Napoleon Harris and the slate of Democratic Party candidates swept the election for Thornton Township offices on Tuesday, April 1, according to unofficial results.
Harris will be the next township supervisor, succeeding embattled Supervisor Tiffany Henyard. With nearly 74.5% of the vote, Harris handily beat three competitors, Republican Richard Nolan, with 10.18%; Nate Fields, running as an independent, with 10.58%; and Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark, with 4.74%. Clark remained on the ballot despite announcing on Feb. 4 that he was withdrawing from the race.
Democrat incumbent Township Assessor Cassandra Elson ran unopposed, as did Casey Nesbit for clerk.
Antwon Russell won the highway commissioner post with 81.13% of the vote. He beat Republican Tim DeYoung.
There were 12 candidates for four trustee seats. Democrats Byron D. Stanley (11,174 votes, 19.84%), Christopher D. Gonzalez (11,005 votes, 19.54 %), Mary Carolyn Avent (10,833 votes, 19.24%) and Valeria Stubbs (10,844 votes, 19.26%) outdistanced the field. The closest competitor was Republican Carl V. Dombrowski, who received 2,183 votes or 3.88%.
Also on the ballot for the Board of Trustees were David J. Barnes Jr., Jeffery Coleman, Kesha Richardson, David Clay II, Dominique Randle-El, Jacinta J. Gholston and Rachel Jones.
Henyard registered as a write-in candidate, but her vote total does not appear yet on the Cook County Clerk’s election results web page.
More leadership changes
Hazel Crest will have a new mayor for the first time since 2013.
Vernard Alsberry could not run for reelection because of the village’s term limit. He served three terms as mayor and was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 1999.
Trustee Sandra Alexander will succeed him after receiving more votes (593 or 31.1%) than three other candidates, all current elected officials for the village.
Trustee Marlon Rias received 567 votes, or 29.73%. Village Clerk Isaac Wiseman received 522 votes, or 27.37%. Trustee Java Rogers received 225 votes, or 11.8%.
Alexander ran as part of the Rebuild Renew Revive Party. Rias ran with the Hazel Crest Progressive Party. Wiseman ran as a Democrat. Rogers ran as an independent.
Alsberry ran as a Democrat for supervisor of Bremen Township but was narrowly defeated by Kathryn Straniero, who ran with the Tax Cutter Party. She received 5,742 votes, or 50.57%, to Alsberry’s 5,613 votes, or 49.43%.
Jadie Peters was elected Hazel Crest village clerk, She will succeed Wiseman.
There will be new faces on the Board of Trustees, too. Jonathan Cooper, Marquita D. Marshall Motley and Merle Kimbrough-Huckabee are all newcomers who topped a field of 10 candidates.
In Glenwood, incumbent Mayor Ronald Gardiner was defeated by challenger Toleda Hart, who garnered 52.69% of the vote. Hart will preside over a board with new members, too.
Edward Hadnott received 735 votes, or 16.87%; Michelle Mosley received 758 votes, or 17.39%; Rodrick Murdock received 614 votes or 14.09%; and Felicia D. Brown also received 614 votes.
Hart, Hadnott, Mosley and Murdock ran as members of the Glenwood Strong Party. Brown and Gardiner are members of the Glenwood Progress Party.
Jesse Durden with the Glenwood Strong Party was elected village clerk with 54.68% of the vote.
Two new trustees apparently will join the Prairie State College District 515 board. J’amay Harris and Maria Melero were the only names on the ballot for the two open seats. However, incumbent Trustee Jay Readey ran as a write-in candidate. Vote totals have not been posted for write-ins as of Tuesday, April 8.
Incumbents prevail
In Olympia Fields, there will be one new member of the Board of Trustees. Chyla Pennington was elected with 19.68% of the vote. Otherwise, incumbents carried the day. Village President Sterling “Stony” Burke and trustees Victor Blackwell and Kelvin Oliver were reelected.
In Matteson, incumbent mayor Sheila Chalmers-Currin won handily over challenger Muhaymin Muhammad, 84.27% to 15.73%.
Yumeka Brown was reelected as village clerk, running unopposed.
Incumbent trustees Adam Shorter III and Carolyn Palmer were reelected. They will be joined by newcomer Stacy Leak, who tallied more votes than incumbent Juanita Hardin.
All the winners in Matteson ran with the Moving Forward Party.
Low turnout — of candidates
Village of Thornton voters chose Maxine Reynolds to be the new village president, giving her 59.32% of the vote to Robert Enright’s 40.68%.
Otherwise, voters were short on choices. No candidate was listed on the ballot for village clerk.
Phillip Middlebrooks was elected to the Board of Trustees, but he was the only candidate on the ballot with three seats open.