Cook County Board President John Stroger will not remain on the ballot for re-election in November, according to sources close to the family.
Local news organizations reported Tuesday that Stroger, 77, will remove his name from the ballot, according to his family, and that he would ask ward bosses to place his son, 8th Ward Ald. Todd Stroger, on the ballot in his place.
The elder Stroger suffered a severe stroke just days before the March 21 Primary. Stroger won the Democratic Primary over opponent and Cook County Board Commissioner Forrest Claypool in a hotly contested race. Stroger was set to face Republican opponent Tony Peraica in the general election.
Several names have been floated as possible replacements if Stroger were unable to stay in the race, in addition to his son Todd, including U.S. Cong. Danny Davis, who expressed interest in the Cook County Board president’s job. In recent days, County Commissioner John Daley, Mayor Daley’s brother, also surfaced as a possible candidate for Stroger’s job. Stroger, according to published news accounts, plans to send a letter to Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Tom Lyons by this Friday indicating his resignation from the November ballot. Cook County Democratic ward and township committeemen will then select Stroger’s replacement on the November ballot.
Stroger, a three-term incumbent, was first elected to Cook County Board president in 1994. The longtime Democrat has been mostly hospitalized since suffering the stroke. He was released from a rehabilitation center on May 18, but was rushed to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center on June 8.
A possible candidate to replace John Stroger as board commissioner (Todd would be president only with no vote), Ald. William Beavers (7th Ward) said Tuesday that Todd Stroger would have a likely majority of the 80 ward and township committeemen to secure a spot on the November ballot, according to published news accounts.
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