Elgin, N. Aurora become focus of Kane Co. remap

The main characters in the political drama over Kane County’s redistricting process revealed themselves Thursday night as county board members got their first glimpse of what a smaller board would look like.

The board took a nonbinding vote to cut two seats and go to 24 members at its last full meeting. A smaller task force of county board members learned the two seats that would go are currently served by North Aurora’s Jim Mitchell and Elgin’s Cathy Hurlbut.

Mitchell has pledged not to run for re-election. As a result, North Aurora would be divided up among neighboring county board districts.

Hurlbut, the chairman of the task force and author of the draft map, would see the part of Elgin where she lives engulfed by fellow county board Jeanette Mihalec’s district. Both Hurlbut, a Republican, and Mihalec, a Democrat, plan on running for new terms, meaning they’d face each other in an election for the seat.

Hurlbut said she created the map that way because she is an outspoken fan of cutting the board size and felt like she had to throw herself into a competition or risk an outcry of playing favorites that could jeopardize the whole process. But she also created the race for another reason.

“I think I could win that district,” Hurlbut said. “I don’t know if another Republican could.”

With the elimination of Mitchell’s district, who is also a Republican, Hurlbut’s map puts the current Republican majority on the board at risk. Because of that, Kane County Republican Chairman Mike Kenyon already suggested after the meeting that a better version of the map would preserve Hurlbut’s district and pit Mihalec against board member Deb Allan instead. Allan is a Democrat.

For her part, Mihalec said she’s not sweating over competition for her seat just yet.

“This map can change a thousand times between now and July,” Mihalec said.

Mihalec said she wasn’t surprised to see her district thrown into a political race. Her district has two minority districts neighboring it that must be largely preserved to avoid a court challenge.

“I’m the meat of the sandwich,” Mihalec said. “I’m bound to be struck with one piece of bread or another.”

The task force will meet again May 4 for any possible changes. Allan has already suggested keeping all 26 seats on the board to avoid head-to-head competition of any board members.