# 1994 Cook County, Illinois, elections

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vte :
The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 8, 1994.
Primaries were held March 15, 1994.
Elections were held for Assessor, Clerk, Sheriff, Treasurer, President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, all 17 seats of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, both seats of the Cook County Board of Appeals, seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and judgeships in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
The Democratic Party performed well, winning a full sweep of all countywide offices and 11 out of 17 seats on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. This came despite 1994 having been a strong Republican election cycle nationally, including in Illinois’ statewide elections (with the national election cycle being dubbed the “Republican Revolution”).

## Election information

1994 was a midterm election year in the United States. The primaries and general elections for Cook County races coincided with those for congressional elections and those for state elections.

### Voter turnout
#### Primary election

Turnout in the primaries was 34.58%, with 911,577 ballots cast. Chicago saw 555,937 ballots cast and suburban Cook County saw 23.95% turnout (with 355,620 ballots cast).
Vote totals of primaries :
| Primary | Chicago vote totals | Suburban Cook County vote totals | Total Cook County vote totals |
| Democratic | 525,752 | 213,002 | 738,754 |
| Republican | 24,391 | 132,478 | 156,869 |
| Harold Washington Party | 564 | 110 | 674 |
| Harold Washington Party/Democratic | 3,826 | 1,669 | 5,495 |
| Harold Washington Party/Republican | 244 | 171 | 415 |
| Nonpartisan | 1,160 | 8,190 | 9,350 |
| Total | 555,937 | 355,620 | 911,557 |

#### General election

The general election saw turnout of 48.16%, with 1,267,152 ballots cast. Chicago saw 586,235 ballots cast, while suburban Cook County saw 50.54% turnout (with 680,917 ballots cast).

## Assessor

In the 1994 Cook County Assessor election, incumbent assessor Thomas Hynes, a Democrat, was elected to a fifth full-term.

### Primaries
#### Democratic

Cook County Assessor Democratic primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Thomas Hynes (incumbent) | 444,436 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 444,436 | 100 |

#### Republican

Cook County Assessor Republican primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Sandra C. Wilson-Muriel | 98,084 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 98,084 | 100 |

#### Harold Washington Party

Cook County Assessor Harold Washington Party primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Harold Washington | Donald Pamon | 3,076 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 3,076 | 100 |

### General election

Democrat Hynes won by a roughly 35-point margin. He defeated Republican nominee Sandra C. Wilson-Muriel, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee Donald Pamon and Populist Party nominee Loretha Weisinger.
Cook County Assessor election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Thomas Hynes (incumbent) | 725,866 | |
| | Republican | Sandra C. Wilson-Muriel | 340,151 | |
| | Harold Washington | Donald Pamon | 47,682 | |
| | Populist | Loretha Weisinger | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | | 100 |

## Clerk

In the 1994 Cook County Clerk election, incumbent first-term clerk David Orr, a Democrat, was reelected.

### Primaries
#### Democratic

Cook County Clerk Democratic primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | David D. Orr (incumbent) | 454,873 | 76,37 |
| | Democratic | Patricia Young | 140,290 | 23.63 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 595,163 | 100 |

#### Republican

Cook County Clerk Republican primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Edward G. Howlett | 102,454 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 102,454 | 100 |

#### Harold Washington Party

Cook County Clerk Harold Washington Party primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Harold Washington | Herman W. Baker, Jr. | 2,154 | 50.77 |
| | Harold Washington | Vivian Stewart Tyler | 2,089 | 49.23 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,243 | 100 |

### General election

David Orr was reelected by a roughly 30-point margin. He defeated Republican nominee Edward Howlett, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee Herman W. Baker, Jr. and Populist Party nominee Curtis Jones.
Cook County Clerk election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | David Orr (incumbent) | 720,132 | |
| | Republican | Edward Howlett | 381,445 | |
| | Harold Washington | Herman W. Baker, Jr. | 30,754 | |
| | Populist | Curtis Jones | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | | 100 |

## Sheriff

In the 1994 Cook County Sheriff election, incumbent first-term sheriff Michael F. Sheahan, a Democrat, was reelected.

### Primaries
#### Democratic

Cook County Sheriff Democratic primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Michael F. Sheahan (incumbent) | 388,977 | 67.41 |
| | Democratic | Tommy H. Brewer | 188,025 | 32.59 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 577,002 | 100 |

#### Republican

No candidate ran in the Republican primary for Sheriff. The party ultimately nominated John D. Tourtelot.

#### Harold Washington Party

Cook County Sheriff Harold Washington Party primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Harold Washington | William A. Brown | 3,076 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 3,076 | 100 |

### General election

Michael F. Sheahan was reelected by a roughly 40-point margin. He defeated Republican nominee John D. Tourtelot, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee William A. Brown and Populist Party nominee William J. Benson.

