.m., less than an hour after polls officially closed. It was the first congressional race in the North or Northwest suburbs to be called by the news service.

The 9th District includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties, and its heart is the deep blue neighborhoods of Chicago's North Shore and the Near North suburbs.

Biss, who was in his second term as Evanston's mayor until he resigned last month, paid homage to one of those core communities by holding his election night shindig not in his hometown as one might expect but at the Jarvis Square Tavern in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood.

The cash-only watering hole's website proclaims it's "one of the earliest gay bars in Chicago." It regularly hosts live music performances, open mics and other community gatherings.

But Tuesday night, as the sound of televised election result coverage filled the tavern, it was all about celebrating the next representative for the 9th District.

Many Biss supporters arrived ahead of the party's scheduled 7 p.m. start time, mingling in clusters among leftover Halloween decorations still suspended from the ceiling. Some donned buttons reading “Biss for Congress.”

Schakowsky has represented the 9th District since 1999, and her decision in 2025 to not seek reelection this year triggered a 14-way Democratic primary and a four-way Republican showdown this past spring. Because of the district's overwhelmingly blue hue, the winner of the Democratic primary was expected to triumph in the general election. Biss had Schakowsky's blessing since before the primary.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing Daniel be a great leader in Congress," Schakowsky said Tuesday. "I couldn't be more happy to have him as my successor."

Surrounded by dozens of supporters, his family and

Schakowsky, Biss took to a makeshift stage a little before 8:30 p.m. to address his supporters.

"It is an honor of a lifetime to stand in front of you as the next congressional representative from the 9th District of Illinois," he told the crowd.

Biss gave a nod to Elleson in his victory speech, saying he received a “very generous” phone call from his rival just a few moments before taking the stage, conceding the race. He thanked Elleson for running a clean campaign.

Elleson — a pastor at an Arlington Heights church who unsuccessfully ran against Schakowsky in 2018 — barely campaigned in the primary. But neither did his opponents, none of whom reported raising much money, and several of whom attracted the kind of publicity that keeps candidates from winning elections.

Elleson didn't do any fundraising for the general election either. That meant no cash for TV ads, campaign staffers, consultants or polling — all must-haves for modern congressional candidates who intend to win.

With the odds stacked against him from the get-go, Elleson said he felt asking for campaign contributions would be disingenuous.

“It’s a tough time for people,” Elleson said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I just didn’t feel good about it.”

Team Biss had received more than \$3.4 million in campaign contributions and spent more than \$2.8 million as of mid-October, records show. Of the congressional candidates running Tuesday in the North or Northwest suburbs, only U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, a Highland Park Democrat in the neighboring 10th District, raised or spent more than Biss this cycle.

Money wasn't the only thing separating Biss and Elleson. They also diverged on several key issues, especially the performance of President Donald Trump.

Elleson said he supports Trump's foreign policy, tariffs and expansion of power through executive orders. Biss, however, said he is appalled by these actions and policies, calling them unconstitutional.

Biss and Elleson viewed immigration enforcement policy differently, too.

Biss was an outspoken critic of Trump's anti-immigration efforts, especially Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area. He criticized U.S. border control policy as a “deranged effort to intimidate, brutalize and kill people either based on the color of their skin or the language they speak,” and he joined protesters outside a Department of Homeland Security processing facility in

Broadview.

Biss also had a much-publicized — and tense — faceoff with then-U. S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino at an Evanston gas station in December 2025.

Elleson's approach to immigration was much more moderate. He advocated for an amnesty program for people who entered the U.S. illegally but also reportedly suggested, at a public forum in Skokie, that protesters blowing whistles and obstructing agents during enforcement efforts might lead to violence.

Instead of staging a watch party Tuesday night, Elleson and his wife, Sue, visited seriously ill people in Chicago-area hospitals. Such visits, he said, keep you from thinking about yourself.

Elleson refused to be bitter about the loss.

“Someone’s got to win, and someone’s got to lose,” he said.

U.S. HOUSE 8TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Bean returns to Congress

Democrat succeeds 5-term incumbent Krishnamoorthi in Northwest suburbs

shortly afterward.

By Eric Peterson and Robert McCoppin

DAILY HERALD

Northwest suburban voters appeared to again choose a moderate Democrat – and a familiar one at that – to succeed five-term incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi in the 8th Congressional District.

Based on unofficial results Tuesday night, Associated Press declared Barrington Democrat Melissa Bean the winner in her race to reclaim the congressional seat she held from 2005 to 2011.

At 9:10 p.m. with 76% of the vote counted, Bean had 64.8% of the total over Republican rival Jennifer Davis of Huntley.

"The people are speaking, and they're speaking loudly," Bean said at her campaign headquarters. "It's looking like I'm going back to Washington!"

In claiming victory, Bean predicted a dramatic change in direction for the country based on voters' experiences of the past two years.

“Voters have rejected the chaos and the divisive dysfunction in Washington,” Bean said. “And they’re ready to start a new chapter in the American story. One that restores the American dream for the next generation and one that restores our American values, our Constitution, checks and balances, the rule of law and due process.”

Davis conceded the race

Democrat Melissa Bean pumps her fists at the conclusion of her 8th Congressional District victory speech in Schaumburg on Tuesday. JOE LEWNARD/DAILY HERALD

“While the outcome is not what we wanted, I am incredibly proud of the campaign and movement we built together,” Davis said. “To every volunteer who knocked doors, every donor, and every voter who chose hope and common sense — thank you. You showed that our district is ready for change, and that energy does not disappear with one election.”

The seat was open because Krishnamoorthi decided to not seek reelection and instead run for U.S. Senate. But he lost to Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in the Democratic primary last March. Voters on Tuesday elected Stratton to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin.

Bean, who lost the seat 16 years ago to Joe Walsh, and Davis both ran as moderates in the primary and general elections.

Bean touted her prior experience and accomplishments in Congress. She first won the office by defeating longtime Republican incumbent Phil Crane in 2004. Her later loss to Walsh was by only 291 votes.

Davis, meanwhile, said her own experience as a lifelong business owner had better prepared her to find practical solutions to the nation's issues. She is the co-founder and former CEO of an international technology software company and author of the book “Living Exponentially.”

They disagreed on several issues, including improving access to healthcare and protecting Social Security.

Bean said healthcare options provided in the Affordable Care Act, which she supported while in Congress, have been endangered during President Donald Trump's second term. She vowed to continue fighting for the ACA because she believes it protects the health and dignity of all Americans.

Davis argued that giving consumers more options for private health insurance is a better solution than more government. She said the ACA and so-called Medicare for All are not real solutions because they stem from a government mindset that avoids the sustained attention needed to lower costs for people.

When it comes to Social Security, Bean said she sought to protect the solvency of the trust fund during her previous time in Congress. She said she's deeply opposed to any efforts to privatize Social Security.

Bean has said that if elected, she would work with colleagues in Congress to identify the most effective options to increase revenue for Social Security while reducing inefficiencies and keeping the system solvent.

Davis said the ongoing Social Security crisis proved that Bean is giving herself too much credit for her previous efforts.

As a business owner who employs hundreds of people locally and in India, Davis said she's accustomed to finding solutions that don't include raising taxes or increasing prices for clients.

Davis said she opposed raising taxes on Social Security benefits or on working people. She suggested finding new tools like cryptocurrency to help pay down the debt and strengthen Social Security's solvency.

Campaign fundraising was another factor that distinguished the candidates.

But the 8th District was the only congressional race in the north, west and northwest suburbs where the Republican candidate achieved anything resembling financial parity with the Democratic opponent.

Bean started the third quarter with less than \$145,000 in the bank and went on to raise about \$351,000, records show. After spending nearly \$218,000, her campaign ended the quarter with less than \$278,000 on hand and more than \$391,000 in debts to the candidate and a vendor.

Davis started July with more than \$730,000 in the bank, and her team raised about \$237,000 during the quarter, records show. After spending more than \$523,000, the Davis campaign ended the quarter with less than \$445,000 on hand and more than \$1 million in debts to the candidate.

COOK COUNTY OFFICES

Preckwinkle, Hynes claim victories

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle arrives to a candidate meet-and-greet at Manny's Cafeteria & Delicatessen in Chicago on Tuesday. ANTONIO PEREZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

By A.D. Quig

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Democrats running for countywide offices — including assessor nominee Pat Hynes and Board President Toni Preckwinkle — sailed to easy victories Tuesday night. Preckwinkle won not only her fifth term but also a Democratic lock on all 17 County board seats.

Other countywide Democratic candidates, all well-known incumbents or facing no or only nominal competition, also were declared early victors shortly after the polls closed.

Four-termer Preckwinkle handily beat downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, who failed to convince voters they needed something new in the March Democratic primary. Hynes, a one-time functionary in the assessor's office, defeated self-funded incumbent Fritz Kaegi in the primary by promising to make things more predictable. Both faced Libertarian challengers with little funding or name recognition as they headed into Election Day.

With 82% of estimated votes counted, Preckwinkle led with 79.3% while Hynes had 85.9%.

In a speech to supporters at an Orland Park pizzeria, Hynes said Tuesday night that “property tax relief will not happen overnight, but we have a plan and we will work tirelessly for the taxpayers.”

"The plan is to produce fair, predictable and accurate assessments," he said, adding that his administration would focus on "fostering growth and increasing investments in small businesses, affordable housing and growing our tax base."

Soon after Preckwinkle secured her record-tying fifth term, early returns suggested a cherry on top: Democrats she supported to hold or flip districts previously held by Republicans were all in the lead.

County Clerk Monica Gordon and Treasurer Maria Pappas were unopposed and declared winners just after polls closed. The AP declared incumbent Sheriff Tom Dart the winner around 9 p.m. against Libertarian Brad Sandefur. Dart was leading with 85.5% of the vote and about 52% of estimated votes counted. Dart, a Democrat, was unopposed in his primary race and has held the post since 2006.

The assessor calculates the value of each property in Cook County. It's a key input — along with levies from local governments and the county's wide array of breaks and incentives — that determines what each taxpayer must ultimately pay.

Hynes promised to make assessments more predictable and level after back-to-back years of record increases.

After taking office in late 2018, Kaegi shifted assessments to account for systemic undervaluing of commercial buildings and overvaluation of low-income properties. The numbers changed again during the pandemic, when he instituted a “COVID adjustment” reducing residential values to account for what Kaegi officials initially thought would be mass unemployment. The COVID adjustment later wore off at the same time the housing market boomed and the commercial market was still scarred by vacancy.

The combination contributed to a double whammy of assessment increases for many homeowners and frustration from many elected officials. Kaegi pointed to the county's Board of Review, the three-member panel that hears assessment appeals, as a culprit because it overturned many of his commercial values.

Big business interests like building owners, developers and the property tax attorneys that file appeals for both lined up with Hynes, who convinced party officials to endorse him over the summer. Trade labor unions eager for more construction work also backed him. Kaegi poured some \$2.75 million into his own race since the start of 2025, according to state records.

Hynes pledged to offer near certainty for developers seeking to build here. He campaigned on creating an office that, based on neighborhood, size and classification, could tell builders the likely assessment of their property.

The Board of Review would also see less “animosity” than under Kaegi, Hynes said. On Tuesday, incumbent Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas was reelected. Liz Nicholson, the Democratic nominee who defeated incumbent Samantha Steele in March, also won.

While property tax politics have changed very little, Hynes will take over an office much transformed compared with when his uncle, Thomas Hynes, ran it. A powerful ally of the Daley family and former House Speaker Mike Madigan, Tom Hynes helmed the vaunted 19th Ward organization and served as assessor between 1979 and 1997.

The elder Hynes' time leading the office was notably scandal-free. He successfully lobbied for the office's first incentives, including the homeowners property tax break, as well as one for seniors, plus others aimed at businesses and the construction of low-income housing. He computerized the office's residential property records, changed the assessment calendar from a four-year cycle down to three, and tweaked assessment rates.

The third floor will also look different from when Pat Hynes was last working there as a field inspector in 2020. He will inherit a fully adopted

Tyler Technologies system, the software that shares property data across most of the other tax offices, annual audits of assessments, and a recent agreement with the Board of Review to adopt some of the same baseline calculations.

One of the Chicago City Council's better known and best funded members, Reilly was one of Preckwinkle's toughest primary opponents in years.

Difficulties dragging the Tyler Technologies project over the finish line dogged Preckwinkle throughout the primary. Reilly attempted to tie the late bills, overdue refunds, and costly delays in distributing property tax revenues to local governments to Preckwinkle's "total mismanagement" of the project. She shot back, arguing the upgrade was desperately needed and after a competitive evaluation process, Tyler was the only company qualified to do the job. She added that she had little control over the other offices with stakes in the upgrade.

Reilly also dredged up unpopular tax hikes Preckwinkle pushed roughly a decade ago and sought to tie her to Kim Foxx — Preckwinkle's former chief of staff who became the county's top prosecutor — and Mayor Brandon Johnson. Preckwinkle helped get Johnson elected to the County Board but the relationship between the two has since chilled. She declined to endorse Johnson for another term during one of their debates back in February.

Preckwinkle, meanwhile, leaned into her progressive bona fides, reminding voters of the ways she'd stood up to President Donald Trump and his administration's immigration enforcement, investments made in erasing medical debt and piloting a guaranteed income program, and criminal justice reforms that had not contributed to a spike in crime.

She also touted the county's improved fiscal status, earning several bond rating upgrades, improving pension funding and building up emergency balances without new or hiked taxes and fees in recent years.

Preckwinkle, the head of the county's Democratic Party, also shored up her political support from unions, other top Democrats like Gov. JB Pritzker and state Senate President Don Harmon, and progressive advocacy groups. Reilly, while promising weekly endorsements, only rolled out a handful.

Preckwinkle focused some party firepower to ensure Democrats won three County Board districts with relatively strong Republican voting records in past years. In the closely watched 17th District

— the last held by a Republican — GOP nominee Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman conceded to Democrat Elyse Hoffenberg.

Democrats Maggie Trevor and Ted Mason, who received a late infusion of help from the party, had near-insurmountable leads over their Republican challengers in the northwest suburbs, according to city and county election authorities.

In a written statement, Preckwinkle congratulated newly elected commissioners Mason, Hoffenberg, Patricia “Trish” Murphy, Drake Warren, Elizabeth Granato and Miranda Hernandez, “along with every returning commissioner who earned voters’ trust again this year.”

"This win was built long before tonight. In March, the Cook County Democratic Party won 21 of 22 countywide slated races in the primary, a 95 percent success rate and the strongest performance by our Party since 1980," the statement continued. "Democrats across the country are fighting for the values we share and the future we believe in. Cook County showed what's possible when we come together, organize, and turn our shared values into action."

Tribune's Jonathan Bullington contributed.

COOK COUNTY BOARD

Republicans lose their sole seat on panel

By Eric Peterson,

Jonathan Bullington

and A.D. Quig

DAILY HERALD

Republicans appeared to lose their sole seat on the Cook County Board Tuesday as a former District 17 commissioner apparently failed in her bid to succeed the retiring incumbent.

The outcome seemed to complete the gradual elimination of Republican commissioners on the board during the 16-year tenure of President Toni Preckwinkle, the head of the county's Democratic party, which spent more than \$700,000 in this campaign on three races with some risk of Republican victory.

Unofficial results indicated Democratic Lyons Township Clerk Elyse Hoffenberg of La Grange had defeated Republican Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman of Orland Park in their race to replace Republican Sean Morrison of Palos Park.

With all precincts counted, Hoffenberg had 57.2% of the total.

District 17 stretches along the county's western border from the O'Hare and Schaumburg area to more conservative-leaning areas to the south such as Palos Park, Palos Hills and Orland Park.

Jacob Kaplan, executive director of the Cook County Democratic Party, said the party's apparent sweep of county board commissioner races Tuesday night was "incredibly important because we'll be a bulwark against the cuts that happened at the federal level with the Trump administration."

Lyons Township Clerk Elyse Hoffenberg, right, smiles while listening to comments made during a meeting of the Lyons Township board of trustees on Sept. 8. Hoffenberg, of La Grange, defeated Republican Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman, of Orland Park, in their race to replace Republican Sean Morrison on the Cook County Board. TERRENCE ANTONIO JAMES/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, called the outcome a victory for “good government.”

"In short, this race wasn't about D's vs R's. In my opinion, it was about the good guys vs the bad guys, and putting working people first," he said. "I'm thankful for Democrats, Independents, and Republicans choosing good government tonight."

Gorman served on the board from 2002 before stepping down in 2015 to work in the private sector and also served as director of the Illinois Tollway. She lost to Morrison in the 2022 GOP primary and was poised to face him again last March before his decision to drop out.

Late last week, Morrison shared a Facebook post on why Gorman “SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HOLD PUBLIC OFFICE EVER AGAIN.” He encouraged votes for every other Republican on the ballot except her.

Gorman dismissed his last-minute snub, saying that she never sought Morrison's endorsement because she didn't want it.

In his censure of Gorman, Morrison cited what he called a misleading use of old endorsements, as well as a number of intraparty disputes in the southwest suburbs.

Gorman's website was recently updated to include current endorsements, but previously included endorsements from previous campaigns. They are labeled as such. Though acknowledging “major divisions” among southwest suburban Republicans, she denied circulating any false endorsements and claimed to have the support of the Illinois GOP, law enforcement unions and several Republican state representatives and municipal officials.

Meanwhile, Hoffenberg's campaign was beleaguered in recent months by security camera footage of a brief kiss between her and Bridgeview Mayor Steve Landek. Gorman had sought the video through a public records request, which raised Hoffenberg's suspicions that Lyons Township Supervisor Chris Getty was surveilling her and feeding the information to Gorman.

An attorney, Hoffenberg said she wanted to streamline operations and modernize services if elected.

DISTRICT 15

In District 15, Democrat Ted Mason of Elk Grove Village — chief of staff to current Commissioner Kevin Morrison – appeared to defeat Republican business consultant Daniel Lee of Hoffman Estates.

With all precincts counted, Mason had 66.3% of the total.

Mason became a candidate after Morrison pursued an unsuccessful bid for the 8th Congressional District seat in the spring primary rather than re-election. Lee defeated Gabriella Hoxie of Schaumburg in the GOP primary.

DISTRICT 9

In District 9, incumbent Maggie Trevor of Rolling Meadows appeared to fend off a challenge from retired software engineer Jon Luers of Chicago.

Luers was placed on the ballot after the withdrawal of originally filed Republican candidate Ammie Kessem of Chicago, who'd accepted a position in the Trump administration's U.S. Department of Labor.

With 99.5% of precincts counted at 10:30 p.m., Trevor had received 63.3% of the total.

The 9th District includes parts of Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights, Rosemont and Rolling Meadows.

Here is a look at where the other county board races stood as of 10 p.m.:

DISTRICT 5

Democrat Kisha McCaskill was leading Republican Richard Nolan in the 5th District.

