Backed by real estate industry heavy-hitters, Lyons Township Tax Assessor Patrick Hynes ousted two-term incumbent Fritz Kaegi to secure a spot as Democratic nominee for Cook County Assessor.
“For too long too many people across Cook County have felt the system was confusing, unfair and unjust,” Hynes said at his election night watch party at Salerno’s Pizzeria & Sports Bar in Southwest suburban Hodgkins. “My commitment to you is simple, we will make property taxes more accurate, more equitable and more transparent.”
With about 2,400 out of 2,700 precincts reporting as of 9 p.m., Hynes led Kaegi with 52 percent of the vote. Kaegi conceded just after 9 p.m. with a call to Hynes and a brief speech to reporters and attendees of his watch party.
He told the crowd he called Hynes to congratulate him and said in his address, “I hope he protects the reforms we put in place.”
Half a dozen reporters camped out at Kaegi’s election night watch party at Jarvis Tavern in Rogers Park, signaling the race’s significance on a busy primary night.
Kaegi’s supporters packed the bar in a lively crowd that hung on past 8:30 p.m., even after 90 percent of the vote had been counted. Awaiting the final 250 precincts, Kaegi’s team wanted to see if he could regain ground among voters in the city and those that cast mail-in ballots.
The results cap off a contentious election cycle that was fueled by voters’ growing dissatisfaction with Cook County’s property tax system.
Kaegi, who was first elected in 2018, was tasked with re-evaluating Chicago’s commercial real estate landscape after the pandemic wreaked havoc on the office market. Since then, property values have gone haywire with homeowners and commercial landlords alike decrying their unpredictable tax bills.
According to Kaegi, the problem lies in massive cuts to values made by the Board of Review, a three-person entity elected separately from the assessor tasked with checking his work.
He touted reforms made during his time in office including instituting a code of ethics and refusing to accept campaign donations from property tax attorneys.
“We made this office run on fairness, not favoritism,” Kaegi said.
But leading up to the election Hynes claimed that Kaegi’s methodology was creating inaccurate property values that necessitated appeals to the Board of Review.
He also campaigned on a promise to establish an Office of Economic Development to attract more development to Cook County and thus spread the tax burden among more property owners.
Industry professionals are hoping Hynes will kickstart Chicago’s lagging development pipeline.
He secured the support of some of Chicago’s most influential real estate figures. Those include Magellan Development CEO David Carlins, CRG CEO Shawn Clark and Riverside Investment and Development CEO John O’Donnell, who have all made five-figure donations to Hynes.
But Hynes’ relationships sparked criticism from Kaegi, who said it would re-establish a corrupt pay-to-play environment prevalent under prior regimes, where, for every property owner who gets a sweetheart deal, another takes on more of the tax burden.
Not everyone in the real estate industry was persuaded by Hynes’ vision. Longtime real estate investor Bob Wislow’s firm Parkside Realty, as well as JDL Development’s Jim Letchinger, who is taking on the Lincoln Yards turnaround project renamed as Foundry Park, have each donated to Kaegi’s campaign instead of Hynes. So did Chicago-based real estate investment firm JRG Capital Partners.
Ultimately, Hynes’ vision won over more voters.
The general election featuring winners of Tuesday’s primary contests will be held Nov. 3. In Cook County, the Democratic nominee is heavily favored to win the General Election against the only other opponent in the race, Libertarian candidate Nico Tsatsoulis.