Former Skokie official Ann Tennes declared victory in the race for Skokie mayor Tuesday, with unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s office showing she commanded a hefty percentage of vote totals. The victory starts a new era in the village of about 65,000 after 24-year mayor George Van Dusen chose not to run for another term.
Unofficial results show Tennes, the village’s former director of marketing and communications, received a little over 49% of the vote, with all precincts reporting, in a three-way election race. Those unofficial results also showed David “Azi” Lifsics with just over 38% of the vote and Charles Isho with 12% of the vote.
“I am so happy for our community today,” Tennes said, addressing a crowd of about 100 supporters at Bar Louie in Skokie. “This was indeed a grassroots effort and all of you were a part of it and I am so grateful.”
Tennes was the sole candidate in the race who had previously been elected to public office, having served as a trustee and the board president on the Oakton College Board when it was called Oakton Community College.
Tennes takes the helm in the village at a time when Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center, considered the village’s top economic engine, is being reinvented as a residential and entertainment, as well as retail, destination.
Many residents are also eager to see Downtown Skokie and Main Street reinvigorated with economic activity, and the village has taken steps to grow the Illinois Science + Technology Park. The shell of a half-built hotel looms over Oakton Street in downtown Skokie and is just another one of many items the new administration will have to manage.
In addition, political activism has sprouted in Skokie in recent years, with calls on the part of some citizens for affordable housing, protections for immigrants, and other issues. The April 1 election that launched Tennes is historic, representing the first time four village trustees will be elected from four geographic districts within the village. They will join two at-large trustees elected by the whole village on the Village Board. Reformers advocated the changes as a way to ensure the Village Board had representation across various neighborhoods of Skokie.
Tennes said Isho conceded to her and that the two will break bread together within the coming week.
“I assured him (Isho) that I love and value the Assyrian community and I know how important they are to Skokie,” Tennes said.
Tennes, who had the support of former village officials including former Village Manager Al Rigoni, maintained that her campaign and her goal is to be independent of Skokie’s former political machine, the Skokie Caucus Party, and from figures who floated a referendum to realize electoral reform in the village. That reform included creating those trustee districts, as well as ensuring nonpartisan elections and creating staggered terms for Village Board members, so that some are elected every two years.
In Skokie, the position of mayor is paid an annual salary of $35,000. Last year, Skokie trustees considered giving the mayor a 3% cost of living adjustment, but ultimately decided not to do so.
Tennes earlier told the Chicago Tribune in a candidate questionnaire that while employed with the village, she represented Skokie on the Skokie Festival of Cultures Board and Executive Committees (1999 to 2023); the Chicago’s North Shore Convention & Visitors Bureau Board, Executive and Finance Committees (2002 to 2023) and led the Skokie Chamber of Commerce Marketing Task Force in 2018.
She said that since retiring from the village position, she continues to serve as the vice-chair of the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts Foundation Board, and also served on the Skokie Community Foundation Board from 2019 to 2024, serving as board chair from 2023 to 2024.
Before moving to Skokie in 2010, she said she served on the Park Ridge Zoning Board of Appeals from 1997 to 2010, serving as board chair for the final seven years of her service.