Cook County Sheriff

The Cook County Sheriff is the sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, heading the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

Cook County Sheriff
Incumbent Tom Dart since December 2006
Term length	4 years
Inaugural holder	John H. Kinzie
Formation	1831

Office description

Terms are currently four-years in length.

Officeholders

Sherriff		Term in office	Party	Notes	Cite
	John H. Kinzie	1831–1832		Appointed by governor John Reynolds	[1][2]
	Stephen R. Forbes	1832–1834		Cook County's first elected sheriff	[2][3]
	Silas W. Sherman	1834–1838	Democratic		[4]
	Isaac R. Gavin	1838–1840	Independent Democrat		[4][5]
	Ashbel Steele	1840–1842			[5]
	Samuel J. Lowe	1842–1846			[5]
	Isaac Cook	1846–1850			[5]
	William L. Church	1850–1852			[5]
	Cyrus Bradley	1852–1854			[5]
	James Andrew	1854–1855			[5]
	James Beach	1855–1856 (acting)			[5]
	John L. Wilson	1856–1858			[5]
	John Gray	1859–1860			[5]
	Anton C. Hesing	1860–1862	Republican		[5]
	David Hammond	1862–1864			[5]
	John A. Nelson	1864–1866			[5]
	John Lourie Beveridge	1866–1868	Republican		[6][7]
	Gustav Fischer	1868–1870		Absconded in 1869
	Benjamin L. Cleaves	1870		Simultaneously ex officio Cook County Coroner	[5]
	Timothy Bradley	1870–1872			[8]
	Charles Kern	1872–1878	Democratic		[8]
	John Hoffman	1878–1880	Republican		[8][9]
	Orrin L. Mann	1880–1882	Republican	Elected in 1880	[10]
	Seth Hanchett	1882–1886	Republican		[11][12]
	Canute R. Matson	1886–1890	Republican		[8]
	James H. Gilbert	1890–1894
	James Pease	1894–1898	Republican		[13]
	Ernest Magerstadt	1899–1902	Republican
	Thomas E. Barrett	1902–1906	Democratic		[14][15][16]
	Christopher Strassheim	1906–1910	Republican		[16]
	Michael Zimmer	1910–1914	Democratic		[16]
	John E. Traeger	1914–1918	Democratic		[16]
	Charles W. Peters	1918–1922	Republican		[1][16]
	Peter M. Hoffman	December 1922–December 26, 1926	Republican		[17][18][19]
	Charles E. Graydon	December 29, 1926–December 1928			[19]
	John E. Traeger	December 3, 1928–December 1930	Democratic	Had previously served as sheriff	[20][21]
	William D. Meyering	1930–1934	Democratic		[17][20]
	John Toman	1934–1938			[20]
	Thomas J. O'Brien	1938–1942	Democratic		[20]
	A. L. Brodie	1942–1943			[20]
	William J. Tuohy				[22]
	Elmer Michael Walsh	1946-1950	Republican	Elected in 1946	[20]
	John E. Babb	1950–1954	Republican		[20][23]
	Joseph D. Lohman	1954–1958	Democrat		[20][23]
	Frank G. Sain	1958-1962	Democrat		[20][24]
	Richard B. Ogilvie	1962–1966	Republican		[20]
	Joseph I. Woods	1966–1970	Republican		[20]
	Richard Elrod	1970–1986	Democratic		[20]
	James E. O'Grady	1986–1990	Republican	Elected in 1986; lost reelection in 1990	[20]
	Michael F. Sheahan	1990–2006	Democratic	Elected in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002	[20]
	Tom Dart	2006–present	Democratic	Elected in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022	[20]

Election results

Cook County Sheriff general elections
Year	Winning candidate	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)	Opponent	Party	Vote (pct)
1832 ... 1898	[data missing]
1902[25]	Thomas E. Barrett	Democratic	141,822 ( %)	Daniel D. Healy	Republican	135,036 ( %)	James P. Larsen	Social Democratic	13,134 ( %)	Henry Sale	Socialist Labor	5,973 ( %)	Joseph P. Tracy	Prohibition	4,480 (1.32%)	Thomas Donegan	Single Tax	908 ( %)
1906[25]	Christopher Strassheim	Republican	131,608 ( %)	Harry J. Gibbons	Democratic	93,836 ( %)	James J. Gray	Independent League	49,296 ( %)	26,055	Socialist	26,055 ( %)	S. A. Wilson	Prohibition	3,735 (%)	John Fitzpatrick	Progressive Alliance	1,400 ( %)
1910[25]	Michael Zimmer	Democratic	165,445 ( %)	Frank A. Volger	Republican	145,598	William Van Bodegraven	Socialist	27,588 ( %)	O. F. Sarber	Prohibition	5,038 (%)
1914[26]	John E. Traeger	Democratic	166,335 ( %)	George K. Schmidt	Republican	112,502	Frederick S. Oliver	Progressive	50,117 ( %)	Bernard McMahon	Socialist	23,319 ( %)	George W. Hoover	Prohibition	1,229 (%)
1918[26]	Charles W. Peters	Republican	177,912 ( %)	Anton Cermak	Democratic	174,829 (%)	Adolf Dreifuss	Socialist	19,572 ( %)
1922 ... 1982	[data missing]
1986[27]	James E. O'Grady	Democratic	706,659 (51.12%)	Richard J. Elrod	Democratic	673,233 (48.79%)
1990[28]	Michael F. Sheahan	Democratic	719,489 (55.41%)	James E. O'Grady	Republican	369,631 (28.47%)	Tommy Brewer	Harold Washington Party	191,101 (14.72%)	William M. Piechuch, Sr.	Illinois Solidarity	18,318 (1.41%)
1994	Michael F. Sheahan	Democratic		John D. Tourtelot	Republican		William A. Brown	Harold Washington Party		William J. Benson	Populist
1998[29]	Michael F. Sheahan	Democratic	903,053 (71.11%)	LeRoy Martin	Republican	366,867 (28.89%)
2002[30][31]	Michael F. Sheahan	Democratic	984,348 (76.88%)	Ronald Swick	Republican	296,062 (23.12%)
2006[32]	Tom Dart	Democratic	942,113 (74.70%)	Peter Garza	Republican	319,011 (25.30%)
2010[33]	Tom Dart	Democratic	1,041,696 (77.26%)	Frederick Collins	Republican	257,682 (19.11%)	Marshall P. Lewis	Green	48,930 (3.63%)
2014[34]	Tom Dart	Democratic	1,055,783 (100%)
2018[35]	Tom Dart	Democratic	1,455,825 (100%)
2022[36]	Tom Dart	Democratic	1,041,525 (74.21%)	Lupe Aguirre	Republican	321,252 (22.89%)	Brad Sandefur	Libertarian	40,752 (2.90%)