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Cook County Commissioner Silvestri wins 7th term

Longtime Cook County commissioner Peter Silvestri, an Elmwood Park Republican, won his bid for a seventh term in contest that pitted him against his 2014 Democrat challenger.

In suburban Cook County, with 148 of 159 precincts reporting, Silvestri received 36,843 votes or 52 percent in the 9th district race. Challenger Frank McPartlin, also of Elmwood Park, received 33,818 votes or 47.9 percent. In Chicago, Silvestri received 15,310 votes to McPartlin's 13,232.

All election results are unofficial.

Silvestri, who opposed last year's controversial and ill-fated Cook County sweetened beverage tax, proposed cracking down on tax scofflaws, shuttering Oak Forest Health Center, closing underutilized Chicago courtrooms and eliminating one paid employee holiday - which he says could save $6.3 million - as a way of cutting costs.

He advocates examining mutually beneficial sponsorships like those underway at the forest preserve district and adopting "forward-looking, technology-aware, creative approach to finding new sources of revenue."

In a videotaped statement for WTTW, self-described "progressive Democrat" McPartlin said he wants to curb wasteful spending; eliminate redundancy in township officers and ease what he called the unfair property tax assessments which he said cost Cook County homeowners $2.4 billion per year.

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