The Cook County Clerk is the clerk of county government in Cook County, Illinois.
Cook County Clerk | |
---|---|
Incumbent | |
Term length | 4 years |
Formation | March 1831 (appointed position) August 1837 (elected position) |
The office of Cook County Clerk was established as an elected office with a four-year term in August 1837. Prior to this, from 1831 to 1837, the Clerk was appointed by the three Cook County Commissioners.[1]
Clerk | Term in office | Party | Notes | Cite | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
George Davis | 1837–1849 | First elected Cook County Clerk | [1] | ||
Edmund S. Kimberly | 1849–1853 | [1] | |||
Charles B. Farwell | 1853–1861 | [1] | |||
Laurin P. Hilliard | 1861–1865 | [1] | |||
Edward S. Salomon | 1865–November 1869 | Republican | [2][3] | ||
John G. Gindele | 1869–January 1872 | Died in office | [1] | ||
George W. Wheeler | 1873–December 1873 | [1] | |||
Hermann Lieb | 1873–December 1877 | [1] | |||
Ernest F.C. Klokke | 1877–December 1882 | Term extended, by law, for one year | [1] | ||
Michael W. Ryan | 1882–December 1886 | [1] | |||
Henry Wulff | 1886–1894 | Republican | |||
Philip Knopf | 1894–1902 | Republican | |||
Peter B. Olsen | 1902–1906 | Republican | |||
Joseph F. Haas | 1906–1910 | Republican | [4] | ||
Robert Sweitzer | December 1910–December 1934 | Democratic | Elected in 1910, 1914, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1930, 1934; resigned to serve as Cook County Treasurer in December 1934 | ||
Michael J. Flynn | 1935–1950 | Democratic | Appointed in 1935; elected in 1938, 1942, 1946 | ||
Richard J. Daley | December 1950 – 1955 | Democratic | Elected in 1950 and 1954; resigned in 1955 to serve as mayor of Chicago | ||
Edward J. Barrett | 1955–1973 | Democratic | Appointed in 1955; elected in 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970; resigned in 1973 | ||
Stanley Kusper | 1973–December 1990 | Democratic | Appointed in 1973, elected in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986 | [5] | |
David Orr | December 1990–December 2018 | Democratic | Elected in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 | ||
Karen Yarbrough | December 2018–April 2024 | Democratic | Elected in 2018 and 2022; died in office in April 2024 | [6] |
Cook County Clerk general elections | |||||||||||||||
Year | Winning candidate | Party | Vote (pct) | Opponent | Party | Vote (pct) | Opponent | Party | Vote (pct) | Opponent | Party | Vote (pct) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1986[7] | Stanley Kusper | Democratic | 929,949 (68.35%) | Diana Nelson | Republican | 430,568 (31.35%) | |||||||||
1990[8] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 799,884 (63.48%) | Sam Panayotovich | Republican | 353,531 (28.06%) | Heldia R. Richardson | Harold Washington Party | 106,588 (8.46%) | ||||||
1994 | David D. Orr | Democratic | Edward Howlett | Republican | Herman W. Baker, Jr. | Harold Washington Party | Curtis Jones | Populist | |||||||
1998[9] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 988,136 (77.30%) | Judie A. Jones | Republican | 290,256 (22.70%) | |||||||||
2002[10][11] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 992,441 (76.11%) | Kathleen A. Thomas | Republican | 311,552 (23.89%) | |||||||||
2006[12] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 1,034,263 (80.78%) | Nancy Carlson | Republican | 246,044 (19.22%) | |||||||||
2010[13] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 1,047,462 (77.77%) | Angel Garcia | Republican | 299,449 (22.23%) | |||||||||
2014[14] | David D. Orr | Democratic | 1,061,515 (100%) | ||||||||||||
2018[15] | Karen Yarbrough | Democratic | 1,415,244 (99.07%) | Others | Write-ins | 13,120 (0.93%) | |||||||||
2022[16] | Karen Yarbrough | Democratic | 1,003,854 (71.58%) | Tony Peraica | Republican | 368,095 (26.26%) | Joseph Schreiner | Libertarian | 30,514 (2.18%) |