Russell, Johnson win primaries for Kane County sheriff

Former Kane County coroner Rob Russell has won the Republican Party nomination for Kane County sheriff.

Russell defeated Luis “Lou” Santoyo, a retired Cook County sheriff’s deputy, in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

According to unofficial results, Russell had 14,324 votes to Santoyo’s 7,012 votes when all precincts were counted.

Sheriff Ron Hain, a Democrat, did not seek re-election.

In the Democratic Party primary, Hain threw his support behind Undersheriff Amy Johnson.

On Tuesday, Johnson defeated retired Kane County lieutenant Salvador Rodriguez. According to unofficial results, Johnson had 23,067 votes, and Rodriguez had 19,022 votes.

In a news release, Russell said that looking ahead to the November election, he said, “No community benefits when every office is controlled by one party. Political diversity is not a weakness — it’s a strength. It creates accountability. It forces better decisions. And it ensures that every voice — not just one viewpoint — is represented in our county government.”

He also thanked Santoyo “for a hard-fought race and their commitment to serving this county.”

Johnson has been undersheriff for three years. She began working for the sheriff’s office as an intern in 2003, became an evidence custodian, and was hired as a deputy in 2005.

If elected sheriff, Johnson said she would focus on refining the department’s patrol deputy deployments, rather than making substantial changes. She said the office should use data to adjust staffing by the time of day and location of incidents, and that supervisors should have the flexibility to shift resources when patterns change.

She cited her administrative experience as a plus.

Russell worked for the DuPage County Sheriff’s office for almost 30 years, in court security, corrections and as a patrol deputy. He served as Kane County coroner from 2012 to 2024.

During the campaign. Santoyo said the Kane sheriff should focus more attention on serving the unincorporated areas of the county. He also criticized the department’s involvement in building and operating a forensics laboratory, which is being done in conjunction with the coroner’s office.

Russell favors the laboratory, which started during his tenure as coroner. The lab is already doing some toxicology testing. When construction is completed later this year, the county plans to start doing rapid DNA testing.

Russell said having an in-county laboratory would speed up the receipt of test results.