Cook County Democratic Party Unanimously Elects Leadership

The Cook County Democratic Party on Wednesday unanimously re-elected Joseph Berrios to a fifth term as its chairman. In addition, the party unanimously re-elected its executive committee – Toni Preckwinkle, executive vice chairman; Lou Lang, executive vice chairman; Tim Bradford, first vice chairman; Carrie Austin, city vice chairman; Don Harmon, suburban vice chairman; Robert Martwick, secretary; Antonio Munoz, treasurer, and Karen Yarbrough, sergeant-at-arms.

“Thank you for your support to lead this great party,” Berrios told the committeemen. “When we stay together we stay strong together.”

Gov. Patrick Quinn and his Lt. Gov. running mate Paul Vallas addressed the committeemen, calling on their support for the November 4 election. Gov. Quinn called attention to his Republican opponent wanting to lower the minimum wage and opposing “Welcome Home Illinois,” a loan program that helps first time home owners with down payments, receiving interest rates as low as 3.75 percent on a 30-year mortgage.

Preckwinkle made the nomination for Berrios to be re-elected. She noted that "under the leadership of Joe Berrios, for the first time, African-Americans, Latinos and women have had a real opportunity for leadership in the party and have had a real opportunity to be slated by the party. The party has gone through rapid modernization under Joe’s leadership. We are slating qualified and diverse candidates, resulting in huge progressive victories.”

In the March 18 Democratic Primary, the party participated in 28 countywide races, winning all but three. The Cook County Democratic Party is made up of 50 Chicago Ward and 30 Township Committeemen.

Unslated Candidates

The following e-mail was sent to the 80 committeemen of the Cook County Democratic Party in response to misleading mail sent by our opponents:

Committeemen,

A mail piece was delivered throughout the county touting a number of candidates who are challenging our Democratic Party slate. This mail piece was deliberately deceptive. It made use of a logo and design similar to the one the Cook County Democratic Party has used in the past. It misleadingly claimed the candidates on it were "ENDORSED BY DEMOCRATS OF COOK COUNTY". The piece was clearly designed to confuse Democratic voters. Every Committeeman should be outraged by this underhanded tactic. Old-time, machine-style dirty tricks have no place in modern campaigns. 

No committeeman should promote or assist in any way a candidate who was not endorsed in due form at our slating session last August. The party will be collecting election day materials from all over the county and it is completely within the by-laws of the party to legally sanction any ward or township that works against a slated candidate. 

We are imploring all 80 of our committeemen to stand united with our endorsed candidates. If we do not, the party endorsement will be meaningless and our future candidates will suffer. We were all united at slating when we assembled this ticket and we must remain united this last week. United we are strong and united we will win. 

Chairman Joseph Berrios

Executive Vice-Chair Toni Preckwinkle

Executive Vice-Chair Lou Lang