DISTRICT 8

Democrat Jessica Vasquez was leading Republican Ramona Bonilla-Anaiel in the 8th District.

DISTRICT 8

Democrat Jessica Vasquez was leading Republican Ramona Bonilla-Anaiel in the 8th District.

DISTRICT 11

Democrat John Daley was leading Republican Charles Spizzirri in the 11th District.

DISTRICT 12

Democrat Elizabeth Granato was leading Republican Xiaoli “Alice” Hu in the 12th District.

DISTRICT 13

Democrat Josina Morita was leading Republican Aasi Siddique in the 13th District.

UNCONTESTED RACES

Running uncontested Tuesday were Democrat incumbents Tara Stamps in District 1, Michael Scott in District 2, Bill Lowry in District 3, Stanley Moore in District 4, Alma Anaya in District 7 and Scott Britton in District 14.

Newcomer Democrats also free of challenge were Patricia Jones “Trish” Murphy replacing Commissioner Donna Miller in District 6, Drake Warren who defeated incumbent Bridget Gainer in District 10, and Miranda Hernandez who defeated Frank Aguilar in District 16.

ELECTION 2026

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Dems expand Springfield supermajorities

By Jeremy Gorner, Addison Wright, Tess Kenny and Finnegan Belleau

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Illinois Democrats expanded their veto-proof supermajorities in the General Assembly Tuesday night, maintaining their dominance in the state legislature as part of a nationwide blue wave that saw Republican incumbents from the offices of governor to U.S. Senate to U.S. House lose their power.

Going into Election Day, Democrats controlled the Illinois House 78-40 and the state Senate 40-19. But when the night was over, Illinois Democrats brought their number of lawmakers in each chamber to the highest totals they've seen in modern history.

By Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats flipped at least two Republican seats and in the Senate, five GOP seats got flipped by Democrats.

The Democrats' success in General Assembly races comes after they tied President Donald Trump's low approval ratings, stemming from discontent with the economy, particularly high gas prices due to his war in Iran, to their GOP opponents, claiming they're more aligned with the Republican president than most regular voters in a blue state that Trump has lost in the last three presidential elections.

The results also show Democrats competing for state legislative seats have continued to gain more ground in, or all but obliterate, historically Republican strongholds in suburban Cook County and the collar counties.

In an open west suburban House seat, Democrat Erica Bray-Parker, a member of the Wheaton City Council, flipped that seat blue against Republican Robert Vrankovich, an entrepreneur from Carol Stream, defeating him 59.1% to 40.9% with 99% of the estimated vote counted, according to unofficial results from The Associated Press.

"I'm excited that we have an opportunity to take the lead and continue to really listen to people and talk with people," Bray-Parker said. "I think government can do good things, and I think that's what the Democratic Party is about is enabling government ... to do good things."

In a statement, Vrankovich thanked “everyone who believed in our campaign and joined me to offer real solutions, accountability, and common sense in Springfield.”

In another competitive northwest suburban race, Republican state Rep. Martin McLaughlin of Barrington Hills lost by nearly 12 percentage points to Democrat Maria Peterson of North Barrington with an estimated 95% of the votes tabulated, the unofficial AP results show. The contest was a rematch of a 2024 race that McLaughlin won by just 47 votes.

In one state Senate race in the northwest suburbs, Democrat Michele Clark of Algonquin beat Republican Danielle Penman of St. Charles by more than 24 percentage points with an estimated 67% of votes counted, according to unofficial results from the AP. The candidates competed for the seat occupied by outgoing GOP state Sen. Donald DeWitte of St. Charles.

In another hotly contested northwest suburban Senate race, Democratic state Rep. Nabeela Syed of Palatine bested Republican incumbent Darby Hills of Barrington by 14 percentage points with an estimated 94% of the vote counted, unofficial AP results show.

In recent months, Syed raised well over \$2 million in large-dollar contributions, much of it from Democratic Senate President Don Harmon's campaign operation and the state Democratic Party.

In another northwest suburban race, GOP incumbent state Sen. Seth Lewis of Bartlett lost to Democratic newcomer Ben McAdams of Bloomingdale by over 9 percentage points with an estimated $90\%$ of the votes tabulated, the unofficial AP results show. And in southwestern Illinois, Republican incumbent state Sen. Erica Harriss of Glen Carbon lost by close to 6 percentage points to Democrat Marsie Geldert-Murphey, also of Glen Carbon, with nearly all the votes tallied.

Back up north, Republican state Sen. Craig Wilcox of McHenry lost his bid for re-election to Karen Battaglia of Antioch by over five percentage points with an estimated 97% of the vote counted, unofficial results from AP show.

"As a nurse and longtime first responder, I've seen firsthand how much families depend on affordable health care, strong schools and the people who show up when our communities need them most," Battaglia said in a statement Wednesday. "I know we have work to do to make life a little easier for families, and I'm eager to get started."

Democratic state Rep. Jessica Dixon Heitman, who replaced former state Rep. Harry Benton this summer after he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, defeated her Republican opponent, Gabby Shanahan of Joliet, by over 22 percentage points with $96\%$ of the estimated vote counted in their far southwest suburban Illinois House race.

Heitman was appointed to the seat in July, and Tuesday night's victory means she will now serve a two-year term in the House beginning in January. Reached by telephone, Heitman thanked her family and her staff for their support during her campaign.

"I worked really hard. I was walking six hours a day, you know, (many) miles a day, just making sure that I was getting out there and meeting people, and that is why we're at where we're at right now because I really knew that the only way that we could get to where we're at is if I went out and actually made sure that I was meeting the people that I was going to be representing," Heitman said shortly before the AP declared her the winner.

In a statement from the Illinois House Republican Organization, the GOP caucus' main campaign arm, Shanahan acknowledged the results "did not go the way that we had hoped" but said she was "incredibly proud of the race that we ran."

Democratic Party officials appointed Heitman of Plainfield to finish Benton's term. He defeated Shanahan in the 2024 election by fewer than 2,400 votes out of more than 52,700 ballots cast.

A married mother of three, Heitman is a granddaughter of the late U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon and has held staff positions in the General Assembly, including as a deputy press secretary for former Illinois Senate President John Cullerton. Most recently, she has been president of communications firm Dixon/Heitman Collective.

She also worked briefly as a contract employee in Benton's Plainfield office in early 2023, overlapping with the ex-staffer who accused him of sexual harassment. Shanahan and other Republicans have criticized Heitman for not coming forward about the former Benton staffer's allegations, though Heitman has pushed back on that criticism, stressing the importance of maintaining trust and keeping the ex-staffer's confidence by not getting involved in the matter.

In the meantime, records show Heitman accepted significant funding from House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, including over \$1 million in mid-October from his campaign operation, despite him falling under scrutiny following a Tribune investigation in mid-July that revealed Welch knew of Benton’s reported misbehavior three years ago but did not discipline him at the time. A legislative inspector general investigation revealed in late July that Benton engaged in a “pattern and practice” of sexual harassment against the former staffer who worked briefly with Heitman and two other women.

Asked last month why she accepted Welch's campaign funding, Heitman said she accepts support from “people in organizations that want to see Democrats succeed.”

Shanahan, also a married mother of three, works as a grassroots engagement director for the policy advocacy group Americans for Prosperity.

In a rematch of a 2024 House race decided by just 595 votes, incumbent Democratic state Rep. Amy "Murri" Briel of Ottawa defeated Republican Liz Bishop of LaSalle by almost 15 percentage points, unofficial AP results show. The J-shaped 76th House District stretches south from DeKalb and west along the Illinois River Valley.

This time around, Bishop's campaign had turned up the heat on Briel by highlighting questions about the lawmaker's treatment of staffers, including during the 2024 campaign.

Among those who came forward was a woman who spoke out in a roughly 40-minute video interview coordinated by Bishop's campaign. The woman accused Briel of making advances toward her and fostering a “chaotic and abusive environment within Briel’s campaign and government office,” among other allegations, Bishop’s campaign said in a statement announcing the video’s release.

At an event in DeKalb on Sept. 10, Briel denied the allegations from the woman and two other former campaign staffers who have alleged they also were mistreated. When reporters pressed her on the allegations in the woman's video, Briel said she hadn't watched it but was “denying what I have heard.”

Despite denying the allegations after they were disclosed publicly, Briel withdrew from a House Democratic working group Welch created to explore ways to improve workplace safeguards in the General Assembly, part of the speaker's response to the Benton case.

But in the last couple of weeks, Welch's campaign operation had supported Briel with over \$310,000 in funding, State Board of Elections records show.

Meanwhile, incumbent GOP state Rep. Dan Ugaste of Geneva was losing in his race to Democratic challenger Ricky Rivard of St. Charles by over 16 percentage points with an estimated 63% of the vote counted, according to the unofficial AP results.

Rivard told the Tribune he felt the votes so far in his favor were a reflection of his team's hard work.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “I’m excited to get to work.”

Ugaste chalked up the numbers in his race as part of the national trend of Democratic victories.

“I think something happened nationally, and not that there wasn’t anything here that contributed to it, but I think mostly it was a national trend that took hold,” he said.

BLOWOUT

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are set to launch a 100-day agenda to lower the costs of gas, groceries and healthcare

— and conduct vast oversight of Trump and his administration, with impeachment an option.

“We hear you,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would make history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins Jan. 3.

Jeffries called the election a “stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism” and “a great victory for the American people.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the political reality that voters may have been more willing to reject Trump's party than to embrace the Democrats.

"Many of the folks who voted for us yesterday are still skeptical, and that's OK," the New York senator said Wednesday at the Capitol.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, seen Wednesday, is poised to become the first Black House speaker. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

He said the history-making scale of his party's wins — picking up long-shot Senate seats in South Carolina, Texas and Kansas — creates “the opportunity to prove ourselves worthy of their trust.”

All told, the results present a fundamental reshaping of

power in Washington, with new openings and challenges for governing. The tally was bewildering for the scope of Democratic gains and the depth of Republican losses, which indiscriminately wiped out GOP firebrands, moderates and veteran conservatives nationwide. The swelling majorities, with some races still too early to call, underlined a deep sense of voter anger and concern over the economy and the state of democracy.

Trump struck a conciliatory tone, suggesting he could work with the Democrats, but he also warned of gridlock ahead as he threatened to use the power of the presidential veto to strike down their agenda.

"I don't want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything," he told Politico. Later, he acknowledged the Iran war impacted the midterm elections, suggesting voters were frustrated by surging gas prices that have been a byproduct of the 8-month-old conflict.

"The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it," Trump told reporters.

He said he was not considering replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, despite voter dissatisfaction with the war and the threat of impeachment proceedings against the Pentagon chief. He said Hegseth was “doing a great

job."

House Democrats are planning to quickly launch efforts to reverse Trump's GOP cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid healthcare programs. They're also ready to dive into a robust oversight agenda of the administration and aspects of corporate America to, as Jeffries says, "hold the crooks accountable."

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, issued a one-sentence warning: "Lawyer up."

Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, issued his own one-word missive: "Subpoenas."

Democrats will be under pressure to quickly show that they have solutions for voters' anger and frustration about the direction of the country. About 7 in 10 voters nationally say Congress is not doing enough to provide checks and balances on the presidency, according to The AP Voter Poll.

For Jeffries and his leadership team, it will be their first time in the majority, managing a class of newcomers including a handful of far-left democratic socialists.

With the Democratic majority in the 435-member House growing well past the 218 needed and the Senate Democrats holding at least 54 of 100 seats in that chamber, Jeffries and Schumer will have room to maneuver.

Republicans' hopes for using the post-election lame-duck sprint to accomplish as much as possible before losing power seem dim as defeated lawmakers prepare to go home at the end of the year.

Conservatives see the opportunity for Trump to nominate more judges or even a Supreme Court justice while Senate Republicans still hold a majority to confirm the picks.

And the government could be headed toward a federal shutdown if Congress fails to pass a funding bill to keep operations running.

REFERENDUMS

Millionaire tax, gunshot detection win broad support

By Jake Sheridan

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Chicago voters overwhelmingly supported new taxes targeting millionaires as well as the reinstatement of gunshot detection technology Tuesday, according to unofficial election results.

The advisory ballot questions are non-binding. But City Hall leaders immediately noted the broad consensus they established and quickly set out to use the results to pressure their opponents.

The millionaire tax referendum results show Chicagoans want to see tax-the-rich policies, Mayor Brandon Johnson argued in an interview with the Tribune Wednesday morning. He tied the vote to his own ongoing push for taxes targeting large corporations to be added to the city's budget.

Around 80% of Chicago voters backed both a county-wide proposal to hit millionaires with a 3% surcharge to fund property tax relief and education and another ballot question asking if millionaires should be taxed more to fund schools.

“This is an overwhelming support,” Johnson said. “What it says is that these communities support taxing the wealthiest as well as taxing corporations as a way to make critical investments.”

Flashing his willingness to press individual aldermen on the issue, Johnson brought up another referendum question that appeared in a handful of precincts across the city to asking voters if they supported a tax on corporations with over 500 employees “in order to fund youth jobs, public mental healthcare and violence prevention services.”

He likened the question to his own City Council push for a corporate head tax and urged reporters to ask how Ald. Monique Scott, 24th, viewed the results from several precincts she represents.

Asked at City Hall about 88% of voters supporting the tax, Scott said the “working class” should get a say, but argued voters had failed to foresee the consequences of taxing the rich.

"I'm sure when you say to a poor community, 'a millionaire tax,' that already puts the community on a defense, because it's the lesser, we're the lesser," she said. "But when you think of it from a business perspective, it is for me a job killer, it is for me somewhat of, you're punishing people for being successful."

Scott brushed off the result by saying the question had not been properly explained to voters, warning that city leaders “don’t have the facts” about the tax burden already hitting millionaires and billionaires. She said City Hall should instead use spending cuts to balance its budget, but did not clearly identify what she believes must be cut from Johnson’s proposed spending plan.

And if Johnson hopes to use the results to pressure aldermen to support taxes against the city's wealthiest residents and businesses, he should feel pressure to reinstate gunshot detection technology, Scott added.

"One doesn't go without the other, right?" she said.

Over 72% of voters backed restarting the use of gunshot detection technology, election results showed Wednesday afternoon.

The vote comes two years after Johnson discontinued the use of ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection tool he campaigned against and derided as a counterproductive “walkie-talkie on a stick.” The mayor’s decision to discontinue ShotSpotter sparked a years-long battle with a council majority still pushing him to replace the technology.

For his part, Johnson said he supports the reinstatement of gunshot detection tools, citing his administration's announcement late last month that it would soon test them. He also pointed to sharp declines in shootings and murders in recent years.

"We have to have responsible technology, technology that's effective and technology that's not invasive," he said. "As we continue to go through the process, all of this will be open and transparent. There's nothing surreptitious about it."

But the mayor did not say when the pilot would begin, refused to name the company behind the undescribed technology set to be tested soon and had no updates on the city's efforts to procure a long-term ShotSpotter replacement.

Ald. Nick Sposato, 38th, typically opposed to Johnson, said he didn't expect the mayor to heed voters' call to implement gunshot detection tools. But while Scott appeared troubled by the tax-the-rich results in her ward, Sposato said he was unbothered by the millionaire tax vote.

“A lot of these people don’t really understand what we’re talking about here,” he said. “It’s this whole movement of the, you know, ‘f\*\*\* the rich people, tax them.’ They paid more taxes than we do

already."

In other referendum questions, almost 85% of voters backed a proposal for the city to pursue financial compensation from the federal government tied to last year's "Operation Midway Blitz" immigration crackdown.

North Side and Southwest Side voters broadly supported expanded city mental health services, while voters city-wide strongly backed requirements for long-term vacant land to pay fees earmarked for schools.

Almost 68% of voters also supported the creation of a permanent city festival grounds. Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, who got the question put on the ballot, called it a “jumping off point,” but said she had no specific plans to push for a new festival space.

“We need to do more to create other economic engines that work on a consistent basis across the city,” she said.

Tribune reporter Alice Yin contributed.

STATEWIDE RACES

Croke poised to be next comptroller

By Marni Pyke,

Christy Gutowski and

Angie Leventis Lourgos

DAILY HERALD

Democrats retained their grip on all statewide offices, including the open seat for Illinois comptroller, election results Tuesday night showed.

Two newcomers vied to control the state's checkbook — Democratic state Rep. Margaret Croke and Republican attorney Bryan Drew.

With 90% of the estimated total counted, Croke won with 60.8% of the votes compared to Drew's 39.2%, according to unofficial results.

She will replace outgoing Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who announced her exit last year after a decade in Springfield. She plans to run for Chicago mayor.

Meanwhile, incumbents Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Treasurer Michael Frerichs kept their seats, according to the unofficial results. All races were called by Associated Press.

Democratic Party of Illinois Lisa Chair Hernandez hailed the outcome.

“Today, Illinois voters sent a clear message: We are a strong blue state,” Hernandez said.

Croke spent election night at Navy Pier, where Gov. JB Pritzker held his watch party and celebrated a third-term victory.

“People want to make sure Illinois continues on this really amazing trajectory we’ve seen,” she said.

The Chicagoan prevailed in a tough primary this spring with backing from Pritzker, while Drew, who lives in southern Illinois, was unchallenged for the Republican nomination.

Drew owns a law firm and a cafe in his hometown of Benton, which he said uniquely qualified him to understand affordability issues facing families and entrepreneurs.

Croke has served in the General Assembly since 2021 and chairs the House Financial Institutions Committee. She previously was Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity deputy chief of staff and worked on Pritzker's first gubernatorial campaign.

Drew has positioned himself as a watchdog, arguing there are no checks and balances in Illinois government with Democrats controlling the governor's mansion and all other statewide offices. He questioned whether Croke could act independently given her ties to Pritzker.

Croke said she doesn't think Pritzker likes "yes-people."

"He appreciates when you can have a frank conversation about what needs to be done," she said. "But at the end of the day, I'm very proud that I worked for the governor."

She added, “First and foremost, the people I need to be accountable to are the taxpayers and voters of Illinois. Every single person, whether they voted for me or not,” she said. “I have no problem expressing my opinion.”

Croke has said her priorities include introducing software that shows taxpayers “the full life-cycle” of revenues from budget line items to payments, and using technology to modernize the office and find efficiencies.

Drew acknowledged the state has made strides in transparency under previous comptrollers by posting revenues and expenditures online. But he believes it's difficult for the general public to dig through that information and promised to present data in a user-friendly way.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Chicagoan Giannoulias faced Joliet Republican Diane M. Harris, who spent 32 years working for ComEd.

With 91% of estimated votes counted, Giannoulias had 64.6% and Harris had 35.4%, according to unofficial results.

Giannoulias has touted his modernization of secretary of state facilities, as well as its handling of a surge in REAL ID applications, easing license renewal requirements for seniors and spearheading legislation to counter unreasonable auto insurance rate hikes.

“Four years ago, we made a promise to make our government work a little better,” Giannoulias told a crowd of supporters in Chicago. “Four years ago, we made a promise to focus on efficiency, on modernization, on rebuilding trust in government.

