The President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners is the chief executive of county government in Cook County, Illinois. They are the head of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The president is chosen in a county-wide general election for a four-year term, without term limits, at the same time that the county elects single-district board members.
Office description Duties of the president include presenting a balanced budget to the board for approval, as well as overseeing County Board meetings and the Bureaus of Offices Under the President. This grants them the ability to veto or approve ordinances and resolutions, as well as the ability to appoint certain employees to the Cook County administration, though they may need the consent of the board to do so.
Additionally, the president must present an annual report to the board on county affairs and its finances, which would require reports and an examination of Cook County administrative units, as well as their properties. The president is also able to enter into intergovernmental agreements as well as agreements with the private sector with the consent and advice of the board.
While the 1970 state constitution of Illinois permits all counties to directly elect their chief executive, Cook County is the only one that does so. Under the constitution, any county that directly elects its chief executive is a home rule county. Because Cook County already elected its county president, when the constitution went into effect, it was the only county that automatically became a home rule county (by virtue of having a directly-elected chief executive).
Officeholders PresidentThe History of Cook County (1884) and contemporaneous newspapers describe the position as "chairman" in the 1870s, and it was elected by the members of the county board (rather than by the voters of the county) until at least 1880. Around 1881, descriptions of the office as "president" began to be published. By (at latest) the county's November 1887 election, it became a county-wide popularly-elected office. Term start Term end Terms Years PartyJulius WhiteJohnson, Charles B. Growth of Cook County Vol. 1: A History of the Large Lake-Shore County That Includes Chicago Chicago: Board of Commissioners of Cook County, Ill., 1960; pp. 100-10118711872 1 1 Henry B. Miller 1872 1873 1 1 Samuel Ashton 1873 1874 1 1 William R. Burdick 1874 1875 1 1 A. B. Johnson 1875 1876 1 1 Charles C. P. Holden 1876 1877 1 1 Republican Henry C. Senne December 1877 December 1879 2 2 John Wesley Stewart December 1879 December 1880 1 1 Republican D. B. Purington 1880 1881 1 1 D. W. Clark 1881 1882 1 1 Adam Ochs 1882 1883 1 1 Democratic Joseph Donnersberger 1883 1884 1 1 Democratic Henry C. Senne 1884 1885 1 1 Republican George C. Klehm 1885 1887 2 2 Republican J. Frank Aldrich 1887 1887 Republican Henry C. Senne 1887 1889 Republican George Edmanson 1889 1890 1 1 Robert J. Smith 1890 1891 1 1 John M. Green 1891 1892 1 1 George Edmanson 1892 1893 1 1 George Struckman 1893 1894 1 1 Daniel D. Healy 1894 1898 4 James C. Irwin 1898 1900 2 John J. Hanberg 1900 1902 2 Henry G. Foreman 1902 1904 2 Republican Edward J. Brundage 1904 1907 3 Republican William Busse 1907 1910 3 Republican Peter Bartzen 1910 1912 2 Democratic Alexander A. McCormick 1912 1914 2 Progressive Peter Reinberg 1914 1921 7 Democratic Daniel Ryan Sr. 1921 1922 1 Democratic Anton Cermak 1922 1931 8¼ Democratic Emmett Whealan 1931 1934 3 Democratic Clayton F. Smith 1934 1946 12 Democratic William N. Erickson 1946 1954 8 Republican Dan Ryan Jr. 1954 1961 7¼ Democratic John J. Duffy 1961 1962 ¾ Democratic Seymour Simon 1962 1966 1 4 Democratic Richard B. Ogilvie 1966 January 1969 ¾ 3 Republican George Dunne January 1969 December 1990 5¼ 21 Democratic Richard Phelan December 1990 December 1994 1 4 Democratic John Stroger December 5, 1994 August 1, 2006 Democratic Bobbie L. Steele August 1, 2006 December 4, 2006 Democratic Todd Stroger December 4, 2006 December 6, 2010 1 4 Democratic Toni Preckwinkle December 6, 2010 4* 16* Democratic
Recent election results
| colspan=16 style="text-align:center;" |President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners general elections |- !Year !Winning candidate !Party !Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) |- |1986 | | George Dunne | | Democratic | | 808,126 (60.61%) | | Joseph D. Matthewson | | Republican | | 525,288 (39.39%)
|1990 | | Richard J. Phelan | | Democratic | | 714,638 (55.65%) | | Aldo DeAngelis | | Republican | | 405,771 (31.60%) |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Barbara J. Norman |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party |Text style="background:#D2B48C | 163,817 (12.76%)
|1994 | | John H. Stroger, Jr. | | Democratic
| | Joe Morris | | Republican
|Text style="background:#D2B48C | Aloysius Majerczyk |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party |Text style="background:#D2B48C | | Jerome Carter | Populist
|1998 | | John H. Stroger, Jr. | | Democratic | | 834,972 (63.49%) | | Aurelia Marie Pucinski | | Republican | | 480,191 (36.61%)
|2002 | | John H. Stroger, Jr. | | Democratic | | 901,679 (68.73%) | | Christopher A. Bullock | | Republican | | 410,155 (31.27%)
|2006 | | Todd H. Stroger | | Democratic | | 690,945 (53.68%) | | Tony Peraica | | Republican | | 596,212 (46.32%)
|2010 | | Toni Preckwinkle | | Democratic | | 939,056 (69.54%) | | Roger A. Keats | | Republican | | 357,070 (26.44%) | | Thomas Tresser | | Green | | 54,273 (4.02%)
|2014 | | Toni Preckwinkle | | Democratic | | 1,072,886 (100%)
|2018 | | Toni Preckwinkle | | Democratic | | 1,355,407 (96.11%) | Others | Write-ins | 54,917 (3.89%)
|2022 | |Toni Preckwinkle | | Democratic | |967,062 (68.54%) | |Bob Fioretti | | Republican | |399,339 (28.30%) | |Thea Tsatsos | | Libertarian | |44,615 (3.16%)
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