Elyse Hoffenberg made history.
For the first time since the Cook County Board of Commissioners established individual districts in 1994 a Democrat won the seat in the 17th District.
Hoffenberg, a Democrat who said she grew up in Orland Park and LaGrange, defeated Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman on Nov. 3 by an unofficial total of 57.22-42.78% with 100% of the precincts reporting and 102,638 ballots cast. The election will not be made official until the county clerk’s office ratifies the ballots in the coming weeks.
Hoffenberg will take over the seat from retiring commissioner Sean Morrison, who served since 2015. He was the only Republican on the board. He replaced Gorman, who left to take a job in the private sector.
The 17th was the last district represented by a Republican.
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Republicans were getting beaten in the 5th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 15th districts and Democrats were unopposed in the rest of the races so an all-Democratic board is on the horizon.
The defeat ended a tough week for Gorman, an Orland Park resident.
The 17th District has had a Republican representative every year since 1994. It started with Herb Schumann, then Gorman and then Morrison.
Interestingly, in the week leading up to the election Schumann and Morrison got the verbal bazookas out and insisted that people shouldn’t vote for Gorman.
On his website, Morrison took to capital letters to say, “LIZ GORMAN SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HOLD PUBLIC OFFICE EVER AGAIN.”
Before that, he spent 29 paragraphs ripping her for her public office record, federal court controversies and other issues that he didn’t agree with.
Schumann also came out strong against her.
“Republican voters have rejected Liz Gorman in her last three primary elections,” he wrote in a letter to Southwest Regional Publishing. “Orland Republicans dumped her as Republican Committeeman after she failed them time after time.”
He urged voters to reject her.
Given the lack of Republican representation on the board, it spoke volumes of their disdain for Gorman that they would tear apart a Republican and showed that they would rather have a Democrat take that spot.
Gorman could have returned fire, but chose to take the high road after her loss on Election Night.
“While the election results were not what we had hoped for, I am incredibly proud of the campaign we ran and the support we received throughout the 17th District.
“I am particularly proud to have earned over 40% of the vote in the face of a significant Democratic blue wave. We fought hard to retain the last Republican seat on the Cook County Board and gave voters a clear choice.
“The political environment was simply too difficult to overcome. I often say that even Ronald Reagan himself would have had a tough time winning this district in the face of such a strong Democratic wave.”
Through she had her war of words with Hoffenberg during the campaign, Gorman said: “I congratulate Elyse Hoffenberg on her victory and wish her the very best as she assumes the responsibility of representing the residents of the 17th District.”
