Three candidates vie to replace the late Karen Yarbrough as Cook County clerk

In a region as blue as Cook County, Monica Gordon likely has a good chance of getting a promotion.

The Democratic county board commissioner is running to become Cook County clerk in the Nov. 5 election, to fill the two years left on the late Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s term.

Yarbrough had overwhelming support during her two terms in office, taking about 72% of votes cast in 2022, and Gordon considers her a mentor.

“Nobody expected this, but this is an amazing opportunity,” said Gordon, of south suburban Chicago Heights. “I’m excited to take the diversity of my work experience and bring it to this office and implement some new ideas while carrying on the legacy of Karen Yarbrough and the others who have come before her.”

People interact with the Cook County clerk’s office for some of the most personal moments of their lives. The office oversees vital records, including birth and death certificates as well as marriage licenses and property records. The clerk also oversees suburban elections. The office has about 350 employees and a roughly $77 million budget this year.

Gordon faces Republican candidate Michelle Pennington and Libertarian candidate Christopher Laurent.

Gordon is backed by influential unions and the Cook County Democratic Party. She said she was in medical sales before going to Springfield, where she said she lobbied for free during a legislative session to learn the ropes.

Two years ago, Gordon won her seat on the Cook County Board. She represents the 5th District, which stretches from south suburban Chicago Heights to the far South Side.

If elected, Gordon said she wants consumers to be able to order more documents online, use AI technology in some way to free up employees for other tasks — not to replace them, she says — and encourage more people to register to vote, especially young people.

Her Republican opponent, Pennington, who has a real estate investment company with her husband and a partner, said she’s looking to clean up the voter rolls. The Cook County GOP, which is backing Pennington and led by county commissioner Sean Morrison, is working with volunteers to flag dead voters they’ve identified from obituaries in an effort to get them removed from voter rolls. Cleaning up the rolls is the responsibility of counties, and it’s a process that historically has taken years.

“It really looked like there might not be a candidate stepping forward, and I thought that that was unacceptable for Cook County not to have a choice,” said Pennington, who lives in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood.

Pennington is running for public office for the first time and acknowledged the difficulty of a Republican winning this office in a heavily blue county.

Supporting Donald Trump for president, which Pennington does, might also not sit well with local Democrats or independents, but Pennington said she hopes she’ll be considered on her own merits.

“I think it’s very hopeful that we don’t have to vote a straight ticket, and we can look at candidates individually and what they’re going to bring and vote for what’s best for our community,” Pennington said.

The third candidate for the clerk’s office, Laurent is a Navy veteran who lives in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood and is currently the chairman of the 14th Police District Council. He said he wants to make the office more convenient by letting people book appointments to get records in person, similar to how people do so at some of the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles offices.

“I think that we can do something similar to the clerk’s office when you need a birth certificate or trying to file for a marriage certificate … you don’t need to sit there and stand in line for four, maybe sometimes up to five hours,” Laurent said.

He said he’s campaigning in person as much as he can, hoping to spark a conversation.

Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County government for WBEZ.