Amid party loyalty questions, Cook County Democrats endorse for state’s attorney and go against incumbent for court clerk

After open spats over party loyalty Tuesday, the Cook County Democratic Party voted to back Clayton Harris III in the open race to succeed Kim Foxx as Cook County state’s attorney and Mariyana Spyropoulos to take on incumbent Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez, a fellow Democrat.

Harris, an attorney and lecturer at the University of Chicago, ran with the support of Cook County Board President and party chair Toni Preckwinkle. Committee members chose Harris over retired 1st District Appellate Court Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke, who was pressed by some progressive party members aligned with Preckwinkle over Republicans in her campaign orbit.

For Cook County Circuit Court clerk, the party bucked both the incumbent and Preckwinkle’s choice, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Eira Corral Sepúlveda. Instead, they chose to endorse Spyropoulos, another MWRD commissioner.

The state’s attorney race, though, will be one of the most closely watched. Tuesday’s vote came after progressives allied with Preckwinkle pressed O’Neill Burke on her Democratic credentials. She requested that the party opt not to slate either candidate and leave the primary open.

The former judge and state Sen. Rob Martwick, the 38th Ward committeeperson, tussled briefly over O’Neill Burke’s choice as campaign treasurer. Martwick opened his questioning by noting that “every Democratic primary opponent I have ever faced — every single one — has been a Republican running as a Democrat.”

“Are you accusing me of being a Republican, Rob? ’Cause I have been a Democrat for decades,” O’Neill Burke retorted.

Martwick noted that O’Neill Burke’s campaign treasurer, Thomas Glasgow, had “only voted in Republican primaries every year since 2002,” which O’Neill Burke confirmed. “What do you have to say —,” Martwick began, before O’Neill Burke jumped in.

Glasgow “is a criminal defense attorney. I have been friends with him for three decades. He’s good with money. I asked him to be my treasurer. He’s not controlling my campaign; he’s merely my treasurer. But good job, Rob. Really thorough vetting on that one,” she said, as committee members murmured. Martwick muttered, “Wow.”

“What else do you want me to say, Rob? I am not a Republican, I have voted in every Democratic primary since I was 18,” she said.

“Justice, I think you’ve said it all,” Martwick replied.

Chicago Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th Ward committeeperson, gave her a gentle rebuke. “I know you know Rob personally, but we’re committeemen here, and you should respect us as committeemen also.”

Not long after, Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd Ward committeeperson, asked why O’Neill Burke had donated to a fund supporting Liam Brennan, a Republican, in his bid for reelection as judge of the Illinois 3rd District Appellate Court. State records show O’Neill Burke donated $250 to the fund. Brennan ultimately defeated Democrat Sonni Choi Williams in the 2022 general election with 52.7% of the vote.

The Republican Party is “dead-set on being anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, etc., the things that our party stands for, and I just want to know how you can rationalize donating to a Republican running for judge, in a very close race against a Democratic woman of color,” Rodriguez said.

As president of the Illinois Judges Association, O’Neill Burke said she had made friends with judges across the political spectrum, that she’d known Brennan a long time and that he was a well-rated, “excellent jurist.” She contrasted that to Williams, whom the Illinois State Bar Association listed as “not recommended.”

“I think we need to work together,” O’Neill Burke continued. “We need to get every stakeholder to be rowing the boat in the same direction. So we can continue to villainize … or we can try to work together to get stuff done. … I have supported Democrats, but I also think it’s important to look at someone’s qualifications and not just do a litmus test, especially for this job.”

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, also pressed her on whether she would maintain Foxx’s policy to charge retail theft as a felony only if the value of the stolen goods exceeded $1,000 or the alleged shoplifter had 10 prior felony convictions. State statute sets the threshold for felony prosecution of most retail thefts at $300.

O’Neill Burke replied that it “is not up to the individual officeholders to pick and choose what the law is or what it is not. That is up to the legislature. … I also think we have a major problem with guns right now. We have carjackings and armed robberies and babies are getting shot at birthday parties. We have bigger problems to worry about than somebody stealing a loaf of bread and, believe me, my focus will be on violent crime and not prosecuting somebody who is stealing formula for a baby.”

