Alvarez Thumps Peraica for Historic Win

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 5, 2008 3:20PM

While the big party was in Grant Park, another historic win went down in Cook County last night as Pilsen native Anita Alvarez became not only the first female state's attorney in the county's history, but is also the first Hispanic state's attorney. With 93 percent of the results in, Alvarez garnered 69 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Tony Peraica's 26 percent; Green Party candidate Tom O'Brien had five percent.

Alvarez celebrated with supporters and declared, "Ladies and gentlemen, there's a new state's attorney in town, and she's ready to roll up her sleeves of her power-red suits and get down to business .I gotta tell you, it feels good to break that so-called glass ceiling here in Cook County." It was a hotly contested, sometimes bitter, race and that showed in Peraica's concession. The downed challenger said, "We fought hard, and we're going to continue to fight hard. Apparently one-party rule is what this city and county wants." Alvarez has been working under outgoing state's attorney, Richard Devine.

Image from Alvarez's website