Hebreard edges Cantore in tight race for forest preserve president
As a senior ranger, Daniel Hebreard knows DuPage County's forest preserves like few others.
Now it appears he'll be able to bring that boots-on-the-ground knowledge to the board room to help guide the district for the next four years as president of the forest preserve commission.
The DuPage County Election Commission on Tuesday night released updated vote totals for the Nov. 6 election and, after counting the final vote-by-mail and provisional ballots, it appears Hebreard, a Woodridge Democrat, has unseated Republican incumbent Joseph Cantore of Oak Brook.
The final vote total, which won't be official until next week, shows Hebreard with 178,375 votes and Cantore with 177,673. That's a change from election night, when it appeared Cantore had won a narrow victory.
"I'm very excited to be the next president of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County," Hebreard said minutes after the results were released. "I look forward to getting to work very soon."
Hebreard said he wasn't surprised by how close the results were.
"It's very difficult to go against a well-funded incumbent," he said. "I'm very proud of the campaign that we ran. And I'm very happy with the results, obviously."
Even though every vote cast in the November election now has been counted, the race may not be over because Cantore still has the option to ask that up to 25 percent of the precincts countywide be examined as part of a partial recount called a discovery.
A discovery is conducted to help candidates determine if there are enough discrepancies to seek a court order for a complete recount.
Once the election results are official, candidates have a week to decide if they want to pursue such a discovery.
Pat Bond, the attorney for the election commission, said the agency has had nearly 30 discovery recounts over the past 20 years, but none of them resulted in a full recount.
Hebreard's victory extended the blue wave that swept traditionally Republican DuPage this fall and that already had resulted in Democrats winning seven seats on the 18-member county board and capturing both the county clerk's office and, for the first time, a circuit court judge's seat. Democrats had held only one county board seat before the Nov. 6 election.
Cantore served on the forest preserve board of commissioners for 12 years before being elected president in 2014. His campaign focused on his track record that he said included restoration work at the Preserve at Oak Meadows and St. James Farm Forest Preserve, construction of a fleet maintenance building at Blackwell Forest Preserve and a vehicular bridge at McDowell Grove Forest Preserve, and increased cooperation among government entities to hold down costs.
Hebreard, meanwhile, promised to better allocate the district's resources and to improve a commission that he said lacks transparency and the ability to function properly.
His promises ranged from the everyday - providing more flush toilets in preserves, for example - to broader topics such as becoming a leader in the use of green technologies. He also opposed plans to build a $9 million clubhouse at the district's Preserve at Oak Meadows in Addison.