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1990 Cook County, Illinois, elections

← 1988 November 6, 1990 1992 →
Turnout	52.75%

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v t e

The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 6, 1990.

Primaries were held March 20, 1990.

Elections were held for the offices of Assessor, Clerk, Sheriff, State's Attorney, Cook County Superintendent of Education Service Region, Treasurer, President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, all 17 seats of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, both seats of the Cook County Board of Appeals, 3 seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Election information

1990 was a midterm election year in the United States. The primaries and general elections for Cook County races coincided with those for federal (Senate and House) and those for state elections.

Voter turnout

Primary election

Turnout in the primaries was 36.93%, with 985,614 ballots cast.

Chicago saw 607,899 ballots cast, and suburban Cook County saw 30.24% turnout (with 377,715 ballots cast).

General election

The general election saw turnout of 52.75%, with 1,408,516 ballots cast. Chicago saw 750,842 ballots cast, and suburban Cook County saw 52.82% turnout (with 657,674 ballots cast).

Straight-ticket voting

Ballots had a straight-ticket voting option in 1990.

Assessor

1990 Cook County Assessor election

← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →
Turnout	46.81%
Candidate Thomas Hynes Ronald Bean Donald Pamon Party Democratic Republican Harold Washington Popular vote 775,493 333,325 141,015 Percentage 62.05% 26.67% 11.28%
Assessor before election Thomas Hynes Democratic Elected Assessor Thomas Hynes Democratic

In the 1990 Cook County Assessor election, incumbent fourth-term assessor Thomas Hynes, a Democrat, was reelected.

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

General election

Clerk

1990 Cook County Clerk election

← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →
Turnout	47.19%
Candidate David Orr Sam Panayotovich Heldia R. Richardson Party Democratic Republican Harold Washington Popular vote 799,884 353,531 106,588 Percentage 63.48% 28.06% 8.46%
Clerk before election Stanley Kusper Democratic Elected Clerk David Orr Democratic

In the 1990 Cook County Clerk election, incumbent fourth-term clerk Stanley Kusper, a Democrat, did not seek reelection, instead opting to run for both Cook County Board of Commissioners president and Cook County commissioner. Democrat David Orr was elected to succeed him.

Primaries

Democratic

Chicago alderman David Orr won the Democratic nomination. Sutker, who placed second, had been slated by the Cook County Democratic Party organization as its endorsed candidate in the race.

Republican

General election

Sheriff

In the 1990 Cook County Sheriff election, incumbent first-term sheriff James E. O'Grady, a Republican, was defeated by Democrat Michael F. Sheahan.

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

Illinois Solidarity

General election

Corruption allegations took a toll on incumbent Republican James E. O'Grady's prospects for reelection. O'Grady ultimately had failed to live up to his 1986 campaign promises of disposing of politics and corruption in the Cook County Sheriff's Office, and had become unpopular among his constituents.

Democratic nominee Michael F. Sheahan defeated O'Grady by a broad margin. O'Grady suffered one of biggest defeats that a Republican Party nominee had experienced in a countywide Cook County election in years. Sheahan had managed to beat O'Grady in 24 of the county's 30 suburban townships and in every ward of Chicago. Sheahan had even managed to carry many of the county's Republican strongholds. Within the city of Chicago, O'Grady even trailed Harold Washington Party nominee Tommy Brewer, who was considered a political unknown.

State's Attorney (special election)

1990 Cook County State's Attorney special election

← 1988 November 6, 1990 1992 →
Turnout	48.95%
Candidate Jack O'Malley Cecil A. Partee Janice H. Robinson Party Republican Democratic Harold Washington Popular vote 692,192 511,424 103,353 Percentage 52.96% 39.13% 7.91%
State's Attorney before election Cecil A. Partee Democratic Elected State's Attorney Jack O'Malley Republican

In the 1990 Cook County State's Attorney special election, incumbent state's attorney Cecil A. Partee, a Democrat appointed in 1989 after Richard M. Daley resigned to serve as mayor of Chicago, lost reelection to Republican Jack O'Malley.

This is the last time that a non-incumbent Republican has won election to a Cook County executive office.

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

General election

Superintendent of Education Service Region

In the 1990 Cook County Superintendent of Education Service Region election, incumbent fourth-term superintendent Richard J. Martwick, a Democrat, was reelected.

This was the last election before the position was eliminated.

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

General election

Treasurer

In the 1990 Cook County Treasurer election, incumbent fourth-term treasurer Edward J. Rosewell, a Democrat, was reelected.

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

General election

President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners

In the 1990 President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners election, incumbent president George Dunne, a Democrat that had held the office since 1969, did not seek reelection. Democrat Richard Phelan was elected to succeed him.

Primaries

Democratic

Richard Phelan, a millionaire attorney from Winnetka, won the Democratic primary. He had entered the race as a political unknown. Phelan did not have a strong political organization, but ran an multimillion-dollar campaign with heavy investment in television advertising. He defeated former Illinois Appellate judge R. Eugene Pincham, Cook County clerk Stanley Kusper, and state senator Ted Lechowicz. Phelan ran on a message of change, running against the county Democratic Party establishment.