"I'm here to tell you that all the promises we made ... because of the outstanding work of members of the secretary of state's team ... all those promises have come true."

Harris, a precinct committeeman who also owns a dress shop, has advocated to make vehicle stickers and titles more affordable. She also supports “safer, smarter” rules of the road to protect families and young drivers, and tightening cybersecurity.

Giannoulias is multitasking this fall as he aims for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's job as well as his own reelection.

He repeatedly declined questions about his mayoral run, including which candidate he considers his biggest threat.

"We're focused on today. It's a good day. People worked really hard across the state to get us over the finish line. We have time to talk about other elections in the future. But today's a celebration.

"You can keep on asking but I'm fired up about tonight."

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Incumbent Raoul was first elected in 2018 and was up against attorney and former Chicago alderman Bob Fioretti, a veteran of a number of political campaigns.

With 91% of estimated votes counted, Chicagoan Raoul had 61.4% and Fioretti had 38.6%, according to unofficial results.

TREASURER

Chicagoan Frerichs, a former state senator, was elected as treasurer in 2014 and was challenged by Republican attorney Max Solomon of Hazel Crest.

With 90% of estimated votes counted, Frerichs had 62% and Solomon had 38%, according to unofficial results.

“We will continue helping families save for college, returning missing money to the people it belongs to, and earning record investment returns to help our state,” Frerichs said in a statement.

VOTER ZEITGEIST

Voters casting ballots at a Downers Grove polling station were pumped up about the general election.

"I'm kind of excited. There seems to be a lot of controversy this year and a lot at stake," Kathryn Meronek said.

Resident Leo Boshardy remarked that “it’s an important (election). I’m just a little worried, and I wanted to come out and do my civic duty.”

However, when asked about the outcome of the comptroller's contest, one of the marquee statewide races given the exit of Mendoza, a number of voters confessed to not being up to speed on the position.

“I don’t know anything about it,” resident Bob Johnson said.

“I’m interested in what they control,” Boshardy said, jokingly.

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the federal minimum wage, provide universal healthcare and childcare, restore the federal Voting Rights Act, reverse Trump's “One Big Beautiful Bill” cuts in nutrition and Medicaid, codify abortion rights into federal law and give Americans refunds from Trump tariffs struck down by the courts.

“We need the Congress to step up to the plate, and this is the day after a monumental election in which the American people have said that Congress must act. And so, we want to make sure that the Congress has an agenda, one that’s good for the people of Illinois. Now, if it’s good for other states, that’s great,” Pritzker said.

"The amount of destruction that's been brought upon Illinois and upon states all across the United States has been unprecedented," Pritzker, a vocal Trump critic, said at a news conference at the Columbus Park Refectory on Chicago's Far West Side. He was joined by his lieutenant governor, U.S. Sen.-elect Juliana Stratton, and Tammy Duckworth, who's soon to be Illinois' senior U.S. senator.

"The American people have given (Congress) a clear mandate and an urgent responsibility to repair the damage," Pritzker said. "The work of fulfilling that responsibility and fighting for a better future needs to begin immediately, not a year from now, not six months from now. I mean, right away."

Pritzker said the playbook, developed by his staff and culled from federal program and policy changes implemented by the president and the GOP-led Congress, “isn’t about beating up Donald Trump.”

"I believe that it's possible that this president, having received the mandate against his policies, might be willing to talk to Democrats about the agenda that they're putting forward and be willing to make compromise or actually approve. I think there are things that he may agree with in this agenda," the Democratic governor said.

He also chided other governors who he said “have been sort of cowed” by Trump and threats coming from him. “Maybe because the American people have spoken as they have, even in red states, that maybe those governors will work together to ask their senators, who might also be Republican, to do the right thing in Congress. So that’s what I’m hoping for.”

In laying out a proposal that gives Pritzker an opportunity to present his policy chops and an agenda to a national audience, the governor once again demurred about a prospective 2028 presidential bid as part of what will likely be a sizable field after the outcome of Tuesday's voting.

“Everything, and I really mean everything, including the agenda that we put forward today, and everything that we’ve done over the last eight years, has really been about the people of Illinois,” he said. “Those are the things that’ll guide all the decisions I’ll make going forward.”

But Duckworth declared if Pritzker runs for president, "I will support him 110%" as she and other Democrats hoped to pick up support for their agenda from lame-duck Republicans who won't be returning in January and are no longer threatened by Trump.

"We can put things in front of (Trump) and dare him to veto them," said Duckworth, who will become the state's senior U.S. senator when Dick Durbin retires in January. "I think he's too much of a chicken s—t to veto a lot of this stuff and we're going to hold him accountable."

Pritzker's policy agenda came a day after handily defeating Bailey, whose poorly funded rematch was unable to escape the forces behind his loss four years ago — his support for Trump and his conservative Christian views on social issues.

In addition to Bailey, Collin Corbett, a former Republican political operative, mounted an independent campaign.

With 91% of the estimated vote counted in the race, unofficial results showed Pritzker had 60%, Bailey had 37%, and Corbett had 3%.

With votes still to be counted, Pritzker appeared destined to greatly increase his near 13 percentage point victory over Bailey in 2022 and already had nearly 100,000 more votes than he finished with four years ago. Bailey was down about 300,000 votes from his 2022 finish in the unofficial count.

In his victory Tuesday, Pritzker captured the last GOP holdout in the collar counties, McHenry County, while also taking Rockford's Winnebago County and Springfield's Sangamon County, which he lost four years ago.

Gov. JB Pritzker greets supporters on election night at Navy Pier in Chicago. BRIAN CASSELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Helping to boost Pritzker's win and demonstrating the rapid decline of Republicans in Illinois, a CNN voter profile of the state's electorate — akin to exit polling of the past — showed Democrats comprised 41% of voters compared with 27% who were Republicans and 32% who identified as independents.

Among Illinois Republican voters, nearly 40% said they did not consider themselves followers of Trump's Make America Great Again movement, and 10% of them voted for Pritzker. Bailey was backed by virtually all MAGA followers. Independent voters favored Pritzker 58% to 35%, the CNN voter profile found.

With Stratton's win in the race for the U.S. Senate, Pritzker's new running mate, Christian Mitchell, becomes the first Black man in state history to serve in the post.

Pritzker becomes the first Democratic governor ever elected to three terms. Republican Gov. Jim Thompson won a record four terms spanning 1977 to 1991. Pritzker's victory represented the continued deterioration of the state's Republican Party since the 1990s as a competitive political force in Illinois.

The voting also marked the third consecutive election loss for Bailey, a downstate farmer and former state lawmaker. His two unsuccessful bids for governor were sandwiched around a 2024 primary loss in his challenge to veteran GOP U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro.

"I have no regrets. We hit, we fought, we worked hard. You were by our side. There are no regrets," Bailey told supporters in a small hotel ballroom in downstate Effingham. "The people are speaking, and it it just confounds us. Unfortunately, we look across the nation, and we see this happening all across the nation."

Bailey said the nation-wide results favoring Democrats mean that “we have a fight ahead of us” to unite the nation.

“We’re going to have to have unity, but we’re going to have to fight for unity. We’re going to have to fight for unity across with people that don’t necessarily think as us,” he said without elaboration. “I thought we had a wonderful opportunity to do that, and I was willing to do that. I tried to turn my message and to give them a seat at the table, but they chose something different.”

Bailey had sought to down-play his evangelical Christian beliefs on social issues such as opposition to abortion and gay rights that had played a strong role in losing suburban support in 2022. But in a Facebook post on Wednesday, Bailey wrote, “Jesus was King before the election, Jesus is King today, and Jesus will still be King tomorrow. An election doesn’t change that. A political victory or defeat doesn’t change that. Our hope has never been in a political party, a candidate, or an election. Our hope is in Jesus Christ.”

For Pritzker, who now has spent more than \$400 million of his personal wealth on his three campaigns for governor

— including more than \$50 million in the current one — the strategy for his rematch against Bailey was largely to rerun his 2022 victory playbook.

Bailey's initial bid for governor four years ago was backed by more than \$50 million from Richard Uihlein, the founder of the Uline office supply company. But Bailey got only \$6,900 from the billionaire conservative donor this time around, a reflection of softened financial support for his candidacy in a year when Republicans focused money on trying to salvage congressional contests nationwide amid voter anger over Trump policies.

Pritzker never acknowledged a potential presidential bid even as he boosted his national footprint by dispensing some of his \$4.2 billion net worth — a Forbes estimate — with millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and causes across the country, while also traveling to speak at various state party functions influential in getting him name recognition.

Helping to give Pritzker a national platform was his unrelenting, vehement attacks on Trump, who he labeled a “racist, misogynist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant” president while the administration pressed Operation Midway Blitz, a deadly and chaotic street policy of deploying federal immigration enforcement agents into the Chicago area that began more than a year ago.

Trump was in many ways the centerpiece of Pritzker's campaign. It was long on the two-term incumbent's efforts to criticize the president and link him to Bailey — and also on touting his own actions to defend Illinois against administration policies regarding healthcare, voting rights and immigration — but short on offering a definitive third-term agenda.

Bailey had avidly courted and won Trump's endorsement in 2022, but sought to publicly distance himself from the president four years later. Still, Trump endorsed his second bid for governor, and Bailey said he welcomed it. He even defended the administration's immigrant enforcement efforts and blamed it on the state's sanctuary policies.

And despite his agricultural background and the effects Trump's tariff policies and his war against Iran have had on farm production and sales, Bailey defended the president's actions as “short-term pain for a long-term gain.”

It was Trump who encouraged Bailey to make the race after a family tragedy almost ended it before it really began. A helicopter crash in Montana in October of last year killed his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Another grandchild survived. In a letter of condolence, Trump urged Bailey to “continue to Fight! Fight! Fight! for your beloved state in honor of your beautiful family.”

In his second gubernatorial bid, Bailey sought to soften his view of Chicago, which he had derided as a “hellhole” in his first campaign. He lived in an apartment in the South Loop, though he declined to identify the owner, and vowed that he would spend more time in the city and suburbs in an effort to woo key suburban voters whom he had alienated four years ago. He also dispatched his running mate, Aaron Del Mar of Palatine, to act as a northern Illinois liaison for his campaign.

But besides apologizing over his previous attitude toward Chicago and filming some cringeworthy visits to city sights with Del Mar acting as a tour guide, Bailey continued to spend significant time in his downstate base to try to goose GOP turnout there, despite the overwhelming number of residents in the city and collar counties who decide the fate of statewide campaigns.

Pritzker ran a consistent set of commercials, including several adopting the 2022 theme he used against the Republican as being “too extreme” for Illinois.

Without significant ad funding, Bailey had virtually no presence on TV except for news interviews, relying mostly on social media videos to make his pitch.

But his messages were often mixed. Bailey vowed to suspend the state's gas tax increase by executive order, though Illinois governors don't have the power. He said he would make tollways free but acknowledged bondholders were still owed \$7 billion and that the motor fuel tax would have to be tapped to pay for ongoing tollway repair and maintenance. He proposed a plan for a Chicago Bears stadium only to acknowledge it was just a "start" and said the team's mascot was his favorite player.

Bailey sought to label Pritzker's criticisms as a distraction from the Democratic governor's own record. But Pritzker touted his experience in the office including bringing fiscal stability and upgraded credit ratings for state government, enacting a first-term increase in the state's minimum wage, increasing education funding, and putting in place protections for women's healthcare including enshrining a right to abortion in state law.

Chicago Tribune's Rebecca Johnson and Michael Hawthorne contributed

U.S. HOUSE

Incumbents keep seats in city, suburbs

U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson waves as he walks in the Bud Billiken Parade through Washington Park in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood on Aug. 8. ARTHUR MAIORELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

By Christopher Placek

DAILY HERALD

Democratic incumbents representing congressional districts in Chicago and the suburbs — areas that have stayed reliably blue in recent election cycles, and in some instances, for decades — held onto their seats Tuesday, early returns show.

Among those on their way to another two-year term is U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, the Chicago Democrat who has held the 5th District seat for 17 years, but who now is among a crowded field of candidates for the city's mayor.

Less senior members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez of the 3rd District, also appeared to easily fend off challenges from Republican opponents.

Here is a district-by-district breakdown of races in six congressional districts:

1ST DISTRICT

With an estimated 82% of the vote counted in the 1st District, Democratic Rep. Jonathan Jackson of Chicago bested Republican Christian Maxwell with 70.3% of the total, according to unofficial results.

Associated Press declared Jackson the winner just before 8 p.m.

Jackson, son of the late civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, has held the seat since 2023. He had no opposition in the Democratic primary.

He was among area congressmen to inspect the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview last December after being denied entry to a Chicago South Loop ICE facility months earlier.

Jackson was challenged by Maxwell, a Chicago businesswoman, marketing consultant and homeschooling mother of four, who said families in the district were concerned about public safety, education, affordability, housing, taxes and “feel overlooked by the political establishment.”

The district includes much of Chicago's South Side, Cook County suburbs such as Alsip, Harvey and Orland Park, along with parts of Will and Kankakee counties.

3RD DISTRICT

With an estimated 81% of ballots counted in the 3rd District, Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez of Chicago beat Republican Angel Oakley of Wheaton with 76% of the vote, according to unofficial returns. Ramirez was declared the winner by Associated Press at 9 p.m.

A former state lawmaker first elected to Congress in 2022, Ramirez is one of the more progressive members of the House, describing herself as “a staunch advocate of housing as a human right, healthcare for all, climate justice and the fight to preserve and protect our democracy.”

She was opposed by Oakley, a former Winfield village trustee who owns a marketing and communications firm. She campaigned as a moderate Republican — describing herself as “a conservative moderate who leads with American values, love and compassion” — and tried to tout her independent credentials, especially as she stumped for votes in the Chicago portions of the district.

The district, which includes much of the city's Northwest Side, stretches to parts of suburban Cook and

DuPage counties, including Elk Grove Village, Addison, Bartlett and West Chicago.

5TH DISTRICT

With an estimated 92% of ballots counted in the 5th District, Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley defeated Republican Tommy Hanson with 76% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Associated Press declared Quigley the winner just after 8 p.m.

Quigley, who has represented the district since 2009, ran for reelection at the same time he's been campaigning in the crowded field of declared candidates for Chicago mayor. He entered the mayoral race in June after previously ruling out a run four years ago due to the war in Ukraine and what he saw as his role to safeguard democracy and fight for American values abroad.

Quigley is co-chair of the House Ukrainian Caucus, a member of the House Committee on Appropriations and earlier served on the House Select Committee on Intelligence until 2022.

He was challenged by perennial candidate Hanson, a Chicago commercial real estate broker who lost to

Quigley in the past four general elections and to Rahm Emanuel in 2008. Hanson moderated his tone somewhat from previous campaigns, though remains an ardent supporter of the Donald Trump administration's policies.

The district runs from Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood through the heart of the Northwest suburbs in Cook County and into southern Lake County.

6TH DISTRICT

With an estimated 92% of ballots counted in the 6th District, Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove led Republican Niki Conforti of Glen Ellyn with 63% of the vote, according to unofficial returns.

He was declared the winner by Associated Press just after 9:30 p.m.

The contest was a rematch, after Casten defeated Conforti by an 8-point margin in the 2024 general election. Each fended off primary challengers in March.

The campaign was marked by starkly different political approaches between Casten, a former energy industry entrepreneur seeking a fifth term, and

Conforti, an energy consultant making her third bid for Congress.

They especially differed on economic policy. Both said targeted tariffs on foreign-made goods could be effective tools, but they disagreed on the effectiveness and legality of the taxes implemented by Trump.

The district stretches from eastern DuPage County — taking in parts of Elmhurst and Lombard — to southern Cook County and the Far Southwest Side of Chicago.

10TH DISTRICT

With an estimated 95% of ballots counted in the 10th District, Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider had about 70% of the vote over Republican Carl Lambrecht, according to unofficial results.

Schneider, of Highland Park, has represented the district since 2017 after an initial term that ran from 2013 to 2015. Chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition on Capitol Hill, Schneider easily fended off a primary challenge from his left in March, defeating Mundelein business owner Morgan Coghill by 58 percentage points.

A member of the House

Ways and Means and Foreign Affairs committees, Schneider said affordability is the most pressing issue in the district, and argued Trump's trade policies created uncertainty and raised costs for families, farmers, manufacturers and small businesses.

Lambrecht, 93, of Highland Park, is an optical engineer and GOP precinct committee representative who didn't mount much of a campaign. He didn't have a campaign website, social media pages or public appearances. He also didn't report any campaign fundraising or spending to the Federal Election Commission.

The district covers a broad swath of Lake County, stretching as far north as the state line at Hebron east to Lake Michigan and southeast into Wheeling, Northbrook and Wilmette in Cook County.

14TH DISTRICT

With an estimated 93% of ballots counted in the 14th District, Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville was ahead of Republican Jim Marter of Oswego with 63% of the vote, according to unofficial returns.

She was declared the winner by Associated Press just after 9:30 p.m.

The election was a rematch between Underwood, a registered nurse first elected to Congress in 2018, and Marter, a software consultant who lost by 10 percentage points in 2024.

Underwood said she would pursue an agenda focused on affordability and accountability and help Congress “resume its role as a separate co-equal branch of government” should Democrats flip the House in the midterms, which is projected to happen.

Marter, a former Oswego Public Library board member and Kendall County Republican Party chair, won the GOP primary for the 14th District seat in March. He also ran in primaries for the 14th District in 2022 and 2020; for the 16th District in 2018; and for U.S. Senate in 2016.

The district encompasses parts of Kane, Will, DeKalb, Kendall, LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam counties, including all or parts of Plainfield, Joliet, Aurora and Sycamore.

Hearing granted for woman in ICE detention

By Allison Kiehl

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Family photos show Beata Siemionkowicz with her daughters, Gabi and Claudia, on July 16. Siemionkowicz, a U.S. green card holder from Poland, has been in ICE custody for more than a year since being detained in Claudia's Des Plaines backyard while gardening. BRIAN CASSELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

A federal judge in Kentucky Tuesday ordered that an Illinois green card holder who has been in ICE custody for more than a year be granted a bond hearing, set to take place this week.

Beata Siemionkowicz, a Round Lake mother and green card holder from Poland, filed a petition for habeas corpus in early September. On Nov. 3, United States District Judge Karen Caldwell granted that request, in part because the judge found that her detention violated her due process, and ordered that Siemionkowicz, 57, be granted a bond hearing. Her hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning.

“This is one of the few times in which someone who has been deemed to be mandatorily detained has won this type of additional bond hearing and potential release in this district,” said Hirsh Joshi, an attorney with ACLU of Illinois, which is representing her. “This is a case that is emblematic of a larger problem that the Supreme Court has already agreed that it wants to hear.”

