Tuesday's election: Key races in DuPage County

Voters will head to the polls Tuesday without a presidential race on the ballot, but the stakes are high in heated races for mayor and city council seats.

Here's an overview of high-profile DuPage County mayoral races to watch Tuesday.

Naperville mayor

Incumbent Steve Chirico is facing a tougher-than-expected re-election bid four years after voters easily chose the businessman as the successor to the late George Pradel, who turned the office into a largely ceremonial role as the city's charismatic ambassador.

Challenger Richard "Rocky" Caylor, a former Marine and president and CEO of a Joliet logistics company, launched his campaign as a relative political unknown four months ago.

Caylor's leadership style carries echoes of the Pradel era, viewing mayoral duties as a "position of support and service" in the city's council-manager form of government.

"You need somebody that knows how to listen to all the people, because they know it best," Caylor said during the campaign. "We need to get back to a council that's elected by the people to put policy in place and let the city manager run the city."

Chirico's Naperville roots run deep. He grew up in the city and owns a flooring business now run by his daughters.

In his first term, Chirico has put his own stamp on the office, advancing a pro-development agenda, efforts to reduce the city's debt burden and Naperville's regional influence as the vice president of the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference.

"A leader without a vision and without an agenda is not a leader - it's like a ship without a rudder," he said in the run-up to the election.

Wheaton mayor

Both longtime members of the city council, Phil Suess and John Prendiville are vying to succeed Michael Gresk as Wheaton's first new mayor in 12 years.

Now in his fourth council term, Suess, a partner in an investment consulting firm, has made city taxes a signature campaign issue. In each of the past four years, he's voted against raising property taxes "at a time when the city has consistently underspent its budget, has generated higher than expected surpluses and has maintained reserves in excess of stated targets."

Prendiville voted in favor of increasing the 2018 property tax levy by $151,175 to capture new growth. The city, he said, has maintained fairly flat tax increases for the average homeowner.

Prendiville, an attorney in municipal and corporate finance, cautions the city has roughly $59.5 million in projects with identified funding, but faces about $13.3 million in infrastructure projects that have no funding source over the next five years.

Prendiville's third term on the council expires in May.

Elsewhere

Three candidates are running for mayor in Downers Grove to replace Martin Tully, who is stepping down because of term limits in the village. The field features Bob Barnett, who has served on the village council since 2009; Marge Earl, who was appointed to the council in 2016; and David Olsen, who served on the council from 2013 to 2016 before stints on the College of DuPage board and as a state representative.

The Wood Dale mayoral race pits two candidates with experience in the top seat. Incumbent Nunzio Pulice is a former city council member who has served as mayor since 2011. Challenger Kenneth Johnson served as an alderman for 10 years and as mayor for 13 before being unseated by Pulice.

In Oak Brook, incumbent Gopal Lalmalani has served as village president since 2011. He's being challenged by John Baar, who has served on the village board for six years.