Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx wins second term

Democratic Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has won a second term, fending off an election challenge from Republican Pat O'Brien.

Claiming victory, Foxx spoke at a virtual event a little before 11 p.m. and stood alongside her daughters and other family members. She talked about criminal justice reform, referencing the 1986 wrongful conviction of four men in the 1986 murder of Lori Roscetti and saying such miscarriages of justice led to Chicago being tagged the "wrongful conviction capital of the U.S."

"Telling their stories ... is a reminder of why this work is important," she said. She said her vision of the office is to express "the unseemly truth that sometimes our defendants were victims and sometimes our victims were defendants."

O'Brien, a former prosecutor and retired Cook County judge, said he had called Foxx to congratulate her.

With 95% of precincts reporting votes cast on Election Day, unofficial results show Foxx received 849,453 votes, or 53% of the vote, to O'Brien's 646,098, or 40%. Libertarian candidate Brian Dennehy received 105,674, or 7% of the vote.

Those unofficial tallies also include early votes and many mail-in ballots, though many other mail-in ballots still could come in.

More than 1.08 million ballots were mailed to suburban Cook County and Chicago voters and 262,258 have not yet been returned. Ballots postmarked by Tuesday will be counted if they arrive by Nov. 17.

Foxx, of Flossmoor, accused her opponent of "divisive rhetoric" as well as "name-calling and fearmongering."

O'Brien responded by calling her a "cheerleader for criminals" and sharply criticized her handling of the Jussie Smollett case, in which her office without explanation dropped charges against the "Empire" actor who is accused by authorities of staging a racist and homophobic attack. Smollett was subsequently indicted on a charge of making false police reports after special prosecutor Dan Webb's investigation, which criticized Foxx's office for abusing discretion and operational failures.

Foxx vowed to continue addressing "disparities in our justice system related to low level offenses" and to "double down" on helping those suffering from mental health issues and substance abuse disorders.

Brown concluded her speech by thanking her employees. "I'm honored to serve with them and among them and rooted in their values of fairness, justice and equity for everyone."

• Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.