Originally, Kusper had been the race's frontrunner, but by election day, had been relegated to an also-ran. Lechowicz had been endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Party.

Republican

General election

Cook County Board of Commissioners

1990 Cook County Board of Commissioners election

← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →
All 17 seats on the Cook County Board of Commissioners 9 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Democratic Republican Harold Washington Seats before 10 7 0 Seats won 11 6 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 5,212,283 3,048,275 915,432 Percentage 56.80% 33.22% 9.98% Swing 4.1% 2.07% new

The 1990 Cook County Board of Commissioners election saw all seventeen seats of the Cook County Board of Commissioners up for election to four-year terms in two sets of elections (ten elected from an election held in the city of Chicago and seven elected from an election held in suburban Cook County). This was the last election for the Cook County Board of Commissioners done this way, as the board would switch to districts for its 1994 election.

By winning a suburban seat, Democrats increased their majority by a single seat.

City of Chicago

Ten seats were elected from the City of Chicago.

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

General election

Before the general election, Democratic nominee R. Eugene Pincham left to run on the Harold Washington Party slate, and was replaced on the Democratic slate by Danny K. Davis. Republican nominee Percy V. Coleman also switched from their slate to the Harold Washington Party slate.

Suburban Cook County

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

General election

Republican nominee Harold L. Tyrell was replaced on the ballot by Angelo Saviano.

Cook County Board of Appeals

1990 Cook County Board of Appeals election

← 1988 (special) November 6, 1990 1994 →
2 of 2 seats on the Cook County Board of Review
First party Second party Third party   Party Democratic Republican Harold Washington Seats before 2 0 0 Seats after 2 0 0 Seat change

In the 1990 Cook County Board of Appeals election, both seats on the board were up for election. The election was an at-large election.

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

General election

Water Reclamation District Board

In the 1990 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election, three of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago board were up for election in an at-large election. All three Democratic nominees won.

Judicial elections

Partisan elections were held for judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County, due to vacancies. Other judgeships had retention elections.

Ballot questions

Two ballot questions were included on ballots county-wide during the November general election.

Establish Financial Consumer Association

Single Membered Districts

Other elections

Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect both the Democratic and Republican committeemen for the suburban townships.

See also

• 1990 Illinois elections

References

1. ^ "Official Fianl Results General Election Cook County, Illinois Tuesday, November 6, 1990" (PDF). voterinfo.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2008.
2. ^ "Official Final Results Primary Election Cook County, Illinois, Tuesday, March 20, 1990" (PDF). www.voterinfo.net. Cook County Clerk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2008.
3. "STATE OF ILLINOIS OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the PRIMARY ELECTION GENERAL PRIMARY, MARCH 20, 1990" (PDF). Illinois Secretary of State. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
4. ^ "STATE OF ILLINOIS OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 6, 1990" (PDF). Illinois Secretary of State. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
5. ^ "Voter Registration and Turnout 1990 - 2019 | Cook County Clerk's Office". www.cookcountyclerk.com. Cook County Clerk. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
6. Hardy, Thomas (26 February 1990). "STANLEY KUSPER HAS FEW REGRETS ABOUT PATH HIS CAREER HAS TAKEN". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
7. ^ Hardy, Thomas Hardy; Davis, Robert; Griffin, Jean Latz; Mills, Marja (21 March 1990). "PHELAN EDGES PINCHAM". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
8. Kerson, Roger (March 15, 1990). "Behind the Ballot: Why David Orr is not running for County Board president". Chicago Reader. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
9. Gradel, Thomas J.; Simpson, Dick; Kelly, Tom (18 February 2010). "Corruption in Cook County: Anti-Corruption Report Number 3" (PDF). UIC. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
10. ^ Panagakis, Nick (December 1990). "Cook County's two 'third parties'". Illinois Issues. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
11. ^ O`Connor, Matt (8 November 1990). "GOP'S HOPES FOR O'GRADY GO SOUR". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
12. Martwick, Robert (February 28, 2018). "House Resolution 0869 - 100th General Assembly". Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
13. Kiehna, Marc (2015-01-09). "Illinois Regional Superintendents of Schools: 150 Years of Educational Leadership". 28. Modified by Monte Newlin. Olney, Illinois: Regional Office of Education #12. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
14. O'Connor, Matt (26 November 1998). "ROSEWELL MAKES DEAL IN GHOST-JOBS PROBE". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
15. "CHICAGO - The Democratic race for Cook County Board president took a strange". nwitimes.com. The Times of Northwest Indiana. 21 March 1990. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
16. "CHOICES FOR COOK COUNTY BOARD". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. 22 October 1998. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
17. "Our Campaigns - Container Detail Page". www.ourcampaigns.com. Our Campaigns. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
18. ^ "Our Campaigns - Cook County Board - City of Chicago - D Primary Race - Mar 20, 1990". www.ourcampaigns.com. Our Campaigns. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
19. "Our Campaigns - Cook County Board - Suburban Cook County Race - Nov 06, 1990". www.ourcampaigns.com. Our Campaigns. Retrieved 17 October 2020.

• 1990 Cook County, Illinois, elections
• Cook County, Illinois elections
• Illinois judicial elections