November 12, 2024
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Election 2024: GOP looks to gain supermajority on McHenry County Board as 2 Democrat incumbents trail

By Claire O'Brien
Paul Thomas, left, a candidate for McHenry County Board District 7, talks Mike Shorten, McHenry County Board District 4, during a Republican election results watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, at Niko's Red Mill Tavern in Woodstock. Shorten and Thomas were both ahead after results came in.

Paul Thomas, left, a candidate for McHenry County Board District 7, talks with Mike Shorten, McHenry County Board District 4, during a Republican election results watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, at Nikos Red Mill Tavern in Woodstock. Shorten appears to have held onto his seat, while Thomas seemingly bested a Democratic incumbent to help grow the GOP's majority. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver Shaw Media )

Two years ago, voters gave Republicans a 13-5 edge on the McHenry County Board. The GOP appears poised to extend that majority this year.

Three Democrat-held seats are up this cycle in Districts 1, 5 and 7. Two of them were locked in very tight races as of late Tuesday, with Theresa Meshes in District 1 appearing to lose against Republican challenger Pat Sullivan in District 1 and Lou Ness trailing behind Republican Paul Thomas in District 7 in unofficial totals.

Republicans are also poised to win the District 5 seat, which Democratic Kelli Wegener gave up to run what appeared to be failed effort to defeat Republican Chair Mike Buehler. The Republican candidate in District 5, Deena Krieger of Island Lake had a comfortable lead against Democrat Steve Firak of McHenry, about 58% to 42% with 100% of precincts reporting in unofficial totals.

One bright spot for the Democrats was in District 2, where challenger John (Jack) Collins was leading GOP incumbent John Reinert by about 200 votes. Reinert was the only Republican county elected official who stood to lose his seat.

Other Republican incumbents were seeing comfortable leads, though not landslide victories:

  • In District 3, Eric Hendricks led challenger Rester Dogboe, with Hendricks winning about 57% of the vote.
  • District 4′s Mike Shorten was about 13 percentage points ahead of Democrat Brian Dean Meyers.
  • Carl Kamienski took in about 64% of the votes against Democratic challenger Arne Waltmire in District 6.
  • In District 8, Tracie Von Bergen had a similarly strong lead over Democrat Dawn Milarski.
  • In District 9, Jim Kearns picked up about 59% of the vote against Dawn Jordi Ellison.

Buehler appeared to handily beat Wegener, with the GOP incumbent receiving about 56% of the vote.

If the unofficial results prevail, that would mean a net loss of two seats on the county for Democrats. Such a supermajority would give the GOP the power, for example, to override recommendations from the Zoning Board of Appeals in cases where a proposal got less than five “yes” votes, a negative recommendation from the hearing officer, or an objection from the townships, according to the county board rules.

In the other contested countywide, incumbent Coroner Michael Rein was headed to victory over Democratic opponent Chris Kalapodis, with Rein garnering about 58% of the vote.

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