1990 Cook County, Illinois, elections

← 1988 November 6, 1990 1992 →
Turnout	52.75%

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v t e

TheCook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 6, 1990.^[1]

Primaries were held March 20, 1990.^[2]

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

1990 was amidterm election year in the United States. The primaries and general elections for Cook County races coincided with those for federal (Senate andHouse) and those forstate elections.

Turnout in the primaries was 36.93%, with 985,614 ballots cast.^[3]

Chicago saw 607,899 ballots cast, and suburban Cook County saw 30.24% turnout (with 377,715 ballots cast).^[2][4][5]

The general election saw turnout of 52.75%, with 1,408,516 ballots cast.^[4] Chicago saw 750,842 ballots cast, and suburban Cook County saw 52.82% turnout (with 657,674 ballots cast).^[1][5]

Ballots had astraight-ticket voting option in 1990.^[1]

1990Cook County Assessor election

← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →
Turnout	46.81%[1][4]
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 the1990Cook County Assessor election, incumbent fourth-term assessorThomas Hynes, a Democrat, was reelected.

1990Cook County Clerk election

← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →
Turnout	47.19%[1][4]
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 the1990Cook County Clerk election, incumbent fourth-term clerkStanley Kusper, a Democrat, did not seek reelection, instead opting to run for both Cook County Board of Commissioners president and Cook County commissioner.^[6][7] DemocratDavid Orr was elected to succeed him.

Chicago alderman David Orr won the Democratic nomination. Sutker, who placed second, had beenslated by the Cook County Democratic Party organization as its endorsed candidate in the race.^[8]

In the1990Cook County Sheriff election, incumbent first-term sheriffJames E. O'Grady, a Republican, was defeated by DemocratMichael F. Sheahan.

Corruption allegations took a toll on incumbent Republican James E. O'Grady's prospects for reelection.^[9] O'Grady ultimately had failed to live up to his 1986 campaign promises of disposing of politics and corruption in theCook County Sheriff's Office, and had become unpopular among his constituents.^[10]

Democratic nominee Michael F. Sheahan defeated O'Grady by a broad margin.^[10] O'Grady suffered one of biggest defeats that a Republican Party nominee had experienced in a countywide Cook County election in years.^[10] Sheahan had managed to beat O'Grady in 24 of the county's 30 suburban townships and in every ward of Chicago.^[11] Sheahan had even managed to carry many of the county's Republican strongholds.^[11] Within the city of Chicago, O'Grady even trailed Harold Washington Party nominee Tommy Brewer, who was considered a political unknown.^[11]

1990Cook County State's Attorney special election

← 1988 November 6, 1990 1992 →
Turnout	48.95%[1][4]
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 the1990Cook County State's Attorney special election, incumbent state's attorneyCecil A. Partee, a Democrat appointed in 1989 afterRichard M. Daley resigned to serve asmayor of Chicago, lost reelection to RepublicanJack O'Malley.

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

In the1990 Superintendent of the Cook CountyEducation Service Region election, incumbent fourth-term superintendentRichard J. Martwick, a Democrat, was reelected.^[1][12]

This was the last election before the position was eliminated.^[13]

In the1990Cook County Treasurer election, incumbent fourth-term^[14] treasurerEdward J. Rosewell, a Democrat, was reelected.

In the1990President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners election, incumbent presidentGeorge Dunne, a Democrat that had held the office since 1969, did not seek reelection. DemocratRichard Phelan was elected to succeed him.

Incumbent board presidentGeorge Dunne made a surprise announcement that he would not seek re-election in 1990.^[15]

TheCook County Democratic Party's efforts select a candidate toslate for president was chaotic.^[15] The party organization ultimately slated State SenatorTed Lechowicz.^[15][16] The chaotic nature of the slating process negated the typical benefit of carrying the party organization's endorsement, and Lechowicz ultimately finished third in the primary.^[15]

Richard Phelan, a millionaire attorney fromWinnetka, won the Democratic primary.^[7] He had entered the race as a political unknown.^[7] Phelan did not have a strong political organization, but ran a multimillion-dollar campaign with heavy investment intelevision advertising.^[7] He defeated former Illinois Appellate judgeR. Eugene Pincham, State Senator Lechowicz, and Cook County ClerkStanley Kusper.^[7] Phelan ran on a message of change, running against the county Democratic Party establishment.^[7] Originally, Kusper had been the race's frontrunner, but by election day, had been relegated to an also-ran.^[7]

1990 Cook County Board of Commissioners election

← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →
All 17 seats on theCook 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

The1990Cook 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.^[17]

By winning a suburban seat, Democrats increased their majority by a single seat.^[18]

Ten seats were elected from the City of Chicago.

Before the general election, Democratic nomineeR. Eugene Pincham left to run on theHarold Washington Party slate, and was replaced on the Democratic slate byDanny K. Davis.^[19] Republican nominee Percy V. Coleman also switched from their slate to the Harold Washington Party slate.

Republican nomineeHarold L. Tyrell was replaced on the ballot byAngelo Saviano.

1990 Cook County Board of Appeals election

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

In the1990Cook County Board of Appeals election, both seats on the board were up for election. The election was anat-large election.

In the1990Metropolitan 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 anat-large election.^[1] All three Democratic nominees won.^[1]

Partisan elections were held for judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County, due to vacancies. Other judgeships hadretention elections.^[1]

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

Voters approved having members of theCook County Board of Commissioners be elected fromsingle-member districts in future elections.

Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect both the Democratic and Republicancommitteemen for the suburbantownships.^[2]

• 1990 Illinois elections

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