Challenger Lukas leading in the race for DuPage County coroner

Democrat Judith Lukas held a slight lead in the DuPage County coroner race against Republican incumbent Richard Jorgensen.

As of 9:54 p.m. Tuesday, unofficial results showed Lukas with 215,736 votes and Jorgensen with 210,523 votes.

Lukas had earned 50.61% of the vote to Jorgensen’s 49.39%.

Jorgensen, a retired vascular and trauma surgeon from Wheaton, was first elected coroner 12 years ago.

During the campaign, Jorgensen pointed to his medical, surgical and administrative experience and said he’s dealt with many high-profile cases as the coroner. He created and managed a nine-surgeon, 25-employee surgical office practice before becoming coroner.

Lukas, meanwhile, promoted her background as a registered nurse. She said she’s dealt with end-of-life issues.

Lukas, a Winfield Township trustee since 2021, said she would work on bringing a forensic laboratory to the coroner's office, taking advantage of grants and federal money toward building it.

However, Jorgensen explained the coroner’s office already uses a national lab mainly to test for legal and illegal drugs. He called the lab the “gold standard” in part because of its knowledge of local and national drug trends, and noted many of the coroners in Illinois use them.

In addition, a crime lab at the DuPage sheriff’s office is available to the coroner and other jurisdictions investigating a death.

Jorgensen said he has “completely revamped and reorganized” the coroner’s office to be more efficient.

According to Jorgensen, the office reviewed 4,500 cases when he first started. Last year, the office reviewed 6,800 cases with the same headcount, he said.

In addition, Jorgensen said he has been at the forefront of the opioid crisis, and co-founded the NARCAN project. That program now has trained 7,000 first responders and others to save lives with naloxone.

Lukas suggested in a candidate questionnaire that a needed improvement is the office notifying the public when a death occurs in police custody.

Jorgensen said he responds to journalists personally and gives the information he can at the time.