A heated race likely to decide the next state’s attorney for Cook County remained too close to call Tuesday night as votes continued to be counted, including mail-in ballots that could take days to be tallied.

Eileen O’Neill Burke, who stepped down from a seat on the appellate court to run for state’s attorney, took an early lead against her opponent Clayton Harris III. As of 9:35, with 83% of the estimated votes counted, Burke was leading with 51.3% to Harris’s 48.7%, according to the Associated Press.

Burke led in the suburbs by about eight points with all precincts reporting, according to the Cook County clerk’s office. In the city, Harris was ahead by a single percentage point with 1,234 of 1,291 precincts reporting.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary election would still face a Republican and a Libertarian challenger in the general election, but a Republican has not won the state’s attorney’s office since 1992 — making the race one of the closest watched and most consequential.

Burke’s supporters snacked on lobster caprese and prime rib meatballs at RPM Events in River North as they watched the returns and cheered Burke’s early lead.

Among them were Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and former Ald. Bill Conway (34th), who ran unsuccessfully for state’s attorney in the last election.

Conway said he was reluctant to come out supporting Burke because he “didn’t want people to be having to defend my race.”

“I really think that office needs some change,” Conway said. “I commend Kim (Foxx) for what she said about wrongful convictions. But at the end of the day I think the most important role of the … state’s attorney is to defend victims, and I think Eileen will be able to do that.”

Over at Harris’ party at Taste 222 in the West Loop, a few dozen supporters grazed the buffet and watched the election returns on a pair of massive screens occupying the wall opposite the bar.

Harris, his wife and two young sons headed immediately to a back room where his boys occupied themselves playing a paper-scissors-rock-type game called “shadowboxing.”

Pastor Charlie Dates of Progressive Baptist Church in Bridgeport received a long hug from the candidate.

Burke’s campaign had used Date’s support for Harris to claim he had “troubling, anti-choice ties” and would not be as strong on the issue of abortion rights. Burke has promised to create a unit in the office to defend the right to abortion in the county.

Among those at the election night party was Anjanette Young, who was handcuffed while naked inside her home during a botched raid by Chicago police. After spending the day trying to turn out votes for Harris, Young said: “I just feel like, with how I was treated by police, that he will be someone who will hold police accountable.”

Despite Harris trailing throughout the night, his supporters said they were hopeful as city results narrowed Burke’s lead. “We’re still hopeful. There are still a lot of ballots out there in the city, still a lot of mail-in votes,” Maurice Cousin said. “I think it’s gonna be a long night.”

The race pitted Harris, a former political aide with the backing of the county’s Democratic Party, against Burke, a former assistant state’s attorney and appellate court justice.

Burke said she stepped away from the bench to run because “the criminal justice system just isn’t working right now.” She claimed rising crime in Chicago was hurting growth because people were afraid to go downtown.

She has promised to end some policies of State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, including charging retail thefts above $300 as a felony, as opposed to the $1,000 amount set by Foxx’s office.

Harris said his years of experience working in statewide offices and as an aide to former Mayor Richard M. Daley and ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich would help recruit new talent.

Harris was vague with his policy goals but said he would largely continue Foxx’s policies.

The race was expected to be a referendum on the legacy of Foxx, who was part of the first wave of so-called progressive prosecutors to be elected across the country. Foxx announced last year she would not seek a third term, despite winning her races handily both times.

In 2016, Foxx beat the incumbent, Democrat Anita Alvarez, after the uproar over the Laquan McDonald police shooting. Foxx then won reelection despite widespread criticism of her decision to drop charges against actor Jussie Smollett after he faked a hate crime attack against himself and lied about it to police.

Foxx was also attacked regularly by the Chicago police union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot for increases in crime during the pandemic, including a spike in homicides, part of a trend nationwide.

Burke sought to distance herself from Foxx — but not too far. The former judge talked tough on crime, including claiming her office would seek to hold more people in custody under the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail in Illinois last year.

But Burke didn’t totally abandon progressive reforms. She said she supported the wide-ranging criminal justice reform bill and the decision to eliminate cash bail, as well as Cook County’s expansion of community-based restorative justice programs that can provide defendants charged with non-violence offenses an opportunity to resolve their cases outside of the traditional justice system.

Unlike Burke, Harris said he supported Foxx’s policies and hoped to build on them.

In doing little to separate himself from Foxx, Harris argued the managerial skills picked up from his time in public and private sectors made him the best person to lead the state’s attorney’s sprawling office after Foxx.

His Springfield connections, he told a reporter, would help to get reforms passed that would benefit the county.