The Democratic Party performed well, winning a full sweep of all countywide offices and 11 out of 17 seats on the Cook County Board of Commissioners.[2] This came despite 1994 having been a strong Republican election cycle nationally, including in Illinois’ statewide elections (with the national election cycle being dubbed the “Republican Revolution”).
Turnout in the primaries was 34.58%, with 911,577 ballots cast.[1][3]Chicago saw 555,937 ballots cast and suburban Cook County saw 23.95% turnout (with 355,620 ballots cast).[1][4]
The general election saw turnout of 48.16%, with 1,267,152 ballots cast.[5] Chicago saw 586,235 ballots cast, while suburban Cook County saw 50.54% turnout (with 680,917 ballots cast).[4][5]
Democrat Hynes won by a roughly 35-point margin.[6] He defeated Republican nominee Sandra C. Wilson-Muriel, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee Donald Pamon and Populist Party nominee Loretha Weisinger.[6]
David Orr was reelected by a roughly 30-point margin.[6] He defeated Republican nominee Edward Howlett, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee Herman W. Baker, Jr. and Populist Party nominee Curtis Jones.[6]
Michael F. Sheahan was reelected by a roughly 40-point margin.[6] He defeated Republican nominee John D. Tourtelot, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee William A. Brown and Populist Party nominee William J. Benson.[6]
Rosewell was reelected by a more than 20-point margin. He defeated Republican nominee Jean Reyes Pechette, as well as Harold Washington Party nominee Robert J. Pettis and Populist Party nominee John Justice.[6]
Morris' candidacy was considered a long shot. It struggled with a lack of funds.[2] During the general election, Stroger did not campaign heavily.[2]
Morris proposed drastically restricting the county's government, abolishing all of the county agencies except the State's Attorney's office and replacing them with a different arrangement of departments that would have been under greater control of the president of the Cook Cook County Board of Commissioners.[2]
Stroger won by a more than 25-point margin over Republican Joe Morris. He also defeated Harold Washington Party nominee Aloysius Majerczyk and Populist Party nominee Jerome Carter.[6]
President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners election[7]
This was the first for the Cook County Board of Commissioners conducted with individual districts, as previous elections had been conducted through two sets of at-large elections (one for ten seats from the city of Chicago and another for seven seats from suburban Cook County).[10]
Six of those elected were new to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.[11]
The number of commissioners each party held remained unchanged.[12]
Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect the Democratic, Republican, and Harold Washington Party committeemen for the suburban townships.[1]
Suburban Cook County elected a superintendent for the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, with Republican Lloyd Lehman running unopposed in both his primary election and the general election, as no other candidates sought the office.[7][14] This was the only office for which only a single candidate filed. Lehman had been appointed to the office the previous year after Richard Martwick resigned. The Chicago Tribune observed that this office may have been the "most obscure election on the ballot".[14]
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