Some Cook County residents will be hearing from Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris on why the former prosecutor thinks state’s attorney Kim Foxx’s progressive vision is the right choice for voters this November.
In a robocall scheduled to be sent out this week, the U.S. senator from California ramps up her February endorsement of the Democratic incumbent and defends the county’s top prosecutor’s record in reforming criminal justice, Foxx’s campaign announced Wednesday. She portrays Foxx as a bulwark against Republican President Donald Trump’s policies, which the state’s attorney’s office has sued the administration over, in a bid to parlay any resentment of Trump in the deep-blue county into enthusiasm for Foxx.
“As a former prosecutor I know firsthand that the state’s attorney is a position that has the power to change lives,” Harris says in the recording. “And this is exactly what Kim Foxx has done in her four years in office. Kim has used her position to stand up to Donald Trump’s policies and protect our communities.”
A campaign spokesman for Foxx’s GOP challenger Patrick O’Brien tried to distance him from Trump on Wednesday, saying that the candidate has never met or sought the president’s support.
“Last-ditch tactics like this tell us that Kim Foxx is rightfully concerned that she will lose this race,” Brad Goodman wrote in a statement. “Kim Foxx can line up as many robocalls from politicians outside of Cook County as she wants, but Cook County voters know the truth about her record: Under Foxx, crime is up, prosecutions are down, and families and neighborhoods are less safe.”
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The support from one of the most high-profile Democrats in the country comes the day after downtown Chicago Ald. Brendan Reilly, a surrogate for Harris’ running mate Joe Biden, revolted from his party to endorse O’Brien. Reilly knocked Foxx for what he said was a “revolving door” in the criminal justice system because of suspects not being held accountable.
Harris doesn’t see it that way, according to her robocall. She says Foxx’s office has both fought violent crime while overturning a spate of wrongful convictions that have dragged down Cook County’s reputation as a place where miscarriages of justice run rampant. Meanwhile, she appears to draw from Foxx’s attack that O’Brien is part of an old guard of prosecutors that leans toward locking up offenders without addressing the root causes of crime.
“Kim Foxx is smart on crime,” Harris says. “We cannot go back to the old ways of criminal justice that harmed our communities. We need her in office to continue making Cook County a model of reform.”
Foxx is running for a second term against O’Brien and Libertarian candidate Brian Dennehy. She took over as state’s attorney after defeating incumbent Anita Alvarez in the 2016 election as the city reeled from the video release of the Chicago police murder of Laquan McDonald. Although she has come under fire for her office’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case as well as this summer’s multiple looting rounds in Chicago, politicians with name recognition nationally and in Illinois have endorsed her.
O’Brien, who was a Cook County Circuit Court judge and assistant state’s attorney before switching parties, is campaigning on a core message that residents have been fearing crime more than they have in years and that he will be a voice for victims. In addition, he has the backing of Chicago police’s largest union, which has given him the maximum campaign contribution and is door-knocking on his behalf.
On a local level, Chicago City Council’s progressive and Black caucuses reaffirmed their support for Foxx after Reilly’s snubbing on Tuesday.
“Elected officials that switch political parties and lack commitment to Democratic values are careless,” the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus wrote in a Wednesday statement condemning Reilly’s endorsement. “Chicago and Cook County cannot afford to go back to the ways of yesteryear with the lackluster leadership of Pat O’Brien. We must continue to look forward and reelect Kim Foxx, someone who cares and understands the needs of our communities.”
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