Naperville Republicans hold Will County seats

Two Republican incumbents retained their Will County Board seats Tuesday in District 11, which covers southern Naperville.

Unofficial final vote totals show board members Suzanne Hart and Charles “Chuck” Maher defeated Democrat Chris Griffin.

With all 23 precincts reporting, unofficial results show Hart captured 38 percent of the vote followed by Maher with 35 percent and Griffin with 27 percent.

Hart, 46, of Naperville, said her top issue was to maintain the county’s financial stability while keeping its portion of the property tax rate low.

“We’re bringing our constituents a lot more of the same,” Hart said. “And our focus remains on being conservative with the dollars.”

Fellow board member Maher, 54, of Naperville, said he wants to maintain control of spending, taxes and open government. He also said the county needs to continue to create policies that support an environment for job creation and growth.

“This race was interesting because we started with no opponent before the Democratic-run appellate court put a candidate against us in mid-September,” Maher said. “This race ended up being all about the Democrats controlling Illinois and not doing a good job with it.”

He, too, pledged to continue serving as a watchdog of taxpayer dollars.

“I’m taking my conservative values to Will County to maintain the tax base so people don’t see rises in taxes when we don’t need them,” he said. “We’ll live within our means, keep infrastructure going and not have to fire a single person.”

District 11 is a new district that was created after an overhaul of the county board’s districts and boundaries following the latest census.

Elsewhere in Will County, incumbent Chief Executive Officer Lawrence M. “Larry” Walsh, a Democrat, won re-election defeating Republican challenger Cory Singer.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow easily defeated Republican Dave Carlson.

In his next term, Glasgow has promised to build upon initiatives his department enacted over the course of the past year, including the newly created Veterans and Servicemembers Court, which provides critical treatment, counseling and assistance to local veterans and service members who have struggled with mental health and substance abuse disorders since returning home from military operations. He now hopes to expand the court and improve outreach and screening within the community so that other veterans who have committed nonviolent offenses can be directed to the program where they will receive the treatment and assistance they need.