Foxx declares victory over Alvarez in Cook State's Attorney race
In an election watched nationally because of its connection to the police shooting of a black teenager, Kim Foxx ousted incumbent Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez Tuesday.
Foxx, a protégé of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, won the support of the Democratic Party establishment after it abandoned Alvarez in the wake of her office's handling of the October 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.
Foxx, a former prosecutor and Preckwinkle's ex-chief of staff, finished the night with roughly twice as many votes as Alvarez in a three-woman race for the nomination.
She won handily in both the city and suburbs, racking up a margin of 52 to 33 percentage points in the suburbs and 62 to 26 percentage points in the city of Chicago.
"This race is not about saying goodbye, it's about turning the page," Foxx told her supporters in declaring victory late Tuesday. "Let us not forget the gravity of the work ahead of us."
Alvarez conceded shortly after 9 p.m. without making a reference to the McDonald case.
"I was criticized that I wasn't a good politician, and that is probably right and the reason I stand before you tonight, but I'm very damn proud that I was a good prosecutor," Alvarez said in her concession speech.
Alvarez was roundly criticized for her office's handling of the shooting death of McDonald at the hands of Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke.
It took more than a year for Alvarez to file charges against the officer, which came just before the court-ordered release of a police video showing the 17-year-old being shot 16 times.
The uproar surrounding the case was seen by many as a public mandate to change the handling of officer-involved shootings in Cook County.
Foxx spent much of the campaign attacking Alvarez's record of handling high-profile cases involving police and public officials. But she called for reconciliation Tuesday saying the "gulf between law enforcement and our community must be breached."
Throughout the campaign, Alvarez stood by her office's investigation of the McDonald shooting, calling it "meticulous and thorough." In the end, voters didn't agree.
Foxx, a Preckwinkle protégé, supports using special prosecutors from outside the state's attorney's office to prosecute local police charged with crimes.
Foxx's win also expands Preckwinkle's political cache. If elected in November, her ascension would give Preckwinkle a direct line into another branch of county government, one that she has often battled since taking the top spot in county government in 2010.
Attorney Donna More also ran in the Democratic field and came in a distant third.
Christopher E.K. Pfannkuche was the only Republican nominee to run for the state's attorney's office. He is a 31-year veteran of the office who served as trial supervisor for the Felony Review Unit.
While Foxx spoke about working with Alvarez on a "transition" of power, she still has to face Pfannkuche in the Nov. 8 general election.