Dolton, Cicero, Aurora are among Illinois communities holding contentious primaries or elections Tuesday
Tuesday is primary election day in Illinois.
Chicago does not have any races this cycle, but dozens of suburbs do.
Among the cities, villages and townships with primary elections on Tuesday, few races will be watched as closely as Dolton — as their embattled mayor is up for re-election.
Tiffany Henyard won the Dolton mayoral race in 2021 as a reform candidate. In the four years since, her city hall has become the focus of an FBI probe.
She was also the subject of a failed recall effort.
Village trustees also brought in former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who found Henyard mismanaged finances through lavish spending while regularly avoiding questions about it.
"There was a concerted, systematic effort on behalf of Mayor Henyard and others in her administration to hide the true financial condition of the Village of Dolton from the trustees and from members of the public," Lightfoot said as she presented the findings of her investigation in January.
Henyard also serves separately as Thornton Township supervisor. When a critic took the mic and used an expletive to describe her last month, fists flew and chaos broke out at the township board meeting — the first she had attended in a while.
Under the brand "Clean House," Dolton Village Trustee Jason House is running against Henyard. They were part of the same ticket in 2021.
Also on the ballot Tuesday around the Chicago suburbs are races from Algonquin to Berwyn.
In one major race, Cicero will be electing a new town president.
Current Town President Larry Dominick, a former member of Cicero Police Department, has been on the job 20 years. He is facing a challenger which does not happen every cycle in Cicero.
Challenger Esteban Rodriguez was executive director of a youth-focused nonprofit.
Immigration has become a major issue in Cicero of late.
Meanwhile, early voting has begun for the mayor's race in Aurora, now the second-largest city in Illinois.
Sitting Mayor Richard Irvin, in office since 2017, is running for re-election. He is up against four challengers:
- Karina Garcia, president of the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
- John Laesch, an at-large alderman, a U.S. Navy veteran, and school board member who ran against Irvin for mayor last election.
- Judd Lofchie, who is also an alderman and former Irvin challenger in 2021.
- Ted Mediacos, a small business owner and third ward alderman in Aurora.
The top two vote-getters for Aurora mayor will advance to an April 1 consolidated election.
