Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on track to win a 5th term unoffocial results show

Cook County sheriff Tom Dart secured a fifth term Tuesday with a substantial lead over Republican challenger Lupe Aguirre, a Chicago attorney and police officer.

With 71% of unofficial votes counted late Tuesday, Democrat Dart had 941,556 votes or 73.2% to Aguirre's 307,578 votes or 23.9%. Libertarian candidate Brad Sandefur, a 32-year veteran of the Cook County Sheriff's Department, had 36,606 votes or 2.9%. The Associated Press called the race for Dart about 10 p.m. Tuesday.

"I am incredibly grateful to the people of Cook County for allowing me to continue to serve as their sheriff," said the county's chief law enforcement officer via text. "My office will continue to fight violent crime and work tirelessly to improve public safety."

In his reelection bid, Dart cited his efforts to combat carjacking, gun crime and human trafficking. He also counted among his accomplishments an increase in the number of sheriff's police officers, a co-responder program to assist deputies responding to calls involving an individual with a mental health issue. For more than a year, sheriff's police responding to such calls in Oak Lawn, Blue Island and Northbrook have been able to connect the individual with a mental health professional who can talk with that person via tablet as a way to de-escalate the situation.