Democrat Monica Gordon clinches Cook County clerk seat

In a county where Democratic voters dominate, Monica Gordon easily defeated her GOP and Libertarian rivals Tuesday to become the next Cook County clerk.

With more than half of the estimated vote counted, Gordon was headed for a landslide victory, with more than 65%.

Gordon is a first-term Democratic commissioner on the county board, representing a district that stretches from the tip of the south suburbs to the far South Side.

In her victory speech, Gordon shouted out labor for getting her to this point.

“See, I’m a child of labor,” Gordon said, adding that her mom is a proud union member. “If it wasn’t for the labor movement, I would not be standing here, right here, right now.”

She called to the stage several suburban mayors and union leaders who helped her win, and thanked her family and friends in the crowd.

“I’m forever grateful, and I promise you, I’m going to work the hardest to my ability and do what’s right for constituents … to make sure everyone is heard, everyone’s story is told, and everyone knows the importance of the freedoms we have of our democracy,” Gordon pledged.

The clerk oversees suburban elections and some of the most important records in the county, from birth and death certificates to marriage licenses and property deeds.

Gordon will complete the two years left on the late Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s term. Gordon has long ties to state lawmakers in Springfield and was backed by influential unions and the Cook County Democratic Party.

Gordon set up her election night party at Mariella’s Banquet Hall in Maywood, a symbolic choice to honor her mentor Yarbrough. Yarbrough had deep personal and political roots in Maywood. She was a state lawmaker representing the area, and both her father and husband were mayors of Maywood.

At Mariella’s, the lights were dim, and cocktail tables were draped in blue and glittery silver tablecloths.

Phyllis Hayes said she drove more than an hour to support her friend Gordon, who she met more than a decade ago when Gordon was lobbying lawmakers in Springfield.

“We just pulled Monica under our wing and said, ‘Hey, you’re the next generation of leaders. Come and learn what we do to make things happen,’” said Hayes, now an assistant vice chancellor at UI Health in Chicago. “I am so proud, like a mom, of watching her grow into getting to this point in her life.”

Gordon defeated Republican Michelle Pennington, who was backed by the Cook County GOP and running for public office for the first time, and Libertarian Christopher Laurent, who is chairman of Chicago’s 14th Police District Council.

Before the Associated Press called the race for Gordon and despite a big deficit in the early returns, Pennington said she felt “great.”

“I think Cook County’s ready for a change,” Pennington said from her election night party at a West Side bar.

Laurent said he still had high spirits, and part of his goal in running for clerk was to further establish the Libertarian Party in Cook County.

“I think if you can’t win, get as many votes as possible,” Laurent said.

Gordon far outraised her opponents, with around $97,000 in her campaign fund as of Sept. 30, according to her most recent quarterly report. In a sign of how much Gordon did not need financial help, her campaign fund transferred about $20,000 in late September to the Cook County Democratic Party.

The party planned to use that money from Gordon to mail campaign literature to potential voters with a focus on electing Vice President Kamala Harris for president, said Jacob Kaplan, executive director of the Democratic Party. Eileen O’Neill Burke, the Democratic candidate for Cook County state’s attorney, also contributed $20,000 toward mailers, campaign finance records show.

Pennington had about $2,800 on hand as of Sept. 30, according to her most recent quarterly report. Laurent raised around $2,000.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk election

In a separate countywide race, Democrat Mariyana Spyropoulos, a commissioner on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board, handily beat Republican Lupe Aguirre and Libertarian Michael Murphy in the race to become the next clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court.

“The Clerk’s office is a critical part of our justice system,” Spyropoulos said in a statement. “Today we need that system to be far more transparent and accountable. On Day 1 we will work to make our courts more accessible, root out corruption and help victims. “

The clerk oversees one of the largest circuit court systems in the nation, with tens of millions of documents and around 1,400 workers. The clerk’s role is mostly administrative. The circuit court houses everything from criminal cases to divorce filings, but this office is fiercely political.

Spyropoulos defeated incumbent clerk Iris Martinez in the March primary to become the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 5 election. Spyropoulos is an attorney who poured more than $1 million of her own money into the primary. The Democratic Party backed Spyropoulos over Martinez after Martinez ruffled feathers in a party that thrives on loyalty.

Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County government for WBEZ. WBEZ’s Michael Puente contributed.