From left, County Comms. Tara Stamps (D-1) and Michael Scott Jr. (D-2) are both running in special elections this cycle. Board of Review Comm. Larry Rogers Jr. (D-3) is up for reelection. [Cook County website]

Cook County and Chicago residents that haven’t already voted will head to the polls Tuesday and cast their ballots not only for president but in statewide and local races, including Chicago’s first-ever school board elections and the local State’s Attorney race. 

Related: O’Neill Burke, Fioretti discuss pre-trial detention, business confidence as early voting opens in race to replace Foxx as state’s attorney 

Two Cook County commissioners are on the ballot, though only one is in a competitive race, and one County Board of Review member is on the ballot.

Special county board elections

On the county board of commissioners, Comm. Tara Stamps (D-1) is running to retain her appointed seat for the remainder of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s unexpired term, which ends in 2026. 

Stamps was appointed by a Democratic Party nominating committee in 2023 after Johnson vacated the seat just months into his second county board term to become the city’s mayor. 

Stamps, an organizer, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) New Teacher Development administrator and daughter of noted Cabrini-Green public housing activist Marion Stamps, handily won the Democratic primary in March against West Side activist Zerlina Smith-Members. Stamps notched 84.8 percent of the vote. 

There is no Republican candidate in the race for District 1, which includes portions of Chicago’s West Side and parts of Oak Park and Proviso townships. Libertarian James Humay is Stamps’s only opponent. 

Stamps’s committee hasn’t reported any campaign contributions, transfers or in-kind contributions since March 20, the day after the primary election. Humay also has not reported any contributions to his committee as of Nov. 2. 

For the campaign finance reporting period ending March 31 — just after the March 19 primary — Stamps’s committee reported having $69,729 on hand but had reported no expenditures between Jan. 1 and the end of March. Her committee began that quarter with $16,729 on hand and raised $53,000 in contributions and transfers in that three-month span.  

In that three month period during primary election season, Stamps’s committee also reported over $103,000 in in-kind contributions from the CTU’s political committees, United Working Families PAC and the Chicago Federation of Labor. The contributions were made in the form of staff salaries, campaign mailers, phone polling and software. 

County Comm. Michael Scott Jr. (D-2) is running unopposed to retain his appointed seat on the county board. Scott was appointed in July to replace Dennis Deer following his death in June. 

Scott is a former 24th Ward Chicago alderperson whose former City Council seat is now occupied by his sister, Ald. Monique Scott (24). 

The District 2 commissioner works as director of industry and community relations at Chicago film company Cinespace Studios and told The Daily Line in July that his responsibilities within that role would change as a result of taking office.  

District 2 includes Austin, Englewood, East and West Garfield, North Lawndale, Little Italy, Noble Square, River North, Washington Park, South Loop, West Loop communities, the Michigan Avenue Business District, Chicago Theatre District and Illinois Medical District. 

Scott formed a new campaign committee just days after being sworn in as a county commissioner. Since its creation, the Committee to Elect Michael Scott Jr. has not reported receiving any contributions or making any expenditures. His former aldermanic committee filed its final report in October 2022, a few months after Scott left the council.

Board of Review 

Board of Review Comm. Larry Rogers Jr. (D-3), who is the longest-serving member on the board and was first elected 20 years ago, is up for reelection to a four-year term on the board. No Republicans are running in the race. Rogers’s only opponent is Libertarian candidate Nico Tsatsoulis. 

Rogers began the most recent campaign finance reporting period, lasting from July 1 to Sept. 30, with over $220,000 in his campaign committee. Throughout the quarter, Rogers’s committee reported taking in $41,735 and spending $30,509 to end the quarter with $232,029 on hand. 

Last quarter, the committee reported transfers in from prominent elected officials and organizations, including a $200 transfer from Ald. David Moore’s (17) committee, $250 from Illinois Appellate Court Justice Cynthia Cobbs’s committee, $1,000 from Illinois Appellate Court Justice Celia Gamrath’s committee and $250 from U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly’s (D-Ill.) Democratic committeeperson campaign committee. 

This quarter, Rogers has reported three contributions of at least $1,000, including $5,000 from attorney Paul Jacobs and $5,000 from attorney and consultant Dan McCarthy. Both work for structured settlement firm Waterville Advisors. Rogers’s committee also received a $2,000 transfer from the Chicagoland Operators’ Joint Labor-Management PAC.

Tsatsoulis does not appear to have a campaign committee. Early voting is ongoing until Election Day in Chicago and the county.