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Cunningham cruises to victory in clerk's race

Jack Cunningham won a chance to end his political career on his own terms Tuesday, as he turned back a challenge from fellow Republican Stan Bond.

Cunningham finished with 17,427 votes (62 percent) compared to 10,555 votes (38 percent) for Bond, according to unofficial totals.

The results indicate voters were willing to forgive Cunningham for some missteps, all of which became fodder for a series of videos Bond released on Facebook in the final weeks leading up to the election.

Bond is a Montgomery village trustee, an Illinois Republican State Central Committeeman and a current employee in the circuit court clerk's office. At one time, he was an employee in Cunningham's elections department. That didn't keep Bond from coming after Cunningham in a series of negative ads posted on social media at the end of the campaign.

Bond hammered Cunningham in the videos for being a "career politician" with a spotty record that involved using taxpayer-funded county resources during previous political campaigns, and making a tax extension error that resulted in a larger-than-expected tax bill for portions of the county in 2015.

"He wants voters to reward him with another four-year term of office? Seriously? I don't think so! It's time to show him the door," read the voice-over on one video.

Instead of showing Cunningham the door, voters put out a welcome mat Tuesday, according to the unofficial results with all 301 precincts reporting.

Cunningham said he expected the campaign to get dirty. He believed Bond held a grudge against him for eliminating his position in the clerk's office.

"This was the nastiest campaign I've ever been involved in," Cunningham said.

I'm very disappointed with the tenor of this race."

Cunningham will face Democrat Nicolas Jimenez in November's general election.

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