Chicago

Cook County Dems Endorse Kim Foxx for Re-Election

The news, first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, comes one week after Foxx learned her first opponent in the upcoming race

Cook County Democrats on Friday endorsed State's Attorney Kim Foxx for re-election.

The news, first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, comes one week after Foxx learned her first opponent in the upcoming race. According to reports, Foxx won the endorsement of local party leaders for the 2020 election. 

Bill Conway, a former Cook County assistant state's attorney and reserve U.S. Naval intelligence officer, announced his campaign for state's attorney last Thursday.

Conway's announcement made him the first to officially join the race to unseat Foxx, who has not formally announced her bid for re-election, but has held campaign fundraisers in recent months. Others like former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin have openly mulled a run against Foxx, but have not yet entered the race.

Foxx has faced increased scrutiny over the abrupt dismissal of charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, accused of staging a racist and anti-gay attack on himself in Chicago in January. Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct in March, though all charges against him were dropped later that month - a move critics claimed was special treatment by Foxx's office.

Foxx was first elected in 2016, when she defeated embattled incumbent Anita Alvarez, who was under fire for her handling of the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2014. She had previously served as an assistant Cook County state’s attorney for 12 years, then as chief of staff for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle after that.

Cook County Democrats also selected Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi as their pick to replace Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown and revealed they were backing Supreme Court Justice P. Scott Neville, who recently made headlines for homeowners exemption he received by the state. 

Neville was given the exemption on a property he owns in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, but the application for the exemption lists his mother Alice Neville as the property owner, NBC 5 Investigates found. Alice Neville has been dead for 28 years. 

After the investigation aired, Neville asked the Cook County Assessor what the procedure is for repaying the Homeowners Exemption he erroneously received, the assessor's office said.

Illinois Democrats asked for clarification on the homeowners exemption before endorsing him for re-election to a full 10-year term. 

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