Primary election day opens today across Illinois with voters getting to weigh in on races for president, down-ballot congressional campaigns, Cook County state’s attorney and a referendum on hiking Chicago taxes on the sale of high-end properties.

Other important campaigns for voters, who can begin casting in-person ballots at 6 a.m. statewide, are an open Cook County seat on the Illinois Supreme Court and a spot on a Cook County panel that handles property tax appeals.

At the top of the ballot, Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump headline their respective parties’ presidential primaries with both expected to post lopsided wins against nominal opposition or opponents who have ended their campaigns.

Both Biden and Trump sewed up their parties’ presumptive nominations for president last week, rendering the outcomes in Illinois moot.

Statewide, a handful of congressional campaigns are drawing attention.

• RELATED STORY
• Politics

Trump did not sign Illinois’ loyalty oath that says he won’t advocate for overthrowing the government

read more

The first is far downstate in the 12th Congressional District, which is the state’s most heavily Republican district. Trump-endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost is facing a challenge from failed 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey, who drew Trump’s support two years ago for governor but lost that backing in this latest electoral go-around.

In the 7th Congressional District, which takes in parts of Chicago’s West Side, Bronzeville and Oak Park and is the state’s most heavily concentrated Democratic district, longtime U.S. Rep. Danny Davis is in a five-way primary. His Democratic rivals include City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin and 2022 candidate Kina Collins.

And in Chicago’s collar counties, incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster is facing a challenge in the 11th Congressional District from lawyer Qasim Rashid, who is mounting his campaign from the progressive wing of the party.

In Cook County, in one of the most hotly contested races on the primary ballot, Democratic voters will be choosing a nominee to succeed State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who announced she would not seek reelection.

Eileen O’Neill Burke is a former prosecutor, defense lawyer and state appellate justice and is squaring off against Clayton Harris III, a public policy professor and former prosecutor backed by the Cook County Democratic Party.

The winner of their contest will face former Chicago Ald. Bob Fioretti, a Democrat-turned-Republican, this fall. A Republican hasn’t been elected Cook County state’s attorney since 1992.

Today also is the culmination of monthslong, heated campaigning around a proposed tax increase to fund homelessness prevention, a push in which Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has invested major political capital.

If the proposal Johnson dubs “Bring Chicago Home” is approved by Chicago voters, the City Council would be authorized to increase the city’s one-time tax real estate transfer tax when property valued at more than $1 million is sold. The real estate transfer tax would bump from .75% of the sale, to a graduated scale between 2-3% for property valued over $1 million. The amount of property valued under $1 million would be taxed less, at .6%.

The proposal is staunchly opposed by the real estate industry, which has argued the tax will trickle down to renters, deter developers and negatively impact Chicago’s already struggling downtown corridor.

Industry groups waged an 11th-hour legal battle against the ballot question that made its way to the state Supreme Court, but the state’s high court last week allowed the measure to be on the ballot.

Other races of interest include an open seat on the Supreme Court now held by Appointed Democratic Justice Joy Cunningham. She is seeking a 10-year term on the court but is facing a challenge from state Appellate Justice Jesse Reyes.

The seat over which the two are battling was once held by Anne Burke, the court’s former chief justice and wife of convicted Chicago Ald. Edward Burke. She resigned from the court in 2022.

In another campaign to watch, longtime incumbent Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr. is facing a challenge from Larecia Tucker. The campaign is a proxy fight between Rogers and Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who have feuded over the years. Kaegi backs Tucker.

Other local races to watch are incumbent Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez’s challenge from Democratic Party backed-Mariyana Spyropoulos and a spot on the Cook County Board to fill the remainder of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s term.

Dave McKinney covers Illinois politics for WBEZ and is the former long-time Springfield bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. WBEZ City Hall reporter Mariah Woelfel contributed to this report.