Will Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx Lose in November? No, Democrats Won’t Allow It.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has been having a rough time.  A special prosecutor, Dan Webb, who is a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, found there were “substantial abuses of discretion” in how Ms. Foxx handled the Jussie Smollett matter.  Ms. Foxx pretty much let Mr. Smollett, a famous TV star (I guess), off the hook on charges filed against him because he had made a false report of a racist and homophobic attack on himself.  She has also come under criticism for how her office has dealt with all kinds of other matters.  Some people have even gone so far as to look at the Republican candidate for State’s Attorney, Patrick W. O’Brien, in the fall election.  Except they don’t need to waste their time doing that.  No matter how bad Kim Foxx is, the Democratic Party is not going to let the Republican candidate win.  If things get really bad, they might try to replace Ms. Foxx with another candidate.  But if she is on the ballot in November, the Democrats will make sure she wins.  They can’t afford to have her lose.

The last thing Democrats in Cook County, and Illinois, want is a Republican State’s Attorney in Cook County.  The Democrats are having enough trouble with John Lausch, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, investigating public corruption.  They can’t have a Republican State’s Attorney in Cook County working with him.

I understand not all Republicans are driven to clean up corruption in Illinois.  Some are involved in it.  Others don’t seem to think it’s all that big of a deal.  But Democrats can’t be certain what kind of Republican Mr. O’Brien is or what approach he would take on public corruption in Cook County.  He might fight it, and they can’t risk that.

The Illinois Democratic Party’s view of public corruption in Illinois can be seen in what Illinois Attorney General, Kwame Raoul, said, during his campaign for that office in 2018, about how he would deal with public corruption.  He said he would pursue it if somebody brought a case to him, but he wouldn’t go out looking for cases.  Mr. Raoul’s predecessor as Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, didn’t do much about public corruption in her sixteen years in office.¹

It is entirely possible that the biggest reason the Illinois Democratic Party, or at least its leaders, wants to beat Donald Trump in November is not his response to Covid-19 – or any other policy President Trump has.  Instead, it might be because, if Joe Biden wins, John Lausch might no longer be U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.  A President Biden can replace him.  In 2008, when the investigation of then-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was going on, Barack Obama promised that he would not replace then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald­­­­­.  As far as I know, Joe Biden has not made a similar promise.  And I would not expect him to do so.  Getting rid of Mr. Lausch is too important to Illinois Democrats.

All of which means that no matter how bad Kim Foxx is, and no matter how poorly she is doing her job, Democrats in Cook County will make sure she gets re-elected in November.  Because they cannot afford to take a chance on a Republican State’s Attorney in Cook County.  It would be too dangerous.
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¹ Ms. Madigan, who served as Attorney General from 2003-19, is the daughter of Michael Madigan, chair of the Illinois Democratic Party and Speaker of the Illinois House of representatives since 1983 (less the two-year period from 1995 to 1997).