Siemionkowicz's successful petition for a writ of habeas corpus is a promising sign for other mandatory ICE detainees in the Kentucky district asking for a bond hearing after a prolonged detention, most of whom never were afforded an initial hearing, Joshi said. And, Siemionkowicz's release from detention would be even more promising, he said.

In an email, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement said that the agency makes "custody determinations daily, on a case-by-case basis in accordance with U.S. law, and various factors to ensure their presence for immigration proceedings or removal from the United States. Despite a historic number of injunctions, DHS is working rapidly and overtime to remove these aliens from detention centers to their final destination — home.”

Siemionkowicz entered the United States legally in 1995, moving to Illinois from her hometown of Bialystok, Poland, according to court records. She has been a permanent resident with a green card since 2003 and, as a divorced, single mom of two, built her life in Round Lake as a commercial cleaner and later a hospice caregiver.

That life was abruptly halted one August afternoon in 2025 when two masked ICE agents in civilian clothes arrested Siemionkowicz in her daughter's backyard, where she was gardening, according to her daughters, Claudia, 26, and Gabi, 22.

Agents arrested Siemionkowicz on Aug. 2, 2025, for her criminal record of misdemeanor retail theft from Jewel in September 2005 and Kohl's in October 2011, according to an ICE spokesperson. The agency also claimed she forged documents to obtain immigration benefits in 2001, before her green card status.

According to her daughters and Lake County court records, Siemionkowicz paid her dues years ago through fines and a period of supervised release. The sisters say their mom stole kids' clothes for them during an especially hard time after her divorce.

That long-ago Chicagoland criminal record, which ICE considers crimes involving “moral turpitude,” is what classified Siemionkowicz as a mandatory detainee, a group of immigrants who are not legally entitled to a bond hearing, according to records.

In October, the Supreme Court agreed to review a Trump administration policy denying bond hearings for immigrants as the government carries out a sweeping crackdown.

The justices will consider whether immigrants who have been living in the U.S. have a right to a hearing to determine if they should remain detained while challenging their possible deportation. Joshi said the High Court's decision could have an effect on immigrants like Siemionkowicz, who have been detained for long periods of time.

“That’s not to say this case in particular will go to the Supreme Court, only to say that this is a product of something that’s been happening over the last few years,” Joshi said. “We’re soon to see if people like Beata can get this kind of bond hearing at all.”

If Siemionkowicz is awarded bond, it does not mean an end to her Dec. 9, 2025, deportation order. It just means she can fight her immigration legal battle from outside the walls of a detention center and with her family, who never stopped supporting her. Gabi is cautiously optimistic that Siemionkowicz's release, her best-case scenario, may come to fruition.

“Of course, we’re staying hopeful,” Gabi said. “This is our last shot, I think.”

This decision comes just in time. After her habeas petition was filed, Gabi said that her mother was moved to a different, more secure medical wing within the Campbell County Detention Center where the conditions are “way worse” than her previous cell, according to Gabi.

Conditions inside the Campbell County Detention Center made national headlines in August when Illinois District 3 Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, among other Democrats, opened an investigation into the “inhumane conditions” of the Northern Kentucky facility following a congressional oversight visit the month prior.

"It's pretty jarring to see, on the ground, how they're treating people at Campbell County," Joshi said. "My only hope is to get Beata out as soon as we can."

Associated Press contributed.

2nd employee allegedly shared recordings of nude residents at care facility

not be reached for comment.

By Robert McCoppin

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

A lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Encore Memory Care at South Barrington after workers allegedly took and shared nude videos of residents earlier this year. Meanwhile, a second employee has been charged with a crime.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Kristen Fisher, the widow of 73-year-old Bernard “Skip” Fisher, who allegedly was videotaped naked lying in bed.

The suit alleges Encore caregiver Madison Russo, 25, of Hoffman Estates, took videos of three residents at the facility while they were undressed, and shared them with four other employees on a group Snapchat titled “Traitors and Besties.” Police say the residents were unlawfully recorded between January and July.

Two employees reported the alleged activity to the facility director in June. An internal investigation began, with police and the Illinois Department of Public Health notified. Encore subsequently terminated six employees, including Russo.

Russo was charged with felonies for unauthorized videotaping and disseminating unlawful video without consent, and videotaping a person's private parts. She has pleaded not guilty.

A second employee, Shannon Juarez, was charged and arrested in late October, accused of disseminating at least one photo in the group chat.

A representative from Encore, and attorneys for Russo and Juarez, could

Skip Fisher was aware of his surroundings and understood what was occurring around him, his wife told the Tribune, but his Parkinson's left him in a wheelchair and dependent on help for daily activities, nonverbal and unable to communicate.

His wife found out about the allegations from South Barrington police in July, she said, five days before her husband died.

“I was completely shocked,” Fisher said. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My husband was humiliated, he was degraded, and not able to defend himself. It immobilizes my every thought since then.”

At least two other residents also allegedly were videotaped, one while in the shower and another while sitting on a toilet wearing only socks.

Caregivers for dementia patients, whether family members at home or employees in an institution, can face daily challenges from residents who may be uncooperative or agitated, but advocates emphasize that caregivers must stay patient and respectful.

“Madison explained that (name redacted) always gives her a hard time during showers, and she wanted to show other caregivers what she deals with,” a South Barrington police report stated.

The suit was filed against Encore Illinois LLC, doing business as Encore South Barrington, its management company, Encore Senior Living, LLC, Russo, Juarez, and Scerbicke.

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[EDITORIALS] The repudiation of Trumpism

President Donald Trump gestures as he departs after speaking at a midterm election campaign rally at the Salina Regional Airport in Kansas on Sunday. DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

President Donald Trump is a loser.

That's not a slur but the only cogent analysis of what happened in Tuesday's midterm elections. As Republicans were blown out of the water, America witnessed a clear repudiation of Trumpism, as manifest in egotism, extremism, retribution and both personal and familial corruption.

Tuesday night had the feel of an exorcism. One race crystallized the shocking scale of what happened: The popular longtime governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, the man who bused migrants to Chicago but who always had cruised to victory in the Lone Star State, lost decisively to Gina Hinojosa, a result that would have been unthinkable just a few short months ago.

Gov. JB Pritzker, victorious in his own race for another term as governor of Illinois, helped fund Hinojosa's candidacy. Pritzker clearly has not forgotten what happened.

But Pritzker was not the one who burst the Trump fever dream on Tuesday night. It was voters who decided enough was more than enough.

In many ways, Democrats who had despised Trump from the beginning and never understood his populist appeal were not well positioned to understand the change that occurred over the past several months, especially when it came to rural voters who previously had turned a blind eye to Trump's personal cruelty and repulsive rhetoric but never loved a truly unlovable man. It was the former Trump voters who saw most clearly that the president only had doubled down on his most toxic qualities.

Many of them also deduced from his ramblings that he was pathologically incapable of doing the job they elected him to perform.

Simply put, Trump had gotten even worse: The betrayal of the people of Ukraine, the footsie played with the heinous Vladimir Putin, the familial schemes to make money from influence, the gilded theatrics in Washington, D.C. All of that grated, especially when you could not afford to fill your tractor with diesel.

The decision to wage war in Iran might have been a defensible national security decision, but the only currently visible result to most Americans is higher gas and diesel prices.

Nothing visible has been achieved. The dangerous regime is still in power, and there is a growing sense that Iran's still-robust Revolutionary Guard could and would cause such chaos across the Middle East in the event of a second Operation Epic Fury as to make such an operation nonviable in a world where oil reserves already have been depleted. In other words, voters decided Trump's signature combination of braggadocio and indecision had led to them paying the costs without seeing any of the benefits for global peace and security.

Not only were Democrats victorious, retaking both the U.S. Senate and, comfortably, the House, but also, Trump's ill-chosen, hand-picked candidates — from Darline Graham (“national security is not my thing”) in South Carolina to Ken Paxton in Texas (“it’s all coming from D.C.”) — were roadkill run over by a roaring Democratic truck. Calling into Fox News late on Tuesday night, Trump blamed the candidates and his own absence from the ballot. Even as he was talking, Fox called another Democratic race, adding to the majority in the Senate.

In race after race, Trump's exorcising of Republican moderates and popular local figures turned solidly Republican states and districts into the sites of historic Democratic wins. If, on CNN, Jake Tapper seemed giddy, and he did, then Trump only has his own pointless battles with the cable network and other media outlets to blame.

Many progressives had a night to remember, but it also is worth noting that Hakeem Jeffries, likely the next speaker of the House, also will have some new

Democratic moderates in his caucus; they had to be moderate to take away so many Republican seats across the South.

In rural Texas, former Trump voters moved to the side of James Talarico, a man whose faith they clearly found to be genuine and who talked in unifying terms, avoiding divisive terminology and emphasizing healthcare, about the need to fight back against corruption and the importance of lowering costs for working families.

Talarico was, Texas voters concluded, a thoroughly decent man and, it turned out, the perfect vaccine for the Trump virus.

Chicagoans voted Tuesday to stop CTU from controlling city's schools

Chicago's historic election of a 21-member school board free from mayoral control must be more than the mere shifting of a reckless and unsustainable approach to management of Chicago Public Schools to a new arena. It's time to turn the page from agitating for more cash to prop up a bloated system to dealing realistically with CPS' many challenges.

Thankfully, there's a chance of that happening with the election of Jessica Biggs, whom we endorsed for school board president, against two other candidates, including flawed and unqualified Hilario Dominguez, who was backed by the Chicago Teachers Union.

Biggs' convincing win in the most hotly contested local race of the night was the clearest voter referendum yet on CTU's militancy and outsized impact on city politics.

On a night in which President Donald Trump was a political millstone, CTU's strained and absurd efforts to tie Biggs to Trump — depicted in glossy attack mailers that stuffed mailboxes throughout the city — fell flat. That it did was a credit to the common sense of Chicagoans, who showed they are capable of separating their intense dislike of Trump from the failed leadership of Mayor Brandon Johnson, the former CTU lobbyist who has carried water for the union since taking office in 2023.

Biggs' easy win should cause CTU's rank and file to take stock of their union's unpopularity and consider a change in direction when the time comes.

All that said, CTU's night wasn't a disaster by any means. One of the races remained close a day after the election, but it was clear that CTU-endorsed candidates won the majority of the district races they contested.

There were five races in which CTU either failed to field candidates or had candidates knocked off the ballot for failing to garner enough valid signatures.

So the upshot is the school board will be roughly divided, with what appears to be nine members supporting CTU's agenda and 11 who are independent of the union. The independents have a majority, but just barely.

That will make coherent policymaking a challenge for the new board.

Still, for the sake of the near-bankrupt CPS, this new day is welcome. As the board's first elected president, Biggs will have the power to determine the board's agenda and set the direction of CPS.

Her task, easier said than done, will be to form a working majority that can keep the board focused on putting CPS on a stable fiscal course and, when the time comes in 2028, to strike a reasonable collective bargaining agreement with CTU, whose exorbitant demands under staunch ally Mayor Johnson helped make CPS the fiscal basket case it is today.

It may be too much to hope, but maybe — just maybe — a few of these CTU-endorsed board members will move more toward becoming problem solvers rather than rabble rousers and work with Biggs and the other board members to shift the debate over Chicago's schools from shaking down the “ultra-rich” to improving the educational outcomes for the 304,000 CPS students who for the last several years have been pawns in CTU's ideological crusade.

ON THIS DAY 6 YEARS AGO

YOU TOLD SPRINGFIELD 'NO'

Gov. J.B. Pritzker put his political capital on the line and bet \$58 million of his own money that he could convince voters to approve a constitutional amendment to change the state's tax system. Pritzker lost his bet. The amendment was defeated Tuesday, his "fair tax" idea is dead and Illinois ultimately will be the better for it.

Congratulations, voters. You did it.

No problems are immediately solved by this political loss for the governor. But without the quick fix of an income tax increase, Pritzker, House Speaker Michael Madigan and the Democrats who control the General Assembly will have to come to citizens with different ideas for managing the state out of its ruinous position....

Why did the Pritzker tax fail? Because his proposal to replace a flat income tax with a graduated rate wasn't what it seemed, and you the voters saw through the sales pitch. ... And Springfield has not earned voters' trust. ...

It's true Illinois faces a massive budget crisis, but it is not because of this state's constitutionally protected flat tax, which lawmakers already have raised twice in the last 10 years. ...

Voters know that. The 2.7 million who voted against Pritzker's amendment were not puppets of deceit or beholden to billionaires or the GOP.

They were you. They were retirees, teachers, union tradesmen, police officers, bus drivers, nurses and moms and dads frustrated with Springfield's closed shop. ... Voters got fed up.

They voted down the amendment as a clear instruction to you, Governor, to go do your job. Cut spending. Rightsize government. Negotiate labor contracts that are fair to all taxpayers. Offer voters the amendments and policies they want, including a pension amendment. Quit turning to higher taxes — on anyone — as the only remedy to fix Illinois government.

Tribune editorial board,

Nov. 5, 2020

EDITORIAL CARTOON

BLUE TSUNAMI:

DAVID HORSEY/THE SEATTLE TIMES

OPINION

A miracle in Wrigleyville, an outpouring of decency and love

By Rebecca Russo

SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

Fans celebrate the Cubs' historic World Series win over Cleveland on Nov. 3, 2016, in Wrigleyville. ERIN HOOLEY/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Ten years ago, the Chicago Cubs were chasing their first World Series title in more than 100 years as my husband and I were preparing to welcome our second child into the world. At the time, we lived steps away from Wrigley Field. Our son was due Oct. 30, and the first game was held Oct. 25.

I was nervous about two things: One, that our son's arrival would make me miss the chance to see the Cubs finally win a World Series; two, that I'd go into labor during a game and not be able to navigate closed-off streets to get to the hospital.

The World Series came and went, and our child hadn't yet arrived. We watched the winning game from our basement and, at nine months pregnant, celebrated with our neighbors from our front porch.

We had not planned for our child to be born more than a week late, on Election Day. As we watched the election returns from our hospital room, we were shocked and dismayed by the outcome — not just because our candidate lost, but also because of the ethos of the person who was elected to serve in our nation's highest office.

By the time we gave our son his name eight days later, the full extent of polarization in our country and the complex social realities behind the election results had set in. We named him Leor after my Grandma Leah and chose "Yonah" — "dove" in Hebrew — as his middle name.

“You were born on Election Day, a day that reflected some of the deepest divisions and fears that our country has ever seen,” we said at his naming ceremony. “We chose this name, Yonah, with the hopes that you will grow to be a messenger of peace. In a world that sometimes feels full of hate and discrimination, we hope that you, like the dove, will be someone who can bridge divides between people, who can help people find their footing on dry land in the aftermath of a flood.”

We came together with friends and family — including people we love who had voted differently in that election — to celebrate Leor, a newborn child who we hoped could help us build a better future.

Two weeks later, we were at our annual Friends giving celebration when Leor started having trouble breathing. We rushed him to the emergency room at Lurie Children's Hospital. When they took him in immediately, we began to realize how bad things were; he soon went into cardiac arrest, and we watched in total shock and daze as the doctors resuscitated him and saved his life.

I recently heard Elder Robert M. Daines, general authority seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, share at the Forum on Faith that religion provides a script to follow on the worst days of our lives.

Those words could not have been more true for us during those terrifying first few hours in the ER, the days of uncertainty about his diagnosis and prognosis that followed, and the five weeks he spent in the neonatal intensive care unit. I have never felt so alone or scared as I did in that ER, watching helplessly with no sense of whether my 2-week-old child would have a future or what that future might look like.

Our religious communities buoyed us during those terrifying weeks. The Christian nurse practitioner who cared for us that first night connected us to the Ronald McDonald House where we could sleep on-site. A few days later, on a Friday night, we found our way to a nearby synagogue to seek solace in the familiar words and tunes of our tradition.

We were flooded with the generosity of friends from our synagogue community, friends from other traditions and Jewish communities we'd been part of at other points in our lives. Out-of-town friends sent us toys for our older son, Natan; local friends sent professional cleaners to our house; countless people sent food gift cards and delivered us meals at the hospital – both close friends and people we barely knew. Doctors we knew came to check on us, and our rabbis met us in the lobby for pastoral support. "Love your neighbor as yourself" was lived out in real time.

Leor was diagnosed with a virus and eventually was taken off the ventilator. When Hanukkah came around, the hospital staff and volunteers made a special “My First Chanukah” sign so that even in the NICU, we could joyfully celebrate Leor’s first Jewish holiday. We still bring that sign out every Hanukkah and will treasure it forever.

I am deeply grateful to the medical professionals who saved our son's life and to our friends who helped us in his recovery. I don't believe God healed him, though others may believe God acted through the medical professionals who cared for him. I do, however, believe the love and connectedness that flows through religious communities healed us during that time, serving as the "dove" that helped us again find dry land.

After a decade since those moments of uncertainty for our family and for our nation, there is still much to concern us all: the deepening of our country's fissures; the question of whether we can ever be a potluck nation that celebrates the variety of identities and cultures we bring to our shared table; and now the uncertainty about where we're headed in our next 250 years.

And yet.

I draw hope from remembering the outpouring of love we were shown in 2016 and in the acts of love and care I've seen within and across communities in the decade since. I've seen this love and care come from people of diverse religions and cultures, from people who voted differently back then and still vote differently now.

This is how we'll rebuild together — with love, with decency and with seeing each other first as humans rather than labels or political positions. Our son is almost 10, and I hope he and all children will help us find our footing and build again.

Rebecca Russo is vice president of higher education strategy at Interfaith America.

How Illinois can take the lead in lowering healthcare costs

Another year of price hikes are in store for millions of Americans signing up for Affordable Care Act coverage this month. Voters repeatedly rank rising healthcare costs among their top economic concerns. DREAMSTIME

By Merrill Goozner

SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

Ahead of Tuesday's elec-

toral earthquake, voters repea-

tedly ranked rising healthcare

costs among their top economic

concerns. Unfortunately, the

dramatic shift in the congressional

landscape will not deliver relief

anytime soon.

Yes, come January, Democrats will control the U.S. House and Senate. But the party's gains in the upper chamber were insufficient to overcome a Republican filibuster or, as President Donald Trump told Fox News in the wake of his electoral wipeout, his “impervious” veto.

Individuals and employers burdened by high premiums and out-of-pocket costs need help now. State governments can lead the way, especially states such as Illinois where Democrats control the legislature and governor's mansion.

States have always been our laboratories of democracy, to use Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis' famous aphorism. Before passage of the Affordable Care Act, Massachusetts created the model, which Republican Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law.

Over the next two years, Illinois should pursue an agenda that lays the groundwork for the next major national reform. That agenda must accomplish three things:

■ It must offer immediate relief to patients facing unaffordable medical bills.

\- It must renew the nation's push toward universal insurance coverage, which suffered a grievous setback over the past 18 months.

• It must begin to lower the financial burden placed on families, employers and taxpayers.

First, placing a strict limit on the share of income that any household pays for healthcare each year must take priority. This would make accessing care affordable for all.

