Chicago City Wire

Cook County State's Attorney candidate Eileen O'Neill Burke (D-Chicago) says county residents who like the job outgoing state's attorney Kim Foxx is doing should vote for Clayton Harris, her opponent in the March 19 Democrat primary.

"If you like the way things are going right now, you have a candidate in this election. It isn't me," she wrote on Twitter. 

"But if you want a fair, professional & effective state's attorney, then I am your candidate."

In a Feb. 8 debate on ABC-7, O'Neill Burke said Foxx's Chicago is no longer a safe place to live.

"I'm not giving up on Chicago. I want my children to come back to Chicago and to raise their children here. But I want them to live in a city that's safe," she said. "I want them to live in a city where teenagers are not getting shot on their way home from school. I want them to live in a city where theft is not rampant. I want that for all of us, in every neighborhood, in every town."

During the debate, O'Neill Burke said she would reverse Foxx's decision to "raise the felony threshold for theft from $300 to $1,000." 

Harris is promising to keep the $1,000 felony threshold.

Foxx's move has led to 94 percent increase in retail theft across the City of Chicago, according to Crain's, which reported that a Cook County Sheriff's survey of 189 Michigan Avenue retailers found four in ten had hired private security to ward off smash-and-grab shoplifters.

Harris said charging retail thieves is unfair, as doing so would give them criminal records, making it harder for them to get jobs.

“I don’t think stealing my phone is worth a felony that stops them from ever being a contributing member to society,” Harris told the Hyde Park Herald.

In the race, Harris is backed by Foxx and her mentor, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

O'Neill Burke spent her first ten years as a lawyer working as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney (1991-2001), then worked for seven years as a criminal defense attorney in Cook County (2001-2008) before winning election as a Cook County Circuit Court Judge in 2008.

She presided over cases in Cook County's Law Division for eight years before winning election to the Illinois Appellate Court, where she served on the First District bench until stepping down to run for State's Attorney in 2023.

Harris worked four years in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office (1999-2003) before leaving to work as political aide and consultant, first to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (2003-2006), then to Illinois Governors Rod Blagojevich (2003-2009) and Pat Quinn (2010).

He also served as executive director for the Illinois International Port District (2016-2020) and as a lobbyist for Lyft (2020-2022).