When was the last time Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. or the 84-year-old Chicago Crusader, a storied Black newspaper, endorsed a Republican over a Democratic candidate in the Cook County State’s Attorney race? Next week, many Black voters are urged to vote Republican to defeat a Democrat.
It’s an unprecedented moment in politics in the campaign for Cook County’s top prosecutor. And on November 5, more Black voters may do the same in a race where two candidates don’t fully fit the typical profile or the political party they represent. But for Black Chicago, the Black vote remains critical in electing a uh, Republican to pick up where Cook County State’s Attorney Foxx left off or stop a Democrat candidate from rolling back gains in Cook County criminal justice system that Foxx achieved in the last eight years. Huh?
When it comes to this year’s Cook County State’s Attorney race, Democratic candidate Eileen O’Neil Burke and Republican Robert “Bob” Fioretti are appealing to voters from the opposite political party for the race for state’s attorney. The race has Black leaders, institutions and Black voters bucking decades of voting for a Democratic candidate who may be a threat to a Black agenda in the nation’s second-largest prosecutor office and supporting a Republican opponent who may adopt it.
Burke is the Democratic candidate for Cook County State’s Attorney. She escaped the Democratic primary by edging a Black candidate by just 1,571 votes, despite her past record of prosecuting a Black boy when she was an assistant state’s attorney. Now Burke is poised to win next week because Black voters historically vote Democrat at the polls. If that happens, Chicago and Cook County will end up with a new State’s Attorney whose past signals a concern about the future of criminal justice reform in the nation’s “False Confession Capital.”
It’s a strong possibility that’s not getting as much attention as the hotly contested presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, who’s on the cusp of making history as America’s first female Black president. With Trump and his GOP’s conservative agenda and racist rhetoric, Harris and civil rights leaders view November 5 as a consequential election with threats of taking Blacks, minorities and women back to a time when privileged white men ruled the country.
But another consequential race is brewing that deeply concerns Blacks and minorities, only this hits closer to home and affects the future of the criminal justice system and hundreds of wrong conviction cases that remain as outgoing Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx prepares to leave office.
Since Burke grabbed a chunk of the Black vote to beat Clayton Harris III in the Cook County State’s Attorney race in the March Primary, she’s remained low key as the media focused its attention and coverage on the presidential race. She downplayed her anti-crime message and relied on her status as a Democratic candidate, which she hopes will be enough to get enough votes from uninformed Black voters who vote Democratic, but know nothing about her past as a rogue prosecutor.
In the mid-1990s, Burke once prosecuted A.M., a 10-year-old Black boy, who was convicted of murdering an elderly white woman in the Marquette Park neighborhood. Her throat was slashed, and she was tied up with a phone cord. There were also stolen items, including a gold watch and a diamond ring.
The boy gave a false confession that was coerced after an interrogation took place without a parent or police youth officer present. It also took place without an attorney for A.M. and without video recording — steps now required by state law.
A federal court later ruled that the police used illegal tactics and that the confession was coerced. Today, Burke maintains that she wasn’t aware that CPD Detective James Cassidy had a history of committing similar violations like those in A.M.’s case. The boy was interrogated for multiple hours with no adult representing him present for the questioning.
Despite the negative publicity from news outlets in Chicago, Burke won the Democratic Primary in a tight race that was called nearly two weeks after the election. She received a total of 264,428 votes or 50.15 percent of the vote.
A Crusader analysis of election data revealed that Burke took 27.60 percent of the Black vote from Chicago’s 17 predominately Black wards in her win over Harris, a Black candidate and former prosecutor who teaches at the University of Chicago.
But in the General Election next week, will Burke get the Black ward’s 68,066 votes that went to Harris and the 36,058 votes from the Latino wards that went to her Democratic opponent last March? That’s 104,124 votes that could sink Burke’s campaign, which is why she’s being low key on her anti-crime message and hoping being a Democrat will propel her to victory.
Burke cannot win the election without the help of Chicago’s powerful Black electorate. Republican candidates historically receive a chunk of their votes from Cook County’s towns and suburbs outside of Chicago. Like Burke, Fioretti will need votes from Chicago’s Black and Hispanic wards to win the race for state’s attorney.
As a Republican candidate, Fioretti attended the packed retirement party of WVON 1690 host Perri Small last Saturday at the Haven Entertainment Center in Bronzeville. On October 5, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. endorsed Fioretti, citing Burke’s prosecution of A.M. as a big reason for backing a Republican.
“We need Bob Fioretti as Cook County State’s Attorney. This is not about party labels,” Jackson said. “This is about electing our community’s best State’s Attorney, who will temper justice with mercy. It is not the first time I have endorsed a Republican. It may not be the last. When the Republican candidate is extraordinary and the choice is crystal clear, we back the Republican, especially if his name is Bob Fioretti.”
This week, the Chicago Crusader endorsed Fioretti, who in the last decade, ran numerous unsuccessful campaigns for local and state offices. In 2022, Fioretti switched to Republican when he ran again against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
