Endorsement: Kifowit for Democrats as Illinois comptroller

Whichever of the four candidates wins the Democratic primary for Illinois comptroller on March 17, it is assured that the party will have a competent and dedicated woman on the ballot heading into the November general election.

After nearly 10 years in office, Illinois’ highly effective comptroller, Susana Mendoza, is not running for reelection as she considers a 2027 run for Chicago mayor. The four candidates vying to replace her in the primary are all currently public servants; three are in the Illinois legislature and one is the Lake County treasurer. To a woman, they vow to carry on Mendoza’s work to repair the state’s bill-paying processes and its reputation after the catastrophic 2.5-year budget impasse during former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration.

The candidates are: State Rep. Margaret Croke, of Chicago; state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, of Oswego; Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim; and state Sen. Karina Villa of West Chicago. The winner will face Bryan Drew, an attorney from Benton, in November.

In a strong field, our choice is Kifowit.

Kifowit, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, won her 84th District House seat in 2013, after two terms on the Aurora city council. Her work on legislative budget committees has given her close proximity to both Mendoza and former comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. She comes across as no-nonsense, which is an asset, and in 2020 took the gutsy step of not only calling on Michael Madigan to resign the House leadership but opening a campaign to run against him for speaker. While she hasn’t raised as much campaign funds as the other comptroller candidates, one could view that as a sign of her continued independence.

Kifowit proposes the People First Initiative, which will create two divisions in the comptroller’s office: a Labor Division focused on auditing contracts to make sure Illinois law is being followed, and a Nonprofit and Community Organizations Division, tracking money to those groups from appropriation, and help them through delays. We trust her to follow through on phase 2 of Mendoza’s System Legacy Modernization Act and keep pumping money into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Before being elected to the House in 2021, Croke was deputy chief of staff for the Pritzker administration’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. She acquitted herself well there and today is endorsed for comptroller by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Cook County Democrats. She has by far the biggest campaign war chest among the four candidates. We think highly of her but prefer Kifowit’s demonstrated independence.

Holly Kim has valuable experience as Lake County Treasurer, and state Sen. Karina Villa is looking like a comer in state politics. But neither offers the strengths we see in Kifowit. She is endorsed.