Second, to address the rising uninsured rate, the state should create a government-run health plan to compete on the ACA exchanges, where premiums are skyrocketing because of Republican-imposed cuts. This would provide a low-cost public option for those who've lost Obamacare subsidies or been thrown off Medicaid. It would also serve as an affordable option for employers who do not currently offer insurance to their workers.

Third, the state should adopt a “one price only” rule for services purchased with private insurance. Competing hospitals, physician offices and other facilities will still set their own prices. But they must charge every patient the same price for the same service, no matter who insures them. This would sharply lower the system’s administrative costs, foster competition and lower costs for employers who provide coverage.

Finally, to reduce projected healthcare spending gradually over time, the state should put hospitals and physician practices on budgets that grow each year at a slower pace than the rest of the economy. The hospitals and doctors who deliver healthcare would be allowed to set prices high enough to earn their budget — but no higher.

The first reform is the most important because it would provide immediate relief to families burdened by unaffordable healthcare bills. Affordability problems do not just hit patients with huge out-of-pocket bills due to a serious illness. Workers' share of employer premiums are soaring and have reached \$7,500 a year for the average employer-provided family plan.

To reduce those upfront premiums, most workers today choose high-deductible plans, where the median paid out-of-pocket before coverage kicks is now \$2,500. If you add in co-pays, half the population is paying well over 10% of their income for healthcare.

Using its authority to regulate private insurers, the legislature should pass a law that caps the share of income paid in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for plans sold on the exchanges. The same can be applied to employer plans if their facilities are located entirely in the state. (Federal law preemptively regulates multistate employers.)

Nationally, some Democrats have proposed a flat cap of \$5,000. That is not affordable for lower-wage workers. The cap must be calculated as a percentage of total household income. This would end forever the scourge of sick people getting slapped with new medical debt.

Hospitals, physician practices and insurers would likely respond by raising prices and premiums. That's why the state must simultaneously adopt the rest of the agenda.

First, it must create a public option to compete on the exchanges with the maximum price for each service set at a fixed percentage of Medicare prices. When Washington state created its public option, it set prices at 160% of Medicare rates, well below the 254% average that employers and private insurers now pay.

It could simultaneously enroll all state employees in that government-run plan. Oregon's plan has saved the state on average \$50 million a year since its adoption in 2017. Illinois could save well over \$100 million. That's money that could be used to offset some of the Trump tax bill's draconian Medicaid cuts, which go into effect on Jan. 1.

The price-controlled public plan provides a model for the next reform: requiring hospitals and physician practices to charge every private payer the same price for the same service. Different providers can charge different prices depending on their costs, quality and efficiency, of course. They just can't charge different payers different prices.

Maryland is the only state with a single-pricing system. Other states abandoned that rule in the 1970s as the nation rushed to deregulate industries such as healthcare. A decade ago, Maryland also imposed annual budgets on hospitals and began setting targets for how much those budgets could grow each year.

The result? Maryland became one of the nation's most successful at moderating spending growth. Single pricing tied to annual budgets sharply lowered the system's administrative costs. It promoted competition. And it incentivized hospitals and physicians to invest in primary care, behavioral health and preventive services, which over the long term builds a healthier population and reduces demand for high-cost hospital care.

To be sustainable and invul-

nerable to political attack, the

next generation of reforms at the

national level must achieve three

goals: a healthcare system that is

universally accessible, is affordable

both individually and societally,

and puts patients and consumers

first. Over the next two years, Illi-

nois, given its political makeup and

our current governor's political

ambitions, has a golden opportu-

nity to lead the way.

Merrill Goozner was an economics and foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and editor-in-chief of Modern Healthcare. He currently writes about healthcare at GoozNews.substack.com.

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

People run near the U.S. Capitol at sunrise a day after Election Day on Wednesday in Washington. TOM BRENNER/GETTY

The president's miscalculations

President Donald Trump attends a campaign event for Republican candidates in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday. He repeatedly urged his supporters to pretend that he was on the ballot. DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

President Donald Trump's biggest miscalculations have been thinking that rich people are more valued as advisers and smarter than the people he is supposed to represent and protect. He decided to rely on policies that the wealthy put forward in their own interests.

Of course, his own interests are always toward his own ego-driven image and bottom line. It was a combination that eventually would collapse in on itself.

The people who actually inhabit our country and work so hard for their dreams, the ones willing to get their hands dirty, take defeat as a call to work harder. They are not going to care about a billionaire's latest government contract.

When citizens lost valued workers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or waited hopelessly for federal aid after a natural disaster, the reality was there. When the price of their groceries went up a third, and gas prices curtailed their ability to work, Trump turned his back on them. The president never understood the frustration, the sense of abandonment and anger at not being valued.

In the end, these regular citizens exposed the rot.

— Joanne Hoffman, Highland Park

My vote doesn't matter in Illinois

I am writing this letter on Tuesday. It is 1:09 p.m., but I already know who won the election in my state of Illinois. JB Pritzker remains governor. Juliana Stratton has won the election to be my new U.S. senator. Jonathan Jackson is still my congressman. Alexi Giannoulias has been reelected the secretary of state.

I voted but had no real say in the matter of who my political leaders will be. My great-grandfather, Frank Schweinfurth Sr., helped form the Illinois Republican Party and get Abraham Lincoln elected. I am saddened to know that, no matter how many times I vote in Illinois, my vote will never matter.

Even though that is true, I will always vote in the hope that my vote will one day matter.

— Ira Schafer, Bourbonnais, Illinois

Now the real test of democracy

I write this not to celebrate a partisan wave or cheer for political tribalism. What moves me today isn't party politics — it's seeing record turnout, historic firsts and the enduring promise of our Constitution proving that democracy in America is still alive and breathing.

At the same time, I can't look at this moment without a heavy heart. Reaching this point came at a bitter cost. Over the past two years, far too many hardworking families and vulnerable communities have been hurting in unimaginable ways. People didn't just turn out to vote; they turned out because they are struggling.

The people have spoken, loudly and clearly. Now, the real test of our democracy is whether it delivers real relief, dignity and protection for those who need it most.

\- Glenn Eden, Chicago

Time to repair the damage

We have tasted the poison of ignorance, authoritarianism, incompetence and narcissism — and spit it out.

Now, we need to begin to repair the damage and finish the job in 2028.

— Susan Haley, Oak Brook

Do what is right for the nation

The Democrats' takeover of Congress was extremely pleasant news. Could it mean that our 10-year nightmare is over? I hope so, but many things that Republicans destroyed must be rebuilt. We now have a Congress that was elected to do what the Constitution says — legislate. For too long, that branch has been dormant or in lock-step with Donald Trump.

Here are a few things to get Congress jump-started.

1. Invoke the War Powers Resolution. Give Trump 60 days to get out of Iran. Re-sign the agreement (that Trump tore up) that limits Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons.

2. Pass a nationwide bill allowing reproductive rights in all 50 states. The Supreme Court justices said that this was a job for the legislature, not the courts.

3. Pass that immigration bill that failed a few years ago. Give Dreamers a path to citizenship.

4. Reinstate the children and families cut off from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

5. Do the same for Medicaid and Obamacare. Reinstate those people. It is cheaper to treat a disease in the early stages than wait until emergency care is needed.

6. Revamp the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and give tax breaks only to those who need it.

7. Impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

This is just a partial list, of course. This is a plan to undo all of the damage done to this nation in the last decade. Of course, Trump will veto everything. So, Republicans, it is time to step up! Prove that you know how to legislate. Your legislative powers may be rusty from lack of use, but it is time to work with the Democrats and do what is right for this nation.

— Jan Goldberg, Riverside

Address our agenda of issues

With Tuesday's landslide mandate for Democrats, the “emperor has no clothes” moment is upon us in American politics.

The question is: What will Democrats do with this watershed mandate?

My hope is they will spend more time and effort on governance and managing America's future, and less time on investigations and oversight panels. The latter is to be expected, certainly justified, but do we need another Watergate malaise? If criminality and malfeasance are to be pursued in President Donald Trump's administration, let it be done with all due diligence, not with recriminatory fanfare.

In the meantime, Americans, in record numbers, are asking for their agenda of issues to be addressed. That agenda includes the economy and affordability, fair taxes and an end to punishing tariffs, rebuilding of global trade partnerships, access to good healthcare, a sane immigration policy, an end to the Iran war, standing with NATO to end the war in Ukraine and bringing civility back to national politics. The agenda is daunting, but our democratically elected officials, of both parties, must dress up in their best clothes and, with their best ideas and values, deal with it.

This new Congress, to be seated in January, has the opportunity to resurrect our better angels.

\- William Cragg, Oak Park

What we Americans need

The people's demands:

1. Immediately negotiate an end to the war in Iran.

2. Review tariffs, help farmers sell abroad and help grow our food when possible.

3. Review our foreign worker policies. Come up with a system that will help farmers bring in temporary workers on a regular, repeatable and affordable basis.

4. Make fresh water resources a priority and stop data centers from taking fresh water. Data centers need to figure out how to operate without taking fresh water.

5. Regarding healthcare, put a cap on frivolous lawsuits, help young people with doctor and nurse college costs and create affordable group health insurance for individuals.

6. Restore residential energy credits and help residents install solar to help with energy costs. Look at how Europe is handling it.

7. Review how President Donald Trump is following the Constitution. Stop any political persecution and stop the barrage of lawsuits that are targeting free speech, women's rights and more.

8. Stop the grandiose arch, review the ballroom and focus on people's priorities.

9. Review the Supreme Court's ruling about “absolving” the president's actions that are not in line with Constitution. The Supreme Court should not cave to political pressure; it should be independent of politics. Any justice who put their personal religion or political alignment above the Constitution should resign.

10. Review Trump's performance and, if necessary, invoke the 25th Amendment.

— Ray and Alena Gust, Deer Park

How greatness was achieved

Per his wishes, Americans pretended that President Donald Trump was on the ballot. Thank you, sir, for Making America Great Again.

— David Grossman, Chicago

What we Americans need

The people's demands:

1. Immediately negotiate an end to the war in Iran.

2. Review tariffs, help farmers sell abroad and help grow our food when possible.

3. Review our foreign worker policies. Come up with a system that will help farmers bring in temporary workers on a regular, repeatable and affordable basis.

4. Make fresh water resources a priority and stop data centers from taking fresh water. Data centers need to figure out how to operate without taking fresh water.

5. Regarding healthcare, put a cap on frivolous lawsuits, help young people with doctor and nurse college costs and create affordable group health insurance for individuals.

6. Restore residential energy credits and help residents install solar to help with energy costs. Look at how Europe is handling it.

7. Review how President Donald Trump is following the Constitution. Stop any political persecution and stop the barrage of lawsuits that are targeting free speech, women's rights and more.

8. Stop the grandiose arch, review the ballroom and focus on people's priorities.

9. Review the Supreme Court's ruling about “absolving” the president's actions that are not in line with Constitution. The Supreme Court should not cave to political pressure; it should be independent of politics. Any justice who put their personal religion or political alignment above the Constitution should resign.

10. Review Trump's performance and, if necessary, invoke the 25th Amendment.

— Ray and Alena Gust, Deer Park

How greatness was achieved

Per his wishes, Americans pretended that President Donald Trump was on the ballot. Thank you, sir, for Making America Great Again.

— David Grossman, Chicago

Americans listened to entreaty

President Donald Trump kept repeating, “Pretend I am on the ballot.” America listened and totally voted against Trump and his cronies.

David B. Yavitz, Western Springs

A lesson for Susan Collins

After almost 30 years, Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, has lost her seat in the U.S. Senate. Her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, its effect on abortion rights and her ties with President Donald Trump cost her her reelection.

To paraphrase her statement after she voted to acquit Trump after his first impeachment, perhaps she has now “learned (her) lesson.”

— Scott Burgh, Chicago

A lesson for Susan Collins

After almost 30 years, Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, has lost her seat in the U.S. Senate. Her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, its effect on abortion rights and her ties with President Donald Trump cost her her reelection.

To paraphrase her statement after she voted to acquit Trump after his first impeachment, perhaps she has now “learned (her) lesson.”

— Scott Burgh, Chicago

Step toward restoring nation

With any luck, the results of Tuesday's elections could be the first step toward making America America again.

— Kurt Youngmann, Northbrook

Election Day miracle, times two

Two miracles happened on Election Day.

1. The Democrats won in a landslide.

2. Donald Trump didn't contest the results.

Miracle No. 2 may be the more surprising.

— Gerald Lasin, Deerfield

Adding to his bankruptcy legacy

We all knew that President Donald Trump has a long history of financial bankruptcies. We also knew he was morally bankrupt. We knew he was spiritually bankrupt. I didn't think he could add to that legacy. I was wrong.

On Tuesday, he proved he's spent all his political capital too.

Why did we ever abolish debtors' prisons?

Robert Long, Waukegan

Engage with all constituents

I received an email from U.S. Rep. Danny Davis at 4 p.m. on Election Day “requesting” that I vote for his preferred candidate for Chicago school board president and other candidates on the local ballot.

It was the first direct communication from my congressman in years and among the very few I received during my time living the past three decades in Illinois' 7th Congressional District. This lack of connection by an elected public servant with a constituent demonstrates something disturbing about modern politics: A longtime politician, 30 years in Congress in Davis' case, seemed to care most about only the constituents whom he thinks he should care about. He can court my vote on Election Day but never even send me a survey to ask my views on national and local matters of importance he would vote on.

Like many, I received countless texts and mailers this election cycle from candidates running for local offices. I did not get a single communication from Davis' hand-picked successor for his congressional seat, state Rep. La Shawn Ford.

The 7th Congressional District stretches from the lakefront and Navy Pier all the way west to the suburbs of Maywood to Hillside and south to West Englewood in Chicago. I am just one of the roughly 760,000 residents living in the 7th Congressional District. But I clearly expected more than one communication on Election Day.

Elected representatives should let you know from time to time their policy viewpoints and how and why they cast their votes on key legislation. They have an obligation to communicate with constituents. All of them. Modern communication technology and social media have provided the means to do so. And they have staff members and budgets to do outreach.

In sharp contrast, I receive a very thorough and detailed update every week from Chicago Ald. Brendan Reilly about news and events affecting the city and the 42nd Ward.

One hopes that the recent winners in our area's congressional and legislative districts heed this humble advice: Engage with all constituents, across your districts, on a regular basis. Not just on or before Election Day.

— Jack Modzelewski, Chicago

Two aldermen are no lap dogs

Regarding the editorial “Everyone wants to run for mayor. What about aldermanic competition?” (Nov. 1): Aldermen Matt Martin, 47th, and Andre Vasquez, 40th, have no challengers because they are smart and dedicated public servants who have served their constituents well and brought creativity and innovation to their wards. They have consulted with, and sought consensus from, residents on key issues such as the development of new housing. They have no challengers because there are no issues on which a challenger could successfully run. Sometimes democracy leads you back to the competent elected official already in place.

Further, the Tribune Editorial Board's attempt to paint these thoughtful and independent aldermen as loyal allies of Mayor Brandon Johnson is a ridiculous distortion of their records. The Tribune's own reporting over Johnson's term shows that Martin and Vasquez have clashed with Johnson on multiple issues and have voted against him. They are watchdogs, not lap dogs. They are representative of a reborn and reinvigorated City Council that is ready to check and balance mayoral power.

They deserve, and are ready for, another term in office, hopefully with a more competent mayor.

— Adam Kingsley, Chicago

Consequences of patriarchy

Regarding “The world that awaits girls is a dehumanizing one. How do we change it?” (Oct. 28): Wow, what a great opinion piece. Christine Ledbetter is right: As long as men are in power, the United States will remain a patriarchy where the value of women is diminished, female victims are not believed and institutions are not held accountable! — Jean Cali. Chicago

Note to readers

For our annual Thanksgiving-themed letters section, we'd like to know what you're sincerely grateful for. We especially encourage personal stories. Send a letter, of no more than 400 words, by Wednesday, Nov. 18 to letters@chicagotribune.com. Be sure to include your full name and city/town, as well as your phone number for verification purposes.

Mayor Brandon Johnson joined members of the Street Vendors Association of Chicago at City Hall on Oct. 4 for an ordinance announcement that would allow vendors to apply for a license to sell certain foods. ANTONIO PEREZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

CLOSURES

from Page A1

President-elect Jessica Biggs, saying it was paramount to secure more state funding for Chicago Public Schools and pass a millionaire tax in Illinois. But he was emphatic that Chicagoans do not want to see schools shuttered.

The issue has been a third rail in Chicago, particularly since Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial closure of 50 public schools in 2013 fueled CTU's rise as the city's progressive vanguard. That was also how Johnson, as a fledgling teachers' union organizer, cut his teeth in local politics — but don't just focus on the union, he implored Wednesday.

"Do you think that's just limited to me and the CTU?" Johnson said. "This is not about just the mayor of Chicago, or Chicago Teachers Union. The entire city of Chicago was in an uproar, and for good reason."

But in the president's race, which was seen as a referendum on the union and Johnson's mayoralty, Biggs still handily beat the CTU's endorsed candidate, former union deputy political director Hilario Dominguez, despite leaving the door open for school closings once the CPS moratorium expires next year.

Biggs, in an interview Wednesday afternoon, rejected the idea the city would see an uproar the likes of 2013 if the board explores closures.

"I don't think that's how Chicagoans feel right now," she said. "I think people have really thought a lot about this."

She said her intention is indeed to let the moratorium expire, though she stressed no schools would close without community input, via a representative body on each side of the city. “We need to make sure that we’re thinking through how to provide a really robust educational experience for all of our kids,” Biggs said.

Biggs led 48.6% to Dominguez's 30.9%, with 96% of precincts counted, according to unofficial results from the Chicago Board of Elections. Down ballot, the union's preferred candidates representing districts around the city fared better, though the CTU was still poised to lose its majority bloc on the school board.

Early returns showed CTU-backed candidates ahead in 8 out of 14 contested district races, with another too close to call. There are 21 seats on the board, including the president who has the power to set the agenda.

"I don't know if it's really necessary to opine and speculate at this point," Johnson said when asked why Dominguez underperformed the rest of the CTU ticket. "What I can say is, look, it's not a secret that there is a lot of money that was spent in this race, and I'm going to work with everyone because that's what leaders do."

Though Johnson championed the elected board as a win for democracy regardless of the mixed results, he balanced that triumph with his concern over the heavy outside spending. In the board presidential race, the vast majority of the \$7.2 million in PAC spending, including independent expenditures, came from anti-CTU groups, state campaign finance records show.

“Look, there’s no secret here,” Johnson said. “It was lopsided in terms of how much money was spent against the people-powerdriven organizing that has put us in the stronger position that we're in today."

No matter the final makeup of the school board, there is one CTU power that can't be touched: the power to strike. Union President Stacy Davis Gates nodded to that in her Tuesday night speech from CTU headquarters, saying, "See, I'm okay to negotiate when I know that this union will take it to the picket line if they need to lower class sizes."

