Lambert, Meier, Schwenk leading in Mundelein trustee race

Two incumbents and a former trustee were leading in the race for three seats on Mundelein's village board Tuesday night.

Trustee Kara Lambert led the five-person pack with 2,436 votes, according to unofficial results available about 9:40 p.m. Lambert was followed by former trustee Robin Meier, who had 2,121 votes, and Trustee Erich Schwenk, who had 2,103.

Trustees Kerston Russell trailed with 1,463 votes, and challenger Ramesh Sharma rounded out the pack with 824.

If their leads hold, Lambert and Schwenk will capture second terms on the board while Meier will return to the job she held from 2008 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2021. Meier ran for mayor in 2021, losing a four-way race to incumbent Steve Lentz.

Lambert, who gave birth to her third child, Luca, on March 17, fought against tears Tuesday night as she expressed gratitude for voters' support.

"I ran because I really wanted to stay focused and centered on issues that are important," she said, citing public safety, parks and building the local business community as examples. "I hope to continue working to make Mundelein a better place to live, work and raise my family."

Russell was seeking a third term on the board. He first was elected in 2015.

Russell said he planned to withdraw from the race in December after a formal objection was filed against his candidate paperwork in an attempt to knock him off the ballot. Russell subsequently changed his mind, however, survived the petition challenge and stayed on the ballot.

The trustee race garnered attention outside Mundelein after a group interview with the Daily Herald in which Sharma, who is Indian American, argued that Asian people are smarter than others.

"Do you know the Asian people are the brain? They are the brain," Sharma said. When asked to elaborate, Sharma said Asian people are more educated than those who are Latino, white or Black.

All of the other candidates objected to Sharma's remarks, with one calling them racist and inappropriate.

Sharma dropped out of the race after the interview but later resumed his campaign.

Shaping current and future real estate developments in town - and ensuring the roads and other infrastructure pieces they'll need are in place - were among the candidates' stated priorities.

Meier and Russell voiced excitement about projects in the downtown area, including construction near village hall on Plaza Circle.

Lambert and Schwenk both cited construction of the proposed Ivanhoe Village development on the Wirtz family's land near routes 60 and 83 as a top concern. Dubbed a miniature community by its proponents, the massive residential, commercial and industrial development would take 25 years to build and would dramatically re-envision the northwest side of town.