Harris, meanwhile, only faced brief questioning. He told committee members his priority would be to “get justice for victims,” including overseeing a “hard reset” in the office’s relationship with law enforcement to “collaborate on carjackings, retail theft, and more,” and working to recruit and retain state’s attorney staff.

Harris, in a written statement, later said he was “energized by the opportunity to travel across (the) county, hearing people’s concerns, and listening to their ideas on how to make our communities safer. I’m committed to doing the work to ensure our office focuses on holding violent offenders accountable, and continues to push forward on the urgent work of reform.”

O’Neill Burke’s campaign released a statement saying she is still planning to run and expressing her disappointment “that the committee overlooked a woman with thirty years of experience in every corner of the courtroom to support a candidate who most recently lobbied against workers’ rights on behalf of corporate special interests,” a reference to her opponent’s work in government affairs for Lyft.

Preckwinkle noted that she hadn’t backed former State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez “because I didn’t think she had the vision for the office that … I thought was good for Black and brown communities. It’s not only about experience. It’s about your ideology and how you feel about the criminal justice system. I have more confidence in Clayton Harris … than Justice Burke.”

The party was clearly divided over its choice for circuit court clerk, a role that oversees paperwork for the county’s massive court system. Martinez, who won despite the party endorsing a different candidate in 2020, returned to ask for its endorsement this time.

Martinez had support among the more right-leaning committee members, but faced similar questions over party loyalty. Ramirez-Rosa asked about her support for Erin Jones, a Chicago police detective who ran against Martwick for state senate and whose Democratic credentials Ramirez-Rosa questioned.

Martinez said Jones told her she was “a registered Democrat” and single mom. “I support a lot of the underdogs that people don’t want to support,” she said, and noted the Fraternal Order of Police’s rank-and-file members backed Jones as well. But Martinez conceded she should have done a better job researching Jones’ positions on issues.

Martinez likewise defended her tenure in office clearing expungement backlogs and opening a call center, arguing she inherited several problems from her predecessor and still has work to do. She said she plans to run whether she receives the endorsement or not.

Corral Sepúlveda said the “mismanagement and inefficiencies that plagued the clerk” continue. She said she’s spoken to “a frustrated husband that took his wife to court only to find a letter saying the case had been dismissed and they didn’t have to show up,” as well as to judges and attorneys who lamented people unnecessarily sitting “in jail for more than 30 days.”

Corral Sepúlveda cited her youth and previous experience as a clerk in Hanover Township, but Spyropoulos won the endorsement, in part because of a concerted push on her behalf by suburban party members. The challenge now, Spyropoulos later told reporters, will be defeating an incumbent and campaigning for an office many voters have never interacted with.

She plans to challenge Martinez on ethics, pushing to make the inspector general that oversees the office independent and “making the office work for people that have to use it,” Spyropoulos said.

“A lot of people are not happy” with the way the office is run, she said, citing for example judges who “don’t have their records there on time when they’re supposed to. That can result in some people staying in jail longer than they should.”

Martinez later told reporters she accepted the party’s decision. “Last time I did run against the party, you know. I think that’s my punishment this time around. … I’m not afraid of a challenge. I won, and I won big over their slated candidate” in 2020, Michael Cabonargi. She anticipates committee members who supported her will continue to during the primary.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker also briefly made an appearance to lobby the party to endorse President Joe Biden’s reelection. Pritzker touted Biden’s record on jobs, reducing poverty, investing in education and protecting women’s reproductive rights before pivoting to call Republican front-runner Donald Trump “the biggest liar in American history.”

“And here in Illinois, we have no tolerance for that kind of bulls---,” he told party members, saying the “naked orange emperor wouldn’t get 10 feet in the South Side Irish Parade or the Bud Billiken Parade without everyone seeing just how small his hands really are.”

The party also slated judicial candidates, including incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Joy Cunningham. She was appointed last year but faced a challenge during the endorsement process from Appellate Judge Jesse Reyes, who argued Latino representation in the state’s highest court was lacking.

Chicago Tribune’s Madeline Buckley, Jeremy Gorner and Megan Crepeau contributed.