Aurora Voters To Elect City, School Leaders Tuesday

AURORA, IL — Election Day is upon us yet again in