Kim Foxx Winning Cook County State's Attorney's Race

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Nov 9, 2016 2:05AM

Kim Foxx is projected to have a landslide victory against Republican opponent Christopher Pfannkuche in the Cook County State's Attorney Race tonight, making official a victory that her supporters already began celebrating back in the winter, when she defeated incumbent Anita Alvarez amid a grassroots-driven push to oust Alvarez from office.

Foxx is currently up 72 to 28 percent with 44 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Tribune's latest. The Tribune's Hal Dardick says she is leading among Chicago voters 80 to 20 percent:

Kim Foxx leading state's attorney's race with 60% in burbs, 80 percent in city. Dorothy Brown also ahead in circuit clerk race.

— Hal Dardick (@ReporterHal) November 9, 2016

During the democratic primary, Foxx gained the support of both the party establishment and grassroots organizers who were frustrated with how Alvarez handled the high-profile police shooting of un-armed teenager Laquan McDonald. McDonald's death became a national story in part because it took Alvarez's office over a year to bring charges against the police officer who shot him 16 times, and a gruesome video depicting the killing was kept from the public until the state's attorney's office investigation concluded. While many believed this judgement call was unacceptable, some have also argued that the democratic establishment scapegoated Alvarez to take the heat off Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Activists with the Black Lives Matter movement and others are hoping Foxx brings a very different approach to running the office, which oversees criminal prosecution in the county.

Emanuel stopped by Foxx's election party Tuesday evening shortly after polls closed.

We will be updating this post.