The seat on the Cook County Board that Brandon Johnson vacated to take over the mayor’s office in Chicago was filled late Tuesday by a union mentor who once helped the mayor put together his lesson plans.
Local Democrats met Wednesday night in Oak Park to serve as the commissioner of the county’s 1st District, unanimously selecting Johnson ally and Chicago Teachers Union leader Tara Stamps for the role. She was chosen from an initial field of 19 applicants that was later narrowed down to six. At the end of the roughly three-hour meeting, Stamps supporters erupted in cheers at the announcement.
Stamps was sworn in shortly after by Judge Michael Clancy for the seat that covers parts of the West Side and near west suburbs.
The selection committee, made up of local Democrats, interviewed candidates in the Foxboro Room of The Carleton of Oak Park Hotel Tuesday night, quizzing them about balancing the interests of a district that is roughly half suburban and half Chicago, whether they could afford to raise sufficient money to mount a campaign, and their two top pressing concerns to address once in office. The applicants were familiar faces and sometimes old political foes for members of the selection panel, but the evening was a convivial one.
Tuesday’s decision is not the last word: There will be a special election in 2024 to complete the full term. Two candidates said they planned to run in that election regardless of whether they were appointed.
The seat was filled by Democrats who serve as committeepersons for the wards and townships that fall within the 1st District, which includes West Side neighborhoods including Johnson’s home turf in Austin, plus all or parts of suburban Oak Park, Maywood, Broadview, Bellwood, Forest Park and Westchester. Johnson had previously said he hoped his successor will be a fellow progressive who can address disparities in his district.
Each committeeperson had a weighted vote based on turnout for each candidate’s seats in the November general election. Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, the committeeperson for Oak Park Township, had the largest share of the vote at just under 29%, and served as chairman throughout the proceedings. Johnson previously ran constituent services for Harmon in the early 2000s.
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough, who represents Proviso Township, had just over 23% of the vote. Others on the committee with less than 10% of the weighted vote were City Council members Chris Taliaferro, 29th; Emma Mitts, 37th; and Jason Ervin, 28th. Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, and Tim Egan, 2nd, each had small percentages but did not speak up much during the proceedings. Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, and Angie Gonzalez-Rodriguez, 26th, did not attend, and gave their votes to Harmon.
The finalists were a mix of Chicagoans — including the Rev. Ira Acree, Tommie Johnson, Zerlina Smith-Members and Stamps — and suburbanites like Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins and Claiborne Wade, also of Forest Park. Several came with crowds of supporters who cheered as their respective candidate entered the room to be interviewed.
Stamps has run unsuccessfully for 37th Ward alderman twice. A teacher in Chicago Public Schools for a quarter century, she highlighted her mentorship of Mayor Brandon Johnson when he was an activist with the Chicago Teachers Union. Regardless of whether she received the appointment, Stamps said she would have both Johnson’s backing and that of the union for a run for the seat permanently in 2024. She is the CTU’s current administrator of teacher development.
“I absolutely am going to run. … I am uniquely qualified to continue the progressive measures that our mayor, Brandon Johnson, made viable and visible in this seat,” Stamps said. Though the sum of money to run would be “astronomical,” Stamps noted she can rely on a progressive fundraising apparatus that helped Johnson win.
Stamps is also the daughter of Marion Stamps, a civil rights activist who organized around the rights of public housing residents at Cabrini Green on the city’s Near North Side.
Mitts, a former opponent, pledged her support to Stamps. “We talked about healing, time for us to work for our communities, coming together. Those are the things that we have spoken on,” Mitts said, asking Stamps to reiterate her pledge to work together.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I have a philosophy,” Stamps said. “There is enough for everybody to get what they need and some of what they want. I believe in working together” and “making sure that our schools are in shape and that our streets are safe and that people have a place to turn when they need resources. And more than anything, our community, our neighbors, our constituents want to see solidarity.”
“Right on,” Mitts said.
Following Stamps’ appointment, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates released a statement calling her “a champion for educators, students and working people. She is a true daughter of Chicago and stands in the legacy of her mother, Civil Rights icon, Marion Stamps. We celebrate Commissioner Stamps’ dedication to our communities that brought her first to the classroom and now to expand her service to the people of the first district of Cook County. We look forward to seeing her leadership expressed on the county board in the months and years to come.”
Acree, the lead pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church in Austin and a founder of the West Side social justice organization Leaders Network, also came in with considerable support. He is a familiar face in politics, recently hosting a convening of faith leaders at the behest of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and delivered the closing prayer at Pritzker’s 2023 inauguration.
Acree had pledged, if selected, to invest in frontline organizations to combat gun violence, and he would use his countywide reach to “better address domestic violence and sexual assault, … fight for increased funding for mental health” and “be an advocate for strengthening our small businesses.”
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But Acree also recently tossed his name in the hat for a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, pitching county Democrats for the endorsement at pre-slating last week. Mitts, who also supported Acree, asked which position he wanted more.
His choice was Johnson’s seat, “because you get a chance to advocate for taxes, you can talk about public health safety, public safety, public health services, and you can have a bigger platform to challenge the status quo and also to be an advocate for people,” he said, though declined to say whether he’d run for the seat without the appointment. “I ran for both of those … because I am ready to serve after 30 years of being an advocate for our people.”
Hoskins, a resident of Forest Park since 1999 and its mayor since 2019, is an attorney and former social worker who also served for two terms as a commissioner on Forest Park’s village board. He had the support of Yarbrough heading into the evening. Hoskins had said he would fight to win funding for smaller suburban communities like his home village, as well as Broadview and Westchester. His top stated priorities included addressing homelessness and economic development, including leveraging incoming infrastructure dollars for communities living along the Eisenhower.
Hoskins said he could easily balance service as village mayor and serving on the county board, but would step away from leading the village if elected to represent the first district in 2024. If not selected, Hoskins pledged to support the appointee.
“I’m not going to say it runs itself, but it’s in a very good position in terms of its geography, in terms of its business climate, in terms of staffing. If it was necessary to temporarily balance those interests, I think that’s very much possible,” he said.
Smith-Members, who pitched selection committee members on a tough-on-crime message, has previously run unsuccessfully for 29th Ward alderman and Cook County board president. She said she planned to run for the seat regardless. So did Tommie Johnson, a managing deputy commissioner in the Department of Streets and Sanitation. Aldermen on the panel thanked him for being their “go-to guy” on sanitation issues and on campaigns.
Brandon Johnson only served one full term and a few more months of a second term on the Cook County Board, most of which coincided with his mayoral run. His successor is slated to earn an annual salary of $93,500.
