DuPage County Board candidate officially quits race

The Democratic nominee for a DuPage County Board seat has ended her campaign, leaving party leaders scrambling to appoint a replacement candidate to her spot on the November ballot.

Hadiya Afzal, a recent college graduate at the center of a social media controversy that even drew reaction from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, last month announced her intention to bow out of the board's District 4 race. But Afzal didn't formally withdraw until Monday afternoon, just days before the deadline for candidates to remove their names from the ballot.

"It makes it harder to ensure that we slate someone, but at this point, we're still able to do it," party Chairwoman Cynthia Borbas said.

Democratic precinct committeemen in District 4 will vote to select Afzal's replacement Tuesday night. The party will submit their choice to the clerk's office on Wednesday morning, Borbas said.

Afzal narrowly won a five-way primary race for the chance to challenge incumbent Republican Tim Elliott of Glen Ellyn. District 4 includes all or parts of Addison, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Glendale Heights, Lisle, Lombard, Wheaton and Winfield.

On Monday, the primary's runner-up, Lynn LaPlante, said she wants to face Elliott in November.

"I believe we should listen to the voters, who have already spoken," LaPlante said in a written statement. "I was the next highest vote-getter in the March primary, with a razor-thin margin that actually made our race too close to call for a few weeks. That is the fair and equitable thing to do, and shows the democratic process in action."

Afzal had 4,447 votes followed by LaPlante, a Glen Ellyn violist, with 4,399 votes. LaPlante said she's the most qualified candidate for the position and that she's prepared to run against Elliott.

"I am ready to start campaigning immediately, and have much support behind me, as well as all the necessary infrastructure in place," LaPlante said.

Three other candidates who competed in the Democratic primary didn't respond to inquiries about their interest in running in November.

Afzal, 20, initially apologized for a tweet she posted about protests in Portland, Oregon. She later said local Democrats bore some blame for her decision to end her campaign less than 100 days from the general election.

"You can't have a local Democratic Party that purports to support and promote young candidates, progressive candidates of color, female candidates, if they refuse to stand by them in difficult times," Afzal told the Daily Herald earlier this month. "I want to make sure this doesn't happen again to any other candidate."

The controversy started after Afzal posted that she was repeatedly watching a video of a clash between protesters and officers and "laughing every single time." The clip appears to show a federal officer throwing a projectile over a barricade and then being hit in the head by a projectile.

Conservative social media personality Andy Ngo shared a screenshot of Afzal's tweet to his Twitter followers on July 26.