Two high-profile politicians were ousted in reelection bids this week as change swept through south suburban Dolton and Homer Township.
Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard appeared to have lost in a landslide Tuesday to village Trustee Jason House, who campaigned on a promise to “clean house.” In Homer Township, Supervisor Steve Balich, who headed the Will County Freedom Caucus, failed in his reelection bid, as well.
Neither official, however, is leaving politics immediately. Henyard remains Thornton Township supervisor, while Balich will continue as a Will County board member.
Henyard has been under federal investigation since at least last spring, when subpoenas were delivered to Dolton Village Hall and Thornton Township offices. Unofficial results show she was trounced by House, who garnered 88% of the vote.
“Today marks an end to a dark day in Dolton,” House told supporters. “Today marks the first day of the future.”
House emphasized community engagement, enhanced services and sustained growth during the campaign. Three trustees running on a slate with House also had substantial leads in their races.
Henyard has been under federal investigation since at least last spring, when subpoenas were delivered to Dolton Village Hall and Thornton Township offices.
House, who is chief financial officer for the Healthcare Consortium of Illinois, ran with and supported Henyard in 2021, but parted ways with her after a series of controversies. Trustees accused the mayor of failing to fully disclose how she was spending public funds.
Board members hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate. She filed a report concluding that the village’s previously healthy finances turned into a multi-million dollar deficit since Henyard was elected mayor.
Henyard also took junkets to Las Vegas that Lightfoot said produced no tangible benefit to the village. In 2022, Dolton voters opted to recall Henyard, but an appellate court ruled the vote was invalid.
Henyard was unavailable for comment Wednesday. She previously has denied the allegations against her, calling them “a conspiracy.”
In Homer Glen, Trustee Susanna Steilen led the ReSet slate to victory in the Republican primary for township government. With all precincts reporting, the Will County unofficial election results show 59.44% for Steilen and 40.56% for Balich in the supervisor’s race.
The campaign was fueled by allegations the current township administration divides the community, isn’t transparent and hires family members of elected officials for full-time township jobs.
“People want good honest government,” Steilen said. “I don’t feel they were getting that. … We are going to have a good team. We are serious about serving the people.”
In addition to Steilen, the ReSet slate included John Robinson for highway commissioner, Tami O’Brien for clerk, Sara Palermo for collector and Ken Marcin, Chris Sievers, Don Melody and Keith Gray for trustees. They will run unopposed in the April 1 election.
Balich, who Will County Freedom Caucus ran on an unapologetically conservative platform, said his administration did a good job, but Democratic crossover voters decided the race. He promised an orderly transition to the next administration.
Other incumbents fared better in the suburbs Wednesday. In Aurora, Mayor Richard Irvin and Ald. John Laesch looked ready to advance from their primary election to a runoff showdown in the April 1 general election.
They were the top two candidates in a field of six Tuesday, amassing substantial leads over the other candidates.
Irvin, an Army veteran and former prosecutor, has been the mayor of Aurora since 2017, and in 2022, ran unsuccessfully for governor of Illinois, losing in the Republican primary. He boasted of major economic development during his tenure, including the Rush Copley Medical Center, the Terminal Building and the Hobbs Building, as well as new housing.
Laesch, a Navy veteran and former congressional candidate who lost in a bid for mayor in 2021, said he supports investing in the green economy, and wants to stop development deals for the mayor’s insiders.
Closer to Chicago in west suburban Cicero, town President Larry Dominick appeared to hang onto his seat, with 57% of the vote against challenger Esteban Rodriguez.
Dominick started working for the town’s public works before becoming a police officer and then mayor in 2005. He said his major achievements include reducing local gang killings and improving town services.
“We focused on two things that are most important to the people of Cicero: services and safety,” Dominick said. “We will continue to expand those services during the next four years and continue to make Cicero the safest town in the Chicagoland region.”
Rodriguez, the former executive director of Corazón Community Services, a Cicero-based nonprofit for youth, said he considered the outcome a win against a longtime “political machine.”
Rodriguez had called for the town to become a “sanctuary city” for immigrants, but Dominick maintained the city policy is to treat everyone, documented or in the country without legal permission, the same.
In north suburban Waukegan, former Mayor Sam Cunningham will get a rematch against incumbent Mayor Ann Taylor, who unseated him four years ago. Cunningham took 75% of the vote in the Democratic primary. Voters also sent Ald. Keith Turner and former Ald. Harold Beadling into the mayoral election on April 1.
Waukegan has seen a lot of turnover in the mayor’s office. Taylor, the city’s first woman mayor, was elected in 2021 after a string of six one-term mayors. She boasted of balancing the budget by increasing city revenue with no new property taxes.
Cunningham was the city’s first Black mayor. He called for increased public safety and supplying Lake Michigan water to other municipalities.
And in north suburban North Chicago, Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr., seeking his sixth term, had 15-percentage-point lead over Ald. Kenneth Smith.
Rockingham will likely face two independent candidates in April — Ald. Anthony Coleman and David Hood, a security guard in Waukegan Community Unit School District 60.
Freelance reporters Michelle Mullins and Steve Sadin contributed.
