Cook County Clerk

The Cook County Clerk is the clerk of county government in Cook County, Illinois.

Cook County Clerk
Incumbent Monica Gordon since December 2024
Term length	4 years
Formation	March 1831 (appointed position) August 1837 (elected position)

History

The office of Cook County Clerk was established in 1831, the year that Cook County, Illinois was created. For the first several years, the clerk was appointed by the three-member Cook County Board of Commissioners. This was changed, and it became an elected office with a four-year term in 1837, with the first election being held in August of that year.^[1][2]

Officeholders

#	Clerk		Term in office	Party	Notes	Cite
1st		William Lee	1831		Appointed in March 1831, resigned in December 1831	[2]
2nd		Richard J. Hamilton	1831–1837	Democratic	Appointed to the office in December 1831	[2][3]
3rd		George Davis	1837–1849		The first elected Cook County Clerk (first elected in August 1837)	[1][2]
4th		Edmund S. Kimberly	1849–1853		Elected in August and November 1849	[1]
5th		Charles B. Farwell	1853–1861			[1]
6th		Laurin P. Hilliard	1861–1865			[1]
7th		Edward S. Salomon	1865–November 1869	Republican		[4][5]
8th		John G. Gindele	1869–January 1872		Died in office	[1]
9th		George W. Wheeler	1873–December 1873			[1]
10th		Hermann Lieb	1873–December 1877			[1]
11th		Ernest F.C. Klokke	1877–December 1882		Term extended, by law, for one year	[1]
12th		Michael W. Ryan	1882–December 1886			[1]
13th		Henry Wulff	1886–1894	Republican
14th		Philip Knopf	1894–1902	Republican
15th		Peter B. Olsen	1902–1906	Republican
16th		Joseph F. Haas	1906–1910	Republican		[6]
17th		Robert Sweitzer	December 1910–December 1934	Democratic	Elected in 1910, 1914, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1930, 1934; resigned to serve as Cook County Treasurer in December 1934
18th		Michael J. Flynn	1935–1950	Democratic	Appointed in 1935; elected in 1938, 1942, 1946
19th		Richard J. Daley	December 1950 – 1955	Democratic	Elected in 1950 and 1954; resigned in 1955 to serve as mayor of Chicago
20th		Edward J. Barrett	1955–1973	Democratic	Appointed in 1955; elected in 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970; resigned in 1973
21st		Stanley Kusper	1973–December 1990	Democratic	Appointed in 1973, elected in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986	[7]
22nd		David Orr	December 1990–December 2018	Democratic	Elected in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014
23rd		Karen Yarbrough	December 2018–April 2024	Democratic	Elected in 2018 and 2022; died in office in April 2024	[8]
–		Cedric Giles (acting)	2024		Acting clerk
24th		Monica Gordon	December 2024–present	Democratic	Elected in 2024	[9]

Recent election results

Cook County Clerk general elections
Year	Winning candidate	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)
1986[10]	Stanley Kusper	Democratic	929,949 (68.35%)	Diana Nelson	Republican	430,568 (31.35%)
1990[11]	David D. Orr	Democratic	799,884 (63.48%)	Sam Panayotovich	Republican	353,531 (28.06%)	Heldia R. Richardson	Harold Washington Party	106,588 (8.46%)
1994	David D. Orr	Democratic		Edward Howlett	Republican		Herman W. Baker, Jr.	Harold Washington Party		Curtis Jones	Populist
1998[12]	David D. Orr	Democratic	988,136 (77.30%)	Judie A. Jones	Republican	290,256 (22.70%)
2002[13][14]	David D. Orr	Democratic	992,441 (76.11%)	Kathleen A. Thomas	Republican	311,552 (23.89%)
2006[15]	David D. Orr	Democratic	1,034,263 (80.78%)	Nancy Carlson	Republican	246,044 (19.22%)
2010[16]	David D. Orr	Democratic	1,047,462 (77.77%)	Angel Garcia	Republican	299,449 (22.23%)
2014[17]	David D. Orr	Democratic	1,061,515 (100%)
2018[18]	Karen Yarbrough	Democratic	1,415,244 (99.07%)	Others	Write-ins	13,120 (0.93%)
2022[19]	Karen Yarbrough	Democratic	1,003,854 (71.58%)	Tony Peraica	Republican	368,095 (26.26%)	Joseph Schreiner	Libertarian	30,514 (2.18%)
2024