With the November election now in the rearview mirror, the Chicago mayor's race begins in full force with Johnson in a bare-knuckle fight for reelection. Though there will no longer be mayoral control of CPS come this January, education will surely be debated throughout the campaign.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is challenging Johnson and backed by a coalition of labor and business interests similar to Biggs, has taken the same stance of allowing school closures after securing what both describe as community buy-in.

The two have also nodded to the harsh realities of CPS' finances and student population size.

Despite adding almost 10,000 positions and growing its budget by about \$4.3 billion since 2019, CPS is in the midst of an enrollment downturn that has reached 20% in the last decade.

Still, critics point to student outcomes suffering following the 2013 closures. More than two dozen shuttered school buildings remain vacant, and studies have shown an increase in gun violence in surrounding neighborhoods. And there's little research to suggest school closures save money, at least in the short-term.

Note to readers

For our annual Thanksgiving-themed letters section, we'd like to know what you're sincerely grateful for. We especially encourage personal stories. Send a letter, of no more than 400 words, by Wednesday, Nov. 18 to letters@chicagotribune.com. Be sure to include your full name and city/town, as well as your phone number for verification purposes.

Mayor Brandon Johnson joined members of the Street Vendors Association of Chicago at City Hall on Oct. 4 for an ordinance announcement that would allow vendors to apply for a license to sell certain foods. ANTONIO PEREZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

CLOSURES

from Page A1

President-elect Jessica Biggs, saying it was paramount to secure more state funding for Chicago Public Schools and pass a millionaire tax in Illinois. But he was emphatic that Chicagoans do not want to see schools shuttered.

The issue has been a third rail in Chicago, particularly since Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial closure of 50 public schools in 2013 fueled CTU's rise as the city's progressive vanguard. That was also how Johnson, as a fledgling teachers' union organizer, cut his teeth in local politics — but don't just focus on the union, he implored Wednesday.

"Do you think that's just limited to me and the CTU?" Johnson said. "This is not about just the mayor of Chicago, or Chicago Teachers Union. The entire city of Chicago was in an uproar, and for good reason."

But in the president's race, which was seen as a referendum on the union and Johnson's mayoralty, Biggs still handily beat the CTU's endorsed candidate, former union deputy political director Hilario Dominguez, despite leaving the door open for school closings once the CPS moratorium expires next year.

Biggs, in an interview Wednesday afternoon, rejected the idea the city would see an uproar the likes of 2013 if the board explores closures.

"I don't think that's how Chicagoans feel right now," she said. "I think people have really thought a lot about this."

She said her intention is indeed to let the moratorium expire, though she stressed no schools would close without community input, via a representative body on each side of the city. “We need to make sure that we’re thinking through how to provide a really robust educational experience for all of our kids,” Biggs said.

Biggs led 48.6% to Dominguez's 30.9%, with 96% of precincts counted, according to unofficial results from the Chicago Board of Elections. Down ballot, the union's preferred candidates representing districts around the city fared better, though the CTU was still poised to lose its majority bloc on the school board.

Early returns showed CTU-backed candidates ahead in 8 out of 14 contested district races, with another too close to call. There are 21 seats on the board, including the president who has the power to set the agenda.

"I don't know if it's really necessary to opine and speculate at this point," Johnson said when asked why Dominguez underperformed the rest of the CTU ticket. "What I can say is, look, it's not a secret that there is a lot of money that was spent in this race, and I'm going to work with everyone because that's what leaders do."

Though Johnson championed the elected board as a win for democracy regardless of the mixed results, he balanced that triumph with his concern over the heavy outside spending. In the board presidential race, the vast majority of the \$7.2 million in PAC spending, including independent expenditures, came from anti-CTU groups, state campaign finance records show.

“Look, there’s no secret here,” Johnson said. “It was lopsided in terms of how much money was spent against the people-powerdriven organizing that has put us in the stronger position that we're in today."

No matter the final makeup of the school board, there is one CTU power that can't be touched: the power to strike. Union President Stacy Davis Gates nodded to that in her Tuesday night speech from CTU headquarters, saying, "See, I'm okay to negotiate when I know that this union will take it to the picket line if they need to lower class sizes."

With the November election now in the rearview mirror, the Chicago mayor's race begins in full force with Johnson in a bare-knuckle fight for reelection. Though there will no longer be mayoral control of CPS come this January, education will surely be debated throughout the campaign.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is challenging Johnson and backed by a coalition of labor and business interests similar to Biggs, has taken the same stance of allowing school closures after securing what both describe as community buy-in.

The two have also nodded to the harsh realities of CPS' finances and student population size.

Despite adding almost 10,000 positions and growing its budget by about \$4.3 billion since 2019, CPS is in the midst of an enrollment downturn that has reached 20% in the last decade.

Still, critics point to student outcomes suffering following the 2013 closures. More than two dozen shuttered school buildings remain vacant, and studies have shown an increase in gun violence in surrounding neighborhoods. And there's little research to suggest school closures save money, at least in the short-term.

Chicago Daily Tribune

ON NOV. 5 ...

In 1605 the “Gunpowder Plot” failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament.

In 1872 suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined \$100 for attempting to vote for President Grant. (She never paid.)

In 1895 George Selden of Rochester, New York, received the first U.S. patent for an automobile.

In 1911 Calbraith Perry Rodgers completed the first transcontinental flight. He had left New York on Sept. 17 and arrived in Pasadena, California, after making about 70 stops due to poor weather and mechanical problems.

In1912 Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Republican Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Republican William Howard Taft.

In 1940 President Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell Willkie.

In 1946 Massachusetts Democrat John F. Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives. Also, Republicans captured control of both the Senate and the House in midterm elections.

In 1968 Richard Nixon won the presidency, defeating Vice President Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace.

In 1974 Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband.

In 1990 Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born Israeli extremist, was shot to death at a New York hotel. (Egyptian native El Sayyed Nosair was convicted of the slaying in federal court.)

In 1991 nearly 7,000 people were killed in floods in the Philippines.

In 1994 former President Ronald Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer's disease.

In 1996 President Bill Clinton defeated Republican Bob Dole to become the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected twice.

In 1997 the House overwhelmingly approved a bill calling for the most far-reaching changes at the Internal Revenue Service in 45 years.

In 1998 the U.N. Security Council unanimously demanded that Iraq resume cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors immediately.

In 1999 U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were "stiffling innovation" and hurting consumers.

In 2001 Enrique Bolanos defeated former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua's presidential election.

In 2002, in midterm elections, Republicans won control of both houses of Congress and claimed a majority of the governors' races.

In 2003 President George W. Bush signed a bill outlawing the procedure known by its critics as “partial-birth abortion”; less than an hour later, a federal judge in Nebraska issued a temporary restraining order against the ban. Also in 2003 serial killer Gary Leon Ridgway confessed to strangling four dozen women over two decades, most of them near Seattle.

In 2006 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.

In 2009 an Army psychiatrist opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, authorities said, killing 13 people in the worst mass shooting ever at a U.S. military base. The gunman, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was wounded in a shootout with police.

In 2013 Illinois lawmakers passed a same-sex marriage bill. (Gov. Pat Quinn signed it into law Nov. 20, making Illinois the 16th state to legalize gay marriage.)

In 2016 more than 200 firefighters and emergency workers responded to a 5-11 alarm fire in the Little Village neighborhood; a vacant warehouse partially collapsed but no injuries were reported.

In 2017 a gunman shot and killed 26 people and injured about 20 others inside a small community church in South Texas; he was found dead several miles from the scene after fleeing.

Chicago Tribune Death Notices

Chicago Tribune extends our condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have passed.

chicagotribune.com/deathnotice

Death Notices

Baumgardt, William Warren "Bill"

William "Bill" Warren Baumgardt beloved husband of Donna nee: Nowak; loving brother of Jean (late John) Reichenbach and the late Anne Baumgardt; brother-in-law of Patricia (Donald) Izban; cherished uncle of Andrew and Christopher Konzen and Michael (Carolyn), Daniel (Ashley) Brunner and Kimberly (Graham) Redelsheimer; godfather of James (Gretchen) McGuire. Funeral Saturday 10:15 am from Grein Funeral Directors 2114 W Irving Park Rd to St. Andrew Church, 11:00 am Mass. Interment St. Adalbert Cemetery. Visitation Friday 4:00 to 7:00 pm. 773-588-6336 or greinfuneraldirectors.com

Bender, Christine Irene

Christine Irene (née Olivero) Bender, lovingly known as Chrissi, passed away on Friday, October 30, 2026, at the age of 77. Chrissi will be remembered by her family and friends for the life she shared with those she loved. Chrissi is survived by her beloved husband, Alexander W. Bender; her son, Christopher M. Bender, her Bender relatives: brothers-in-law Ken Bender, T.J. (Tom) Bender, and Chuck Bender; sisters-in-law Lucinda Bender and Bonnie Bender; niece Rachel Bender; Bonnie's partner, Barb Flohr; Olivero relatives: sister, Janet Vavra; brother-in-law, Bill Vavra; nephew, Billy Vavra; niece and goddaughter, Lindsay Vavra and her husband James Osborne; great-niece, Emma; great-nephews, Logan and Remington; brother, J.R. Olivero; sister-in-law, Debbie Olivero; niece, Sasha Olivero; nephew John Olivero and his wife Sharisse Manning; and nephew Patrick Olivero. Visitation will be Thurs., Nov. 5, 2026, from 4-8 pm at Pedersen Ryberg Funeral Home, 435 N. York St, Elmhurst, Ill. Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Fri., Nov. 6, 2026, at 10 am at Visitation Catholic Church, 779 S. York Rd, Elmhurst, Ill. She will be deeply missed by everyone fortunate enough to have shared a part of their lives with her. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary (www.wildmustangs.com) located in Hot Springs, South Dakota, in Chrissi's memory.

Pedersen Ryberg

Every life story deserves to be told. Share your loved one's story at placeanad.chicagotribune.com

Chicago Tribune

Death Notices

Grady, III, Leonard W.

With gratitude for a life so vividly lived, Leonard W. Grady, Ill, aka "Pogo," died on November 2, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. Born on October 7, 1952, he brought his own unmistakable spirit to every chapter of his life. Charming, funny, irreverent, and always the life of the party, Leonard will be deeply missed by those who knew him well. He will be remembered with affection and a smile.

Leonard enjoyed his career in administration at the Chicago Board of Education. He found lasting pleasure in writing poetry and in listening to jazz, R&B, and pop music of the 70s. He was an ardent Bears and Bulls fan. These interests reflected a life filled with creativity, joy, and personality. He grew up attending Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist, an important part of his life and community.

Leonard was preceded in death by his father, Leonard W. Grady, Jr.; his mother, Mary E. Grady; and his sister, Mary E. Grady. He is remembered by his brother, Graham Grady; his nieces, Mary Wasz (Blake) and Elizabeth Grady (Jeremiah Sheehy); and his cousins, Diane Renfroe (Michael Smith), Stephen Renfroe (Cheryl Burris), Jane Westby, Pete Grady (Natalie), and Robert Grady.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, November 8, at 11:00 a.m. at the Chicago Club, 81 E Van Buren, Chicago, with a repast to follow. Zoom participation is available: Call 312-836-4036.

In Leonard's memory, gifts may be made to Lions Club International Foundation.

Leonard Grady leaves behind the echo of laughter, the pleasure of good music, and the delight of a personality that filled a room. His life is remembered with love, gratitude, and celebration.

Wilkie, Carlyle Aitken

Reverend Caryle Aitken Wilkie, age 84, passed away peacefully on October 23, 2026. She is preceded in death by her husband of 49 years, Peter. Caryle met Peter in August 1971 while on a family trip to Scotland, and they were married on July 22, 1972. Very much in love and excited to take on a new adventure,

Caryle moved to Peter's hometown of Airdrie, Scotland, shortly after their wedding. In 1979, they welcomed their first and only child, Meghan, and returned to the States in 1980.

As someone familiar with taking on new adventures, Caryle returned to school in her mid-40's to pursue her calling to become a Presbyterian minister and was ordained in May 1991. Caryle worked as a hospice chaplain for many years and served in several congregations in the Chicagoland area as well as in Toms River, NJ. She felt her truest calling within her ministry was not just the work itself, but the personal relationships she nurtured with so many.

Caryle will be lovingly remembered by her daughter, Meghan; her sister, Kathie Hurley; her nieces, Erin Hurley (Jay) and Erica Jackson (Bruce); as well as many more family members and loved ones. Services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Western Springs on November 12, 2026, at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the American Diabetes Association.

Every life story deserves to be told.

Share your loved one's story at placeanad.chicagotribune.com

Chicago Tribune

Every life story

deserves to be told.

Share your loved one's story at placeanad.chicagotribune.com

Chicago Tribune

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Announcements

Mercer County, IL Land Auction Tuesday, November 24, 2026 at 10:00A.M. 462 Acres± (8 Tracts) These tracts represent outstanding Class A, nearly 100% tillable farmland, as well as a home acreage and bin site. For info, contact managers: Isaac Taber 309-335-8081 & Dan Sullivan 319-795-1833. Sullivan Auctioneers • www.SullivanAuctioneers.com • IL Lic. #444000566 844-847-2161

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Foreclosures

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT -

CHANCERY DIVISION, CASE NO.

2026CH05643, ONSLOW BAY FINANCIAL

LLC.

Plaintiff, vs. VINCENT F LEE JR; CITY OF CHICAGO; PARKLAND CONDOMINIUM;

UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS; Unknown Owners and Non Record Claimants. NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

RECORD CLAIMANTS, NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

The requisite affidavit for publication

having

been filed, NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN YOU, VINCENT F LEE JR UNKNOWN

OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS, defendants in the above-entitled cause, that a

Complaint To Foreclose Mortgage has been commenced against you and other defendants in the

CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY

DIVISION, by said plaintiff asking for the foreclosure of a mortgage held by the Plaintiff of the

property located at 6701 South Crandon Avenue Unit 16C Chicago, IL 60649 more particularly

described as: UNIT 16C IN THE PARKLAND CONDOMINIUM AS DELINEATED ON A SURVEY 25 THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBED

SURVEY OF THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY; LOTS 8 AND 9 IN BLOCK 2 IN LAKE SHORE AND JACKSON PARK

LAKE SHORE AND JACKSON PARK SUBDIVISION, BEING THE EAST 1/2 OF THE WEST 2/3 OF THE NORTHEAST 1/4 OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF SECTION 24.

TOWNSHIP 38 NORTH, RANGE 14 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, AND

Permanent Index Number: 20-24-405-040-1040. And which mortgage was made by Vincent F

Lee Jr, as Mortgagor(s); and given to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as

nominee for American Pacific Mortgage Corporation as Mortgagee; to wit: that certain

"Mortgage" dated August 20, 2020, and recorded October 13, 2020 as Document No.

2028720133in Cook County, Illinois, that Summons was duly issued out of said court against

you as provided by law, and that the said Complaint is now pending for foreclosure of said

mortgage and for other relief. YOU MAY STILL BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR HOME. DO NOT

IGNORE THIS DOCUMENT. UNLESS YOU FILE your answer or otherwise file your

appearance in this cause in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of COOK COUNTY,

ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION, on or before

DECEMBER 7, 2026, A DEFAULT MAY BE ENTERED AGAINST YOU AT

ANY TIME AFTER THAT DAY AND A JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED AGAINST YOU

FOR RELIEF ASKED IN THE COMPLAINT FOR FORECLOSURE. E-filing is now

mandatory for documents in civil cases with limited exemptions. To e-file, you must first create

an account with an e-filing service provider. Visit

http://efile.illinoiscourts.gov/serviceproviders.htm to learn more and to select a service provider.

If you need additional help or have trouble e-filing, visit

http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/faq/gethelp.asp or contact the Clerk of this Court. Attorneys for

Plaintiff, PADGETT LAW GROUP, 6267 Old Water Oak Rd. Suite 203, Tallahassee, FL 32312,

Phone: 850-422-2520; Fax: 850-422-2567, Email: ILattorney@padgettlawgroup.com NOTE:

This law firm is a debt collector.

8120-970903

11/5 11/12 11/19/2026 181552

[Juvenile Protection] IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD PROTECTION DEPARTMENT CHILD PROTECTION DIVISION

BLESSING KWAYKE, A.K.A. BLESSING KWAKYE CYRIL KWAYKE, A.K.A. CYRIL KWAKYE

MINOR(S) CHILD(REN) OF Monica Tuffour (Mother)

[JUVENILE NO. 26JA00544 26JA00543] NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

NOTICE IS GIVEN YOU, Samuel, Agyare (Father), Samuel Agyare (Father), Samuel Agyare (Father) respondents, and to All Whom It May Concern, that on 8/28/2026 a petition was filed under the Juvenile Court Act by EILEEN M. O'NEILL-BURKE in this court and that in the courtroom of Judge Demetrios Kottaras in the Cook County Juvenile Court Building, 1100 So. Hamilton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, ON December 10, 2026, at 1:30 PM in the Court for 7 COURTROOM A or as soon thereafter as this case may be heard, an adjudicatory hearing will be held upon the petition to have the minor declared to be a ward of the court and for other relief under the Act.

THE COURT HAS AUTHORITY IN THIS CASE TO TAKE FROM YOU THE CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MINOR, TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO APPOINT A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION. YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF THE PETITION REQUESTS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION, YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO THE CHILD.

UNLESS YOU appear, you will not be entitled to further written notices or publication notices of the proceedings in this case, including the filing of an amended petition or a motion to terminate parental rights.

UNLESS YOU appear at the hearing and show cause against the petition, the allegations of the petition may stand admitted as against you and each of you, and an order or judgment entered.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 11/5/2026 181321

sell your vinyls in the chicago tribune to place your ad, call 312 222 2222 or visit chicagotribune.com/ advertiser

Juvenile Protection

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD PROTECTION DEPARTMENT CHILD PROTECTION DIVISION

IN THE INTEREST OF Kieran Smith, Jr.

MINOR(S) CHILD(REN) OF Sammie Halliday-Mason (Mother)

JUVENILE NO. 26JA00427

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

NOTICE IS GIVEN YOU, Kieran Smith, Sr. (Father), Unknown Father's respondents, and to All Whom It May Concern, that on 6/30/2026 a petition was filed under the Juvenile Court Act by EILEEN M. O'NEILLBURKE in this court and that in the courtroom of Judge Lucy Vazquez-Gonzalez in the Cook County Juvenile Court Building, 1100 So. Hamilton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, ON December 14, 2026, at 1:30 PM in CALENDAR 13 COURTROOM M or as soon thereafter as this case may be heard, an adjudicatory hearing will be held upon the petition to have the minor declared to be a ward of the court and for other relief under the Act.

