Who will replace Kim Foxx? Only one potential candidate appears at Cook County Democrats’ pre-slating despite wide-open race

The Cook County Democratic Party met Friday for its second day of pre-slating, a traditional meet-and-greet that gives hopeful candidates the chance to make their pitches — and also often lays bare internal party rifts and past grudges.

Aside from judges’ seats, two key races are on 2024 ballots countywide: state’s attorney and circuit court clerk.

Official party endorsements won’t be made until August. Those come with assistance collecting petition signatures in the fall to make it on the 2024 primary ballot as well as countywide mailers as campaign season heats up.

Only one candidate presented for the wide-open state’s attorney position: Clayton Harris III, an attorney and lecturer at the University of Chicago who is running with the support of Cook County Board President and party chair Toni Preckwinkle.

Outgoing State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, a Democrat, announced in April that she won’t seek reelection next year after a bruising tenure as the county’s chief prosecutor. She brought a slew of systemic reforms in the office, but also faced pushback over her prosecutorial policies during a rise in crime and became a national figure for her role in the Jussie Smollett scandal.

Preckwinkle said she anticipates that the campaign for state’s attorney will be a “tremendous challenge” for the party, and said she hoped fellow committee members support Harris.

“It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that we have one candidate this morning for this job,” she said. “This is a tough job and I think he has the breadth of experience to take it on.”

Foxx “got treated pretty brutally for the work that she tried to do to reform our criminal justice system,” Preckwinkle said, thanking Harris for being willing “to take on this obligation, this responsibility, especially in light of what happened to the candidate we supported twice previously.”

Harris’ focus as a U. of C. lecturer is public policy; his recent research examines parallels between “the genesis of America policing through slavery in the 1600s” and “policing in the new millennium,” according to his university bio.

Harris has held various roles across government, including as an assistant state’s attorney working in criminal appeals, narcotics and special prosecutions. He’s also been chief of staff at the Illinois Department of Transportation, general counsel for the Chicago Department of Transportation, an assistant to former Mayor Richard M. Daley and executive director for the Illinois International Port District. Harris received his law degree from Howard University and also has a degree in aerospace technology from Middle Tennessee State University.

He pledged to focus on “retributive justice, restorative justice and reformative justice.”

”I believe that prosecuting criminals is the focus of the office. Crime has levels, and while I do not believe that things such as retail theft are victimless crimes, I also do not believe that prison is necessarily the correct response to certain low-level crimes. I saw too much of this while I was an ASA in narcotics, and we cannot continue to throw away Black and brown bodies for addictions, conditions and a lack of expectations,” he said.

“I understand the need to help first-time nonviolent youth offenders accept accountability for their actions while not reaching for sentences that will ruin their lives and weaken our communities,” he continued. “However, that being said, I do not believe that there should be a free pass for those who continuously flout the system and purposely avail themselves as noncontributing members of our society. The mission of the state’s attorney is to preserve the dignity and the best interest of the victims of crime.”

Other candidates for the role are likely to emerge — petition passing does not begin until September and the primary election is not until March 19.

In the Circuit Court clerk’s race, faced with three candidates vying for the party’s endorsement, members were clearly split. Long plagued by scandal during former Clerk Dorothy Brown’s long tenure, Iris Martinez won a four-way primary in 2020 to replace Brown.

Martinez did so without the party’s endorsement, edging out their chosen candidate, Michael Cabonargi.

Despite being spurned then, Martinez is seeking the party’s backing now for a second term atop the office responsible for keeping track of filings in one of the world’s busiest court systems.

She pledged to improve on the inefficiencies that plagued the office and a history of botched tech rollouts. Martinez, a former state senator, has touted her office’s compliance with federal hiring requirements as a key accomplishment, reducing a backlog of expungement petitions, and her role in passing a state bill to seal the records of victims of sex crimes.

Several party members — including 12th Ward committeeman George Cardenas, Thornton Township committeeman Napoleon Harris and Maine Township’s Laura Murphy — indicated they will back Martinez.

“It’s important that we support incumbents,” Harris said, even when they “challenge the establishment.”

“She took her turn when it wasn’t popular. She had the courage to stand up against the party and run, and successfully run,” Harris said. “We have someone who’s done the work, done the job, who’s qualified, and we’re split. And I know a lot of people don’t want to talk about it because there’s a lot of tension in the room. But these are conversations we need to have here today.”

Martinez’s two challengers — Eira Corral Sepulveda and Mariyana Spyropoulos — argue Martinez has fallen short of her promises. A recent WBEZ investigation found during Martinez’s tenure, the clerk’s office had been wrongly putting felonies on the records of people in some diversion programs, potentially putting employment and housing opportunities at risk. The office told the radio station in May it was working on a solution, and placed some of the blame on Chief Judge Timothy Evans.

“My desire to run for the office is embedded in my fundamental principle that public service is meant to help those that are in need, and those that are seeking help,” Sepulveda told party members. “As we have seen in the headlines, the office is mired in scandal and mismanagement,” she continued, arguing Martinez has fallen short on technology upgrades that would have improved customer service. Sepulveda also alluded to a number of clerk employees accused of federal pandemic relief fraud. Martinez said Friday that she cooperated with an internal investigation into those employees.

Sepulveda served as Hanover Park village clerk between 2009 and 2020. She won a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District that year, and has the support of Preckwinkle for the role.

Spyropoulos, an attorney and another MWRD commissioner, said the problems at the office are not limited to “outdated equipment, employee morale and management” issues.

“I’ve heard from attorneys and judges, and there are many issues with this office including systems being down, orders from judges not being processed in a timely manner, which can result in wrongful evictions as well as other challenges, people staying in jail for longer than necessary. I want to change that. ... By the way, the online case lookup system on the website has been down since Friday, June 5.”

Separately on Friday, party members announced details to fill the vacant position on the Cook County Board left by Brandon Johnson after he won election as Chicago mayor. A selection committee narrowed down 19 applications to six, who will be interviewed by party members in the Foxboro Room of The Carleton of Oak Park Hotel this coming Tuesday.

Those finalists are a mix of Chicagoans and suburbanites. The district spans many West Side neighborhoods and suburban communities, including Oak Park. Finalists include Chicagoans the Rev. Ira Acree, Tommie Johnson, Zerlina Smith-Members and Tara Stamps, as well as Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins and Claiborne Wade, also of Forest Park.

Smith-Members has previously run for 29th Ward alderman and Cook County board president. Stamps has run for 37th Ward alderman. Whoever the committee selects will have to run in 2024 to retain the seat.

On the Republican side, former longtime Illinois House minority leader Jim Durkin was asked after the unveiling of a portrait of former GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner Monday whether he’s considering a run for state’s attorney.

Durkin, who stepped down from the Legislature this year and has lamented the party’s rightward shift and embrace of former President Donald Trump, said he’s “not even thinking about it” but added he’s “just interested in putting good people in the county office and make sure they’re doing their job right and holding criminals accountable.”

Asked about any campaigns in his future, Durkin, of Western Springs, said: “I live in Cook County and I would just say that I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Cook County can be a safe county again down the road. So I’m very concerned about what’s happening in the city of Chicago and also throughout the suburban area. And so, I will just say that I’m going to keep my eye on that. But I’m enjoying my life as a private person.”

Durkin is a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney.

Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner contributed.

aquig@chicagotribune.com