Absentee voting in Chicago is as important as the 2024 presidential race • The TRiiBE

Cook County voters, who hold one of the most powerful positions in the state’s criminal justice system, should be watching the state’s attorney race very closely. State prosecutors have the power to influence police accountability, mass incarceration policies, cash bail, and proposed state laws.

Following incumbent Kim Foxx’s announcement in April 2023 that she would not seek re-election, the race for Cook County State’s Attorney began. In the March 2024 Democratic primary, former Illinois appellate judge Eileen O’Neill Burke narrowly defeated opponent Clayton Harris III by less than 1,600 votes.

Burke will now face the Republican Bob Fiorettiformer 2nd Ward alderman who ran for the Democratic nomination in a failed bid to unseat then-President Fox in 2020. By switching parties, Fioretti hopes to inspire other voters who are disillusioned with the Democratic Party and Kim Foxx.

The Republican also received the support of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who himself urged black voters to vote for Fioretti in a statement earlier this month. Burke, whose experience as a prosecutor is clouded in the wake of the prosecution of a black boy who was later exonerated for the 1994 murder of an elderly white woman, he struggled to gain the support of a predominantly black ward.

Libertarian candidate Andrew Charles Kopinski will also appear on the ballot. Kopinsky advertises his political outsider status as the main strength of his campaign.

Burke said her main focus will be prosecuting gun crimes, especially those in possession of illegal “switches” that turn handguns into automatic weapons, according to Burke. Block Club Chicago. In addition, Burke plans to create the first in his office “Selecting a protection unit,” which “aims to enforce laws that protect women’s access to abortion and reproductive health care.”

Fioretti, originally a civil rights lawyer, plans to prioritize the prosecution of “violent criminal illegal aliens,” even committing to working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to do so. Fioretti also plans to focus on prosecuting gun offenders and investigating wrongful convictions, Burke said. Block Club Chicago.