THE COURT HAS AUTHORITY IN THIS CASE TO TAKE FROM YOU THE CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MINOR, TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO APPOINT A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION. YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF THE PETITION REQUESTS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION, YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO THE CHILD.

UNLESS YOU appear, you will not be entitled to further written notices or publication notices of the proceedings in this case, including the filing of an amended petition or a motion to terminate parental rights.

UNLESS YOU appear at the hearing and show cause against the petition, the allegations of the petition may stand admitted as against you and each of you, and an order or judgment entered.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 11/5/2026 181327

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY,

ILLINOIS JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD

PROTECTION DEPARTMENT CHILD

PROTECTION DIVISION

IN THE INTEREST OF

ERIELLE LOCKETT ISREAL LOCKETT

MINOR(S) CHILD(REN) OF Ellen Perez (Mother)

JUVENILE NO. 26JA00372 26JA00371

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

NOTICE IS GIVEN YOU, Ellen Perez (Mother) and Erick Lockett (Father) respondents, and to All Whom It May Concern, that on 6/3/2026 a petition was filed under the Juvenile Court Act by EILEEN M. O'NEILL-BURKE in this court and that in the courtroom of Judge Pamela Saindon in the Cook County Juvenile Court Building, 1100 So. Hamilton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, ON January 26, 2027, at 09:30 AM in CALENDAR 14 COURTROOM A or as soon thereafter as this case may be heard, an adjudicatory hearing will be held upon the petition to have the minor declared to be a ward of the court and for other relief under the Act.

THE COURT HAS AUTHORITY IN THIS CASE TO TAKE FROM YOU THE CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MINOR, TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO APPOINT A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION. YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF THE PETITION REQUESTS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION, YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO THE CHILD.

UNLESS YOU appear, you will not be entitled to further written notices or publication notices of the proceedings in this case, including the filing of an amended petition or a motion to terminate parental rights.

UNLESS YOU appear at the hearing and show cause against the petition, the allegations of the petition may stand admitted as against you and each of you, and an order or judgment entered.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 11/5/2026 181323

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY,

ILLINOIS JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD

PROTECTION DEPARTMENT CHILD

IN THE INTEREST OF

ERIELLE LOCKETT ISREAL LOCKETT

MINOR(S) CHILD(REN) OF Ellen Perez (Mother)

JUVENILE NO. 26JA00372 26JA00371

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

NOTICE IS GIVEN YOU, Ellen Perez (Mother) and Erick Lockett (Father) respondents, and to All Whom It May Concern, that on 6/3/2026 a petition was filed under the Juvenile Court Act by EILEEN M. O'NEILLBURKE in this court and that in the courtroom of Judge Pamela Saindon in the Cook County Juvenile Court Building, 1100 So. Hamilton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, ON January 26, 2027, at 09:30 AM in CALENDAR 14 COURTROOM A or as soon thereafter as this case may be heard, an adjudicatory hearing will be held upon the petition to have the minor declared to be a ward of the court and for other relief under the Act.

THE COURT HAS AUTHORITY IN THIS CASE TO TAKE FROM YOU THE CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MINOR, TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO APPOINT A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION. YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF THE PETITION REQUESTS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION, YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO THE CHILD.

UNLESS YOU appear, you will not be entitled to further written notices or publication notices of the proceedings in this case, including the filing of an amended petition or a motion to terminate parental rights.

UNLESS YOU appear at the hearing and show cause against the petition, the allegations of the petition may stand admitted as against you and each of you, and an order or judgment entered.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 11/5/2026 181325

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Juvenile Protection

IN THE INTEREST OF

BLESSING KWAYKE, A.K.A. BLESSING

KWAKYE CYRIL KWAYKE, A.K.A. CYRIL

KWAKYE

MINOR(S) CHILD(REN) OF Monica Tuffour (Mother)

JUVENILE NO. 26JA00544 26JA00543

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

NOTICE IS GIVEN YOU, Samuel Agyare (Father), Samuel Agyare (Father), Samuel Agyare (Father) respondents, and to All Whom It May Concern, that on 8/28/2026 a petition was filed under the Juvenile Court Act by EILEEN M. O'NEILL-BURKE in this court and that in the courtroom of Judge Demetrios Kottaras in the Cook County Juvenile Court Building, 1100 So. Hamilton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, ON December 10, 2026, at 1:30 PM in the SAR COTROOM. A 65-700 soon thereafter as this case may be heard, an adjudicatory hearing will be held upon the petition to have the minor declared to be a ward of the court and for other relief under the Act.

THE COURT HAS AUTHORITY IN THIS CASE TO TAKE FROM YOU THE CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MINOR. TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO APPOINT A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION. YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF THE PETITION REQUESTS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION, YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO THE CHILD.

UNLESS YOU appear, you will not be entitled to further written notices or publication notices of the proceedings in this case, including the filing of an amended petition or a motion to terminate parental rights.

UNLESS YOU appear at the hearing and show cause against the petition, the allegations of the petition may stand admitted as against you and each of you, and an order or judgment entered.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 11/5/2026 181319

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD PROTECTION DEPARTMENT CHILD PROTECTION DIVISION

IN THE INTEREST OF NATHANIEL BLANCO-ROMO

MINOR(S) CHILD(REN) OF Roscio Blanco (Mother)

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

NOTICE IS GIVEN YOU, Samuel Agyare (Father), Samuel Agyare (Father), Samuel Agyare (Father) respondents, and to All Whom It May Concern, that on 8/28/2026 a petition was filed under the Juvenile Court Act by EILEEN M. O'NEILL-BURKE in this court and that in the courtroom of Judge Demetrios Kottaras in the Cook County Juvenile Court Building, 1100 So. Hamilton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, ON December 10, 2026, at 1:30 PM in the SAR COTROOM. A 65-700 soon thereafter as this case may be heard, an adjudicatory hearing will be held upon the petition to have the minor declared to be a ward of the court and for other relief under the Act.

THE COURT HAS AUTHORITY IN THIS CASE TO TAKE FROM YOU THE CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MINOR. TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO APPOINT A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION. YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF THE PETITION REQUESTS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION, YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO THE CHILD.

UNLESS YOU appear, you will not be entitled to further written notices or publication notices of the proceedings in this case, including the filing of an amended petition or a motion to terminate parental rights.

UNLESS YOU appear at the hearing and show cause against the petition, the allegations of the petition may stand admitted as against you and each of you, and an order or judgment entered.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 11/5/2026 181319

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD PROTECTION DEPARTMENT CHILD PROTECTION DIVISION

IN THE INTEREST OF NATHANIEL BLANCO-ROMO

MINOR(S) CHILD(REN) OF Roscio Blanco (Mother)

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION

NOTICE IS GIVEN YOU, Antonio Romo (Father) respondents, and to All Whom it May Concern, that on 10/16/2026 a petition was filed under the Juvenile Court Act by EILEEN M. O'NEILL-BURKE in this court and that in the courtroom of Judge Jennifer Payne in the Cook County Juvenile Court Building, 1100 So. Hamilton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, ON December 16, 2026, at 9:00 AM in CALENDAR 12 COURTROOM A or as soon thereafter as this case may be heard, an adjudicatory hearing will be held upon the petition to have the minor declared to be a ward of the court and for other relief under the Act.

THE COURT HAS AUTHORITY IN THIS CASE TO TAKE FROM YOU THE CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MINOR, TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO APPOINT A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION. YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF THE PETITION REQUESTS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN WITH POWER TO CONSENT TO ADOPTION, YOU MAY LOSE ALL PARENTAL RIGHTS TO THE CHILD.

UNLESS YOU appear, you will not be entitled to further written notices or publication notices of the proceedings in this case, including the filing of an amended petition or a motion to terminate parental rights.

UNLESS YOU appear at the hearing and show cause against the petition, the allegations of the petition may stand admitted as against you and each of you, and an order or judgment entered.

Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 11/5/2026 181329

[Legal Notice] LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT November 5, 2026 CITY OF CHICAGO

DEPARTMENT OF PROCUREMENT SERVICES The Bidder must complete and submit an Electronic Bid prior to the bid due date. An electronic bid must be submitted through the City of Chicago's website at www.cityofc.hicaco.org/eprocurement, on or before the due date and time stated below. The City's system will not accept electronic bids after the due date and time. Bidders must register for a log-in account to submit an electronic bid. Please allow up to three business days for creation of your log-in account. Paper bids will not be accepted. All Bids will be opened and publicly read aloud for the following:

NOTICE OF ADDENDUM: Addendum # 4 will be sent to all bidders on the Bid Opportunity Take-Out List

DESCRIPTION: Residential Sound Insulation Program Odor Mitigation Phase 2 – Chicago Midway and O'Hare International Airports DEPARTMENT: Chicago Department of Aviation

TYPE: Aviation Construction

ELECTRONIC BID DOCUMENTS CAN BE DOWNLOADED AND RESPONDED TO FROM THIS URL ADDRESS: www.cityofchicago.org/enprocurement

www.cityofchicago.org/eprocurement

SPECIFICATION NO: 1335301

ORIGINAL BID OPENING DATE: October 2, 2026

REVISED BID OPENING DATE: October 21, 2026 Per Addendum #1

REVISED BID OPENING DATE: October 28, 2026 Per Addendum #2

REVISED BID OPENING DATE: November 17, 2026 Per Addendum #3

BID OPENING DATE REMAINS: November 17, 2026 Per Addendum #4

TIME: 11:00 a.m., Central Time

[CONTACT: Thomas Magno,] Bid Bond:

Senior Procurement Specialist

Email: thomas.magno@cityofchicago.org

Bids requiring a bid deposit must be accompanied by a Bid Bond, provided by a surety company authorized to do business in the United States, and made payable to the City of Chicago. A scanned copy of the bid bond must be attached to the online bid submission, with the original bond to be received by DPS within 3 business days of the bid opening. This is required of all bidders, not just the apparent low bidder.

11/5/2026 181311

LEGAL NOTICE

In the matter of the revision of the assessment of Real Property for 2026:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to the provisions of Section 14-35 of the Illinois Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/14-35) that the Assessor of Cook County will sit for the purpose of reviewing the proposed 2026 assessment of Real Property located in the following township(s) or taxing district(s) in Cook County.

BLOOM

Identified also as Area(s) 32,33, under the Permanent Real Estate Index Numbering System of Cook County.

The last date within which applications for revisions of assessment (Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeals) may be filed for consideration at such sitting is December 17, 2026.

Such sitting will be held at the office of the Assessor of Cook County, Room 301, in the County Building, 118 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602, and will continue thereafter from day to day as necessary until all such revisions in said township(s) or taxing district(s) have been completed.

FRITZ KAEGI

Done by the Assessor of Cook County this 5th day of November, 2026.

FRITZKAEGI

ASSESSOR OF COOK COUNTY

Nov. 5, 2026 182231

PUBLIC NOTICE FOR THE SALE OR TRANSFER OF CITY PROPERTY

Legal Notice

Comments regarding the proposed transfers or sales may be submitted to:

Department of Planning and Development

Land Resources Division

121 N. LaSalle Street, Room 905

Chicago, IL 60602

Public Notice dispositions are a non-competitive pathway used to provide transparency regarding a proposed transfer or sale of City-owned property. These property dispositions transfers land to other units of government and to eligible projects with an established relationship to the property prior to ChiBlockBuilder listing, as further described on the ChiBlockBuilder website. This notice is not a competitive solicitation, and the Department is not requesting alternative proposals for the properties identified in this notice.

Ciere Boatright

For more information, go to Chicago.gov/blockbuilder.com, or send inquiries to landsales@cityofchicago.org or call 312-744-5263.

Purchase prices and detailed project descriptions are located on the ChiBlockBuilder.com website.

Registration Number: 256949

Bid opening 12-10-26 1:00 pm

Specifications will be issued to prime bidders, which may be obtained from the Purchasing Department or by visiting www.triton.edu/rfp. Bid proposals will be received up to the hours and dates listed above in room A 306, Finance Office located in the Learning Resource Center building at Triton College. Immediately after the closing hour for receiving bids, they will be publicly opened and read aloud in room A 300.

Sean O'Brien Sullivan

Vice President – Business Services

708/456-0300 Ext.3467

11/5/26 182118

PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given by the City of Chicago (the “City”), through its Department of Planning and Development (the “Department”), for the transfer or sale of City-owned properties.

Senior Civil Engineer (Promotional)

From the date of publication of this notice in the United States of America, You must prepare for the settlement in accordance with Article 139 of the Code of Civil Procedure, You will not be able to object to the proceedings conducted in your absence if you do not attend the preliminary hearing. You must submit to our court the documents you have indicated in your petitions but have not yet submitted, or make the necessary state-of-the-art document that you are eligible and applicable documents to be obtained from another location, and that if these matters are not fulfilled within the given strict period, it will be decided that you have waived your right to rely on this evidence, is hereby notified by way of public notice in lieu of a summons.

In the divorce case filed with our court by the plaintiff Nalan Valdivia's attorney against the defendant Christian Santana Valdivia, Since the address of the defendant Christian Santana Valdivia, a citizen of the United States, is unknown, and since the petition has been served by public notice, it has been decided that service by public notice shall be name on the date of the preliminary hearing, January 7, 2027.

SwORNTRANSLATOR

(Vominli Tertuman)

You can access this document in the UYAP Information System at http://vatandas.uvap.gov.tr with ueQISZN - fPRXoioytm61QW-YGUGUw#

Nov. 5, 2026 181807

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago will be accepting applications for the following classification(s):

Assistant Master Mechanic (Promotional)

Application Filing Period: October 23, 2026 through November 6, 2026. Examination Date: December 3, 2026 through December 5, 2026. Location: MWRD Main Office Building Annex, 111 East Erie Street, Chicago, IL. Scope of Examination: Knowledge of Senior Civil Engineer practices. Nature of Position and Duties: Performs supervisory, professional civil engineering work in the design, maintenance and construction of facilities necessary to collect, treat and discharge wastewater. Salary: \$119,030.60 per year

Application Filing Period: October 30, 2026 through November 13, 2026. Examination Date: December 10, 2026 through December 12, 2026. Location: MWRD Main Office Building Annex, 111 East Erie Street, Chicago, IL. Scope of Examination: Knowledge of Assistant Master Mechanic practices. Nature of Position and Duties: Under direction, assists in the coordination and direction of the repair, maintenance and installation of mechanical systems and equipment and in the repair and alterations of structures at treatment plants, pumping stations and related facilities.

Ciere Boatright Commissioner

\- 6834 S. Harper Ave totaling 5,214 sq ft to the Music Box Foundation for a community center.

\- 7530 S. Halsted totaling 5,875 sq ft to Diversified Investments & Associates, Inc. For a daycare parking lot.

ADVERTISEMENT FOR PROPOSAL

Triton College will receive sealed proposals at 2000 Fifth Avenue, River Grove, IL 60171 for the following needs: Bookstore Services

\- 7900 S. Woodlawn Ave totaling 56,807 sq ft to SPM Properties and Development for affordable senior housing.

Applications can be submitted online only at www.districtjobs.org.

\- 4405 S. State St totaling 8,260 sq ft to TRECC Community Development Foundation for a sports and recreation building, museum, and hotel.

\- 1017 E. $63^{\text{rd}}$ St, 6300-10 S. Greenwood totaling 38,511 sq ft to POAH and KMW Properties for affordable housing.

Additional information may be found at www.districtjobs.org or call 312-751-5100.

Mailed, Emailed, Hand delivered or Faxed Applications Will Not Be Accepted. Resumes Will Not Be Accepted In Place of Application Forms. An Equal Opportunity Employer - M/F/D 10/23 11/6/2026 168692

INVITATION FOR PROPOSALS FOR PURCHASE OF CITY-OWNED VACANT LOTS

Application eligibility requirements for each property sale program type are identified on the home page of the ChiBlockBuilder.com website. For more information, go to Chicago.gov/blockbuilder. Questions can be directed to landsales@cityofchicago.org or call 312-744-5263.

Interested buyers must submit applications to purchase City lots online at the ChiBlockBuilder.com website. The application period is open from October 1, 2026 and the submission deadline for residential side yard, open space, urban agriculture, affordable housing, and Missing Middle housing and market rate applications is November 16, 2026. The submission deadline for RFP/RFQ applications is January 10, 2027.

The properties available for sale are identified on the ChiBlockBuilder.com website and are searchable through the online interactive map. Each property available for sale includes a purchase price, link to the online application, and application submission deadline.

PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given by the City of Chicago (the "City"), through its Department of Planning and Development (the "Department"), for the sale of City-owned vacant lots for residential side yards, community open spaces, urban agriculture, affordable housing, market-rate housing, mixed-use, commercial, and industrial development, Missing Middle housing, and RFQ/RFPs. The sale of property is intended to encourage the redevelopment of City-owned vacant land in line with community development priorities.

Brandon Johnson

Mayor

DESCRIPTION: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) for RAT ABATEMENT PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY

ELECTRONIC SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS CAN BE DOWNLOADED AND RESPONDED TO FROM THIS URL ADDRESS: www.cityofchicago.org/eprocurement

SPECIFICATION NO: 1361160

RFQ NO: 78400

INFORMATIONAL OPENING D

ATE: November 27, 2026

TIME: 3:00 p.m. Central Time

QUESTION DUE DATE: November 12, 2026

CONTACT: Sharon Mahan-Santiago,

Senior Procurement Specialist

Email: Sharon.santiago@cityofchicago.org

11/5/2026 180675

Legal Notice Advertisement for Bids

INVITATION TO BID – CONSTRUCTION

The Eisenhower Public Library District is accepting sealed bids for Interior Renovations for the following individual prime trades: General Trades/Demolition, Acoustical Ceilings, Flooring, Painting, Millwork, Glazing, HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, and Fire Protection.

Bid packet information can be obtained from the Construction Manager, REthink Projects (847)476-9003 or at the mandatory jobsite walk-through at 4613 N. Oketo Ave., Harwood Heights, IL to be held November 17, 2026 at 8:00 AM CST.

Sealed bids will be opened on December 8, 2026, at 1:00 PM CST at 4613 N. Oketo Ave., Harwood Heights.

11/5 & 11/12/26 181144

Brandon Johnson

Mayor

[Call 1-800-TRIBUNE for home delivery | Operator #125 Wed/Fri/Sun] Chicago Tribune

24/7 — For your convenience new classified ad placement is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year at classifieds.chicagotribune.com

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Chicago Tribune

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON APPLICATIONS BEFORE THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO, ASKING FOR VARIATIONS AND VARIATIONS IN THE NATURE OF A SPECIAL USE FROM THE REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY THE CHICAGO ZONING ORDINANCE, as follows:

9:00 A.M.

9:00 A.M.

Cal. No.387-26-Z Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Helen Fremichael

Premises Affected: 1422 N. Campbell Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the rear yard open space from the required 900 square feet to zero for a proposed coach house with a two-car garage to serve an existing two-story, four-dwelling unit building.

