| Cook County Clerk | |
|---|---|
since December 2024 | |
| Term length | 4 years |
| Formation | March 1831 (appointed position) August 1837 (elected position) |
TheCook County Clerk is theclerk of county government inCook County,Illinois.
The office of Cook County Clerk was established in 1831, the year thatCook County, Illinois was created. For the first several years, the clerk was appointed by the three-memberCook County Board of Commissioners. This was changed, and it became an elected office with a four-year term in 1837, with the first election being held in August of that year.[1][2]
| # | Clerk | Term in office | Party | Notes | Cite | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | William Lee | 1831 | Appointed in March 1831, resigned in December 1831 | [2] | ||
| 2nd | Richard J. Hamilton | 1831–1837 | Democratic | Appointed to the office in December 1831 | [2][3] | |
| 3rd | George Davis | 1837–1849 | The first elected Cook County Clerk (first elected in August 1837) | [1][2] | ||
| 4th | Edmund S. Kimberly | 1849–1853 | Elected in August and November 1849 | [1] | ||
| 5th | Charles B. Farwell | 1853–1861 | [1] | |||
| 6th | Laurin P. Hilliard | 1861–1865 | [1] | |||
| 7th | Edward S. Salomon | 1865–November 1869 | Republican | [4][5] | ||
| 8th | John G. Gindele | 1869–January 1872 | Died in office | [1] | ||
| 9th | George W. Wheeler | 1873–December 1873 | [1] | |||
| 10th | Hermann Lieb | 1873–December 1877 | [1] | |||
| 11th | Ernest F.C. Klokke | 1877–December 1882 | Term extended, by law, for one year | [1] | ||
| 12th | Michael W. Ryan | 1882–December 1886 | [1] | |||
| 13th | Henry Wulff | 1886–1894 | Republican | |||
| 14th | Philip Knopf | 1894–1902 | Republican | |||
| 15th | Peter B. Olsen | 1902–1906 | Republican | |||
| 16th | Joseph F. Haas | 1906–1910 | Republican | [6] | ||
| 17th | Robert Sweitzer | December 1910–December 1934 | Democratic | Elected in 1910, 1914, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1930, 1934; resigned to serve asCook County Treasurer in December 1934 | ||
| 18th | Michael J. Flynn | 1935–1950 | Democratic | Appointed in 1935; elected in 1938, 1942,1946 | [7] | |
| 19th | Richard J. Daley | December 1950 – 1955 | Democratic | Elected in 1950 and 1954; resigned in 1955 to serve asmayor of Chicago | ||
| 20th | Edward J. Barrett | 1955–1973 | Democratic | Appointed in 1955; elected in 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970; resigned in 1973 | ||
| 21st | Stanley Kusper | 1973–December 1990 | Democratic | Appointed in 1973, elected in 1974, 1978, 1982,1986 | [8] | |
| 22nd | David Orr | December 1990–December 2018 | Democratic | Elected in1990,1994,1998,2002,2006,2010,2014 | ||
| 23rd | Karen Yarbrough | December 2018–April 2024 | Democratic | Elected in2018 and2022; died in office in April 2024 | [9] | |
| – | Cedric Giles (acting) | 2024 | Acting clerk | |||
| 24th | Monica Gordon | December 2024–present | Democratic | Elected in2024 | [10] | |
| Cook County Clerk general elections | |||||||||||||||
| Year | Winning candidate | Party | Vote (pct) | Opponent | Party | Vote (pct) | Opponent | Party | Vote (pct) | Opponent | Party | Vote (pct) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986[11] | Stanley Kusper | Democratic | 929,949 (68.35%) | Diana Nelson | Republican | 430,568(31.35%) | |||||||||
| 1990[12] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 799,884 (63.48%) | Sam Panayotovich | Republican | 353,531(28.06%) | Heldia R. Richardson | Harold Washington Party | 106,588 (8.46%) | ||||||
| 1994 | David D. Orr | Democratic | Edward Howlett | Republican | Herman W. Baker, Jr. | Harold Washington Party | Curtis Jones | Populist | |||||||
| 1998[13] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 988,136 (77.30%) | Judie A. Jones | Republican | 290,256 (22.70%) | |||||||||
| 2002[14][15] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 992,441 (76.11%) | Kathleen A. Thomas | Republican | 311,552 (23.89%) | |||||||||
| 2006[16] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 1,034,263 (80.78%) | Nancy Carlson | Republican | 246,044 (19.22%) | |||||||||
| 2010[17] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 1,047,462 (77.77%) | Angel Garcia | Republican | 299,449 (22.23%) | |||||||||
| 2014[18] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 1,061,515 (100%) | ||||||||||||
| 2018[19] | Karen Yarbrough | Democratic | 1,415,244 (99.07%) | Others | Write-ins | 13,120 (0.93%) | |||||||||
| 2022[20] | Karen Yarbrough | Democratic | 1,003,854 (71.58%) | Tony Peraica | Republican | 368,095 (26.26%) | Joseph Schreiner | Libertarian | 30,514 (2.18%) | ||||||
| 2024 | |||||||||||||||