## Treasurer

In the 1994 Cook County Treasurer election, incumbent fifth-term treasurer Edward J. Rosewell, a Democrat, was reelected.

### Primaries
#### Democratic

Cook County Treasurer Democratic primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Edward J. Rosewell (incumbent) | 423,290 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 423,290 | 100 |

#### Republican

Cook County Treasurer Republican primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Jean Reyes Pechette | 111,506 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 111,506 | 100 |

#### Harold Washington Party

Cook County Treasurer Harold Washington Party primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Harold Washington | Robert J. Pettis | 2,089 | 50.47 |
| | Harold Washington | Atara Young | 1,962 | 49.53 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,051 | 100 |

### General election

Rosewell was reelected by a more than 20-point margin. He defeated Republican nominee Jean Reyes Pechette, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee Robert J. Pettis and Populist Party nominee John Justice.
Cook County Treasurer election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Edward J. Rosewell | 643,313 | |
| | Republican | Jean Reyes Pechette | 389,131 | |
| | Harold Washington | Robert J. Pettis | 55,017 | |
| | Populist | John Justice | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | | 100 |

## President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners

In the 1994 President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners election, incumbent first-term president Richard Phelan, a Democrat, did not seek reelection. Democrat, John Stroger, was elected to succeed him in office. Stroger was the first African-American to be elected to the office.

### Primaries
#### Democratic

President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Democratic primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | John Stroger, Jr. | 308,944 | 47.63 |
| | Democratic | Aurelia Marie Pucinski | 185,266 | 28.56 |
| | Democratic | Maria Pappas | 154,543 | 23.82 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 648,753 | 100 |

#### Republican

Joe Morris received the Republican nomination, running unopposed on the ballot in the Republican primary.
Originally, Palatine village president Rita Mullins was running for the nomination, but she withdrew her candidacy.
President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Republican primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Joseph A. Morris | 99,238 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 99,238 | 100 |

#### Harold Washington Party

President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Harold Washington Party primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Harold Washington | David R. Reed | 2,106 | 53.26 |
| | Harold Washington | Bruce Crosby | 1,848 | 46.64 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 120,627 | 100 |

### General election

Morris' candidacy was considered a long shot. It struggled with a lack of funds. During the general election, Stroger did not campaign heavily.
Morris proposed drastically restricting the county's government, abolishing all of the county agencies except the State's Attorney's office and replacing them with a different arrangement of departments that would have been under greater control of the president of the Cook Cook County Board of Commissioners.
Stroger won by a more than 25-point margin over Republican Joe Morris. He also defeated Harold Washington Party nominee Aloysius Majerczyk and Populist Party nominee Jerome Carter.
President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | John Stroger | 681,078 | |
| | Republican | Joe Morris | 397,241 | |
| | Harold Washington | Aloysius Majerczyk | 33,886 | |
| | Populist | Jerome Carter | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | | 100 |

## Cook County Board of Commissioners

The 1994 Cook County Board of Commissioners election saw all seventeen seats of the Cook County Board of Commissioners up for election to four-year terms.
This was the first for the Cook County Board of Commissioners conducted with individual districts, as previous elections had been conducted through two sets of at-large elections (one for ten seats from the city of Chicago and another for seven seats from suburban Cook County).
Six of those elected were new to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
The number of commissioners each party held remained unchanged.

## Cook County Board of Appeals

In the 1994 Cook County Board of Appeals election, both seats on the board were up for election. The election was an at-large election.
Incumbent Democrats Joseph Berrios and Wilson Frost were reelected.
This was the last election to the Cook County Board of Appeals, which was reconstituted in 1998 as the three-member Cook County Board of Review.

## Water Reclamation District Board

In the 1998 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election took place on November 8, 1994, with primaries on March 15, 1994.

## Judicial elections

Partisan elections were held for judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County, due to vacancies. Other judgeships had retention elections.

## Ballot questions
### Property tax cap advisory referendum

An advisory referendum was held on whether the voters of Cook County wanted the Illinois General Assembly to pass a cap on property taxes. Voters overwhelmingly supported a tax cap.
Property tax cap :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Yes | Yes | 653,200 | 83.02 |
| No | No | 133,650 | 16.99 |
| Total votes | Total votes | 786,850 | 100 |

## Other elections

Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect the Democratic, Republican, and Harold Washington Party committeemen for the suburban townships.
Suburban Cook County elected a superintendent for the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, with Republican Lloyd Lehman running unopposed in both his primary election and the general election, as no other candidates sought the office. This was the only office for which only a single candidate filed. Lehman had been appointed to the office the previous year after Richard Martwick resigned. The Chicago Tribune observed that this office may have been the "most obscure election on the ballot".