Cal. No.388-26-S Zoning District DX-16

Applicant: Millennium Park Plaza, LLC

Premises Affected: 151-83 N. Michigan Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to convert floors three through seven in the existing mixed-use building from an office to a group living use consisting of one-hundred, thirty-five group living units (of approximately 291-452 square feet each including a bedroom and bathroom) as well, shared storage, laundry and kitchens on each floor.

Cal. No.389-26-Z Zoning District RT-4

Applicant: John and Nicole Wallace

Premises Affected: 2241 N. Fremont Street

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the south side setback from the required $2.48^{\prime}$ to $0.5^{\prime}$ (north to be $0.5^{\prime}$ ), combined side yard setback from $6.2^{\prime}$ to $1^{\prime}$ , rear yard setback from $34.72^{\prime}$ to $2^{\prime}$ for a proposed detached three-car garage with open spiral stairs to access a rooftop deck.

Cal. No.390-26-Z Zoning District RT-4

Applicant: Chicago Board of Education

Premises Affected: 4850 N. Kenmore Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front setback from the required $15^{\prime}$ to zero, north side setback from $5^{\prime}$ to zero to install new shade sails and structure with sports safety netting recreational equipment to serve an existing school.

Cal. No.391-26-S Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Habilitative Systems, Inc.

Premises Affected: 1022 N. Menard Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a transitional residence with a maximum of eight adult residents in an existing two-story building to be renovated.

Cal. No.392-26-Z Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Chicago Board of Education

Premises Affected: 3650 W. School Street

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the east side setback from the required 20' to 2.4' to install recreational equipment 12' sports safety netting system to serve an existing school.

Cal. No.393-26-S Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Lawndale Christian Health Center

Premises Affected: 3401 W. Roosevelt Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a drive-through facility for a proposed health clinic and pharmacy in an existing one-story building.

Cal. No.394-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Lawndale Christian Health Center

Premises Affected: 3401 W. Roosevelt Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the internal landscape from 4,036 square feet to 3,558 square feet, internal trees from thirty-two to twenty-one and to allow the existing ornamental fence to remain at the property lines instead of being setback $5^{\prime}$ for interior alterations to the existing ground floor retail space and pharmacy for a proposed health care center outpatient care facility and pharmacy with existing on-site parking lot.

Cal. No.395-26-S Zoning District M1-2

Applicant: Chicago Sportsman Club, LLC

Premises Affected: 3053 W. Grand Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a shooting range facility.

Cal. No.396-26-Z Zoning District RT-4

Applicant: Andrew Wilkins

Premises Affected: 2515 N. Racine Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the rear setback from the required $36^{\prime}$ to $2.18^{\prime}$ for proposed new screening walls $17.75^{\prime}$ high above grade on the existing accessory building roof top deck and for a proposed access stair $5.72^{\prime}$ wide on the north elevation of the existing southern detached two-car garage accessory building accessed by a public alley that serves an existing three-story multi-unit building.

Cal. No.397-26-S Zoning District DX-12

Applicant: 601 S. LaSalle Street, LLC

Premises Affected: 601 S. LaSalle Street

Subject: Application for a special use to permit the alterations of an existing seven-story office building to convert it to a multi-unit residential seventy dwelling unit building with ground floor dwelling units.

Cal. No.398-26-Z Zoning District DX-12

Applicant: 601 S. LaSalle Street, LLC

Premises Affected: 601 S. LaSalle Street

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the minimum required off-street loading space from one to zero for the alterations of an existing seven-story office building to be converted to seventy dwelling unit building with ground floor dwelling units.

Cal. No.399-26-Z Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Gregory Miller and Angela Kelly

Premises Affected: 5142 W. Strong Street

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front setback from the required $54.5^{\prime}$ to $21.25^{\prime}$ for a proposed one-story front open porch onto an existing two-story detached house.

Cal. No.400-26-S Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: 87th Ashland, LLC

Premises Affected: 1607 W. 87th Street

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a single lane drive-through with a delivery lane to serve an existing restaurant.

Cal. No.401-26-S Zoning District C1-3

Applicant: 360 Degrees, LLC dba Lyfe Dispensary & Green & Bradley, LLC

Premises Affected: 2735-37 W. North Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish an adult use cannabis dispensary.

Cal. No.402-26-S Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Swedish Covenant Health dba Swedish Hospital

Premises Affected: 2700-12 W. Foster Avenue/5200-10 N. Washtenaw Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a community center in an existing building.

Cal. No.403-26-S Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Swedish Covenant Health dba Swedish Hospital Premises Affected: 5214-20 N. Washtenaw Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a twenty-three-space off-site parking lot to serve a proposed community center at 2700-12 W, Foster Avenue / 5200-10 N. Washtenaw Avenue.

Cal. No.404-26-S Zoning District B1-1

Applicant: Jack in the Box Inc.

Premises Affected: 7807 S. Cicero Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a single lane drive-through to serve an existing fast-food restaurant.

Cal. No.405-26-Z Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Oscar Renteria

Premises Affected: 901 N. Lawndale Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the minimum lot area per unit from the required 1,500 square feet to 1,493.09' square feet for a proposed two-story, two-dwelling unit building, rear one-story open deck with stair and detached two-car garage with roof deck and open stair.

Cal. No.406-26-Z Zoning District RT-4

Applicant: Matt Nice, Jessica Ludwig, Chicago Title and Land Trust as Trustee also known as Trust #8002390713 Premises Affected: 1862 N. Dayton Street

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front setback from the required $15^{\prime}$ to zero for a proposed new wall that is more than 205 opaque and six feet above grade in the front yard of an existing single-family residence.

Cal. No.407-26-Z Zoning District RT-4

Applicant: Keith and Angela Benzuly

Premises Affected: 2637 N. Racine Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to relocate the 210.07 square feet of rear yard open space to a garage roof deck to alter an existing two car garage with roof deck and erect a garage roof deck stair, new enclosed walkway and rear deck more than 4' above grade for an existing single-family residence.

Cal. No.408-26-Z Zoning District RT-4

Applicant: Keith and Angela Benzuly

Premises Affected: 2637 N. Racine Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the rear setback from the required $36.68'$ to $0.63'$ , south side setback from $2'$ to zero (north to be.20'), combined side yard setback from $4.93'$ to $0.2'$ to alter an existing two car garage with roof deck and erect garage roof access stair, new enclosed walkway and rear deck more than $4'$ above grade for an existing single-family residence.

Cal. No.409-26-S Zoning District M2-3

Applicant: Atalanta Performance-Chicago, LLC

Premises Affected: 3045 N. Rockwell Street

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a sports and recreation participant for fitness training.

Cal. No.410-26-S Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Dickens Gold, LLC

Premises Affected: 1947 W. Dickens Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish residential use below the second floor in a proposed four-story, five-dwelling unit building with an attached five car garage.

Cal. No.411-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Dickens Gold, LLC

Premises Affected: 1947 W. Dickens Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front setback from the required $10^{\prime}$ to $6.33^{\prime}$ , east side setback from $2^{\prime}$ to $1^{\prime}$ , rear setback from $30^{\prime}$ to $2^{\prime}$ for a proposed four-story. five dwelling unit building with an attached five car garage.

Cal. No.412-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Dickens Gold, LLC

Premises Affected: 1947 W. Dickens Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce to the minimum lot area from the required 5,000 square feet to 4,625 square feet for a proposed four-story, five-dwelling unit building with an attached five car garage.

Cal. No.413-26-Z Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Dickens Gold, LLC

Premises Affected: 1945 W. Dickens Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front setback from the required $12.64'$ to $11.42'$ , west side setback from $2'$ to $1'$ (east to be $3'$ ), combined side yard setback from $4.48'$ to $4'$ , rear setback from $35'$ to $31.08'$ for a proposed two-story single-family residence with an attached ear porch and a detached two-car garage with roof top deck accessed by exterior stairs.

Cal. No.414-26-Z Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Dickens Gold, LLC

Premises Affected: 1945 W. Dickens Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to allow the 225 square feet of rear yard open space to be located on a garage roof top deck over $4^{\prime}$ above ground for a proposed two-story single-family residence with an attached ear porch and a detached two-car garage with roof top deck accessed by exterior stairs.

Cal. No.415-26-Z Zoning District RT-4

Applicant: MK Construction & Builders, Inc.

Premises Affected: 5422-24 S. Ingleside Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front setback from the required 8.07' to 6.5', south side setback from 2' to zero (north to be zero), combined side yard setback from 5' to zero to allow the division of an improved zoning lot into two lots, the existing two-story, two dwelling unit building at 5422 S. Ingleside Avenue is to remain and a single-family residence is proposed for 5424 S. Ingleside.

Cal. No.416-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Longford Construction, Inc.

Premises Affected: 3449-55 N. Lincoln Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the minimum ground floor commercial square footage from 1,835 square feet to 1,533 square feet for a proposed four-story, nine dwelling unit building with ground floor office space.

Cal. No.417-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Longford Construction, Inc.

Premises Affected: 3449-55 N. Lincoln Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to increase the number of off-street parking spaces for a transit served location from four to nine for a proposed four-story nine-unit mixed use building with first floor office space and nine space parking garage located within 2,640' of a CTA rail station.

Cal. No.418-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Longford Construction, Inc.

Premises Affected: 3449-55 N. Lincoln Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the rear yard setback from the required $30^{\prime}$ to $15^{\prime}$ for a proposed four-story, nine-dwelling unit building with first floor office space and a nine-space garage.

Cal. No.419-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Longford Construction, Inc.

Premises Affected: 3449-55 N. Lincoln Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to increase the building location standards of section 17-3-0504-B to allow a facade that is greater than 5' from the sidewalk for a proposed four-story, nine-dwelling unit building with ground floor office space.

Cal. No.420-26-Z Zoning District B3-2

Applicant: Longford Construction, Inc.

Premises Affected: 3449-55 N. Lincoln Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to allow driveway access from a pedestrian street to allow a proposed four-story, nine dwelling unit mixed use building with first floor office space and nine space garage.

Cal. No.421-26-Z Zoning District RM-5

Applicant: 3651 N. Wilton LLC

Premises Affected: 3651 N. Wilton Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front building line setback from the required $20^{\prime}$ to $16.95^{\prime}$ , reduce the side setbacks to $3.25^{\prime}$ , combined side yard setback from $10^{\prime}$ to $3.25^{\prime}$ , rear setback from $36.06^{\prime}$ to $2^{\prime}$ to separate two rooftop stair enclosures, a north side open stair system, one car garage with roof deck with an expanded open deck more than $6^{\prime}$ above grade and an accessible ramp from garage to the four-story, fifteen dwelling unit building

Cal. No.422-26-Z Zoning District RM-5

Applicant: 3651 N. Wilton, LLC

Premises Affected: 3651 N. Wilton Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to relocate the rear yard open space from the required 450 square feet to one car garage roof top deck with an extended open deck more than above $6^{\prime}$ above ground and an accessible ramp from the garage to serve a four-story fifteen dwelling unit building.

Cal. No.423-26-Z Zoning District RS-2

Applicant: Jesus Aguilera and Eva Aguilera

Premises Affected: 4826 S. Lawndale Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the front setback from the required16.53 to 6.91', south side setback from 5.42' to 3.86' (north to be 32.10' and the combined side setback to be 35.96') for a proposed three-story front deck/ stair serving an existing three-story, three dwelling unit residence.

Cal. No.424-26-S Zoning District B3-3

Applicant: Sneakeasy, LLC dba 1030 West

Premises Affected: 1030 W. 21st Street

Subject: Application for a special use to establish an indoor event venue.

Cal. No.425-26-Z Zoning District B1-1

Applicant: Cooperation Racine, L.W.C.A

Premises Affected: 1201 W. 71st Street / 7100 S. Racine Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the second-floor

rear building setback from the required 30' to 24.32' to allow the

construction of a new two-story artist work/ sales space and a

three- dwelling unit building.

Cal. No.426-26-S Zoning District B3-1

Applicant: RV Ventures, LLC dba Two Socks' Barber Shop

Premises Affected: 3309 W. Irving Park Road

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a barber shop.

Cal. No.427-26-Z Zoning District RS-3

Applicant: Francis and Jason Rood

Premises Affected: 5349 W. Carmen Avenue

Subject: Application for a variation to reduce the north side setback from $4'$ to $1.9'$ (south to be $5.41'$ ), combined side yard setback from $10'$ to $7.31'$ , rear setback from $35'$ to $9.33'$ for a proposed one-story open side entry, one-story side addition and a one-story front open deck and stair at an existing four-story, single family residence.

Cal. No.428-26-S Zoning District C1-5

Applicant: Cornerstone Community Outreach

Premises Affected: 4615 N. Clifton Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to allow the renovation of an existing transitional shelter for an expansion from two hundred-thirty beds to two hundred fifty non-congregate operations within an existing six-story building.

Cal. No.429-26-S Zoning District DC-16

Applicant: Golub Capital, LLC

Premises Affected: 225 W. Randolph Street

Subject: Application for a special use to establish an on-premise high rise wall sign for a commercial office building.

Cal. No.430-26-Z Zoning District DC-16

Applicant: Golub Capital, LLC

Premises Affected: 225 W. Randolph Street

Subject: Application for a variation to allow an increase by not more than 205 the gross area of a sign from 400 square feet to 450 square feet to be located on the west elevation of a commercial office building at 329' above grade.

Cal. No.431-26-S Zoning District DX-5

Applicant: Noble Art 001 c/o Joana Corbi

Premises Affected: 750 N. Franklin Street

Subject: Application for a special use to establish a body art (tattoo) studio on the second floor of an existing building.

Cal. No.432-26-S Zoning District C1-2

Applicant: Eagle Dispensaries of Illinois, LLC

Premises Affected: 2415-25 W. Peterson Avenue

Subject: Application for a special use to establish an adult use cannabis recreational dispensary.

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a public hearing will beheld before the Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Chicago on:

Friday the 20 $^{th}$ day of November, 2026 in City Council Chambers, 121 N. LaSalle Street, 2 $^{nd}$ Floor.

in said City of Chicago at the hours of 9:00 A.M & 2:00 P.M. on the above named and described applications.

The above and foregoing applications for variations and variations in the nature of a special use in connection therewith are on file in the office of the Zoning Board of Appeals and may be examined at said office by interested parties. Dated at Chicago, Illinois this 30 $^{th}$ day of October, 2026

Victor Resa

Secretary

Zoning Board of Appeals

[SELL YOUR HOME] TO PLACE YOUR AD, VISIT CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM/ADVERTISER OR CALL 312 222 2222

Nov 17

Dec 1

Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice. POP: Probability of Precipitation.

AccuWeather

Outlook: Cloudy, breezy and cooler. A couple of showers; any time in the northern suburbs, during the afternoon elsewhere. Overcast tonight with a stray shower; breezy downtown. | Thursday | Day | | | | Night4.1° | Cloudy, breezy and cooler; a p.m. shower | Winds: WSW 10-20 mphPOP: 50% |

Chicago forecast

Thursday Conditions | Sunday | | | | Night 39° | Sunny to partly cloudy | Winds: E 7-14 mph POP: 0% | Outdoor Activities Index | Monday | | | | | Mostly sunny | Winds: NE 6-12 mphPOP: 0% |

[Thursday Activities] RealFeel Temperature®

AccuWeather.com UV Index™ | Tuesday | Day | | 61° | | | Sun and some clouds | Winds: E 4-8 mphPOP: 10% | 8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 8 p.m. | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 8 p.m.

Local temperatures | 43° | 45° | 45° | 45° | 45° | 43° | 43° |

Chicago almanac

Fishing Index | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Average | Record | Wednesday high: 68° | 54° | 74° (2020) | Wednesday low: 55° | 39° | 11° (1991) |

Wednesday temperatures

The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low, 3-5 Moderate, 6-7 High, 8-10 Very High, 11+ Extreme. The patented AccuWeather.com RealFeel Temperature is an exclusive index of effective temperature based on eight weather factors. Outdoor Activities and Fishing Indexes: 0-2: Poor; 3-4: Fair; 5-6: Good; 7-8: Very Good; 9-10: Excellent. | Location | High | Low | Average | High | Low | Aurora | 65° | 54° | 54° | 33° | Gary | 72° | 61° | 55° | 39° | Kankakee | 69° | 58° | 55° | 36° | Lansing | 69° | 58° | 55° | 37° | Midway | 69° | 57° | 54° | 39° | Romeoville | 66° | 55° | 55° | 36° | Valparaiso | 69° | 59° | 56° | 38° | Waukegan | 68° | 55° | 53° | 36° | 2026 | 2025 | Normal | Wednesday* | 0.14" | 0.00" | 0.09" | Month to date | 0.24" | 0.11" | 0.36" | Year to date | 37.52" | 25.62" | 33.69" | Snowfall | Wednesday* | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0" | Month to date | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.1" | Season to date | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.3" | Wednesday Precipitation

\*24-hour period ending 4 p.m. Wednesday

Air Quality Index | Wednesday's Reading | Good | Thursday's forecast | Good | Primary pollutant | ParticulatesSource: AirNow.gov |

Cosmos

Sun and moon

Thursday's Planet Watch | Thu. | Fri. | Sunrise | 6:28 a.m. | 6:29 a.m. | Sunset | 4:40 p.m. | 4:39 p.m. | Moonrise | 2:40 a.m. | 3:47 a.m. | Moonset | 2:42 p.m. | 3:04 p.m. | Nov 24

Nov 9 | New | First | Full | Last | | | | | Nov 9 | NOV 16 | Nov 24 | Dec 1 | Rise | Set | Mercury | 6:16 a.m. | 4:32 p.m. | Venus | 4:59 a.m. | 3:31 p.m. | Mars | 11:23 p.m. | 1:30 p.m. | Jupiter | 11:47 p.m. | 1:36 p.m. | Saturn | 3:23 p.m. | 3:37 a.m. | Shown are areas of precipitation and high temperatures for the day.

National cities

Best viewing times today: Venus: 6 a.m. Mars: 6 a.m. Jupiter: 6 a.m. Saturn: 9:30 p.m. Mercury: not visible

Shown is Thursday's weather. Temperatures are Thursday's highs and Thursday night's lows with high and low RealFeel Temperatures shown below.

AccuWeather

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[Lake Michigan] Thursday

Wind from the west-southwest at 10-20 knots. Seas 3-6 feet. Visibility less than 3 miles in an afternoon shower. Water temperature: 55. | 8 a.m. | 10 a.m. | Noon | 2 p.m. | 4 p.m. | 6 p.m. | 8 p.m. | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 |

Friday

Boating Index: 0-2: Poor; 3-4: Fair; 5-6: Good; 7-8: Very Good; 9-10: Excellent.

Wind from the north-northwest at 12-25 knots. Seas 3-5 feet. Visibility generally unrestricted. Water temperature: 55.

National forecast

Weather history

Cooperstown, N.Y., home of baseball's Hall of Fame, entered the “weather hall of fame” on Nov. 5, 1971, with its third-latest first frost on record. The cold made only a short stop. Record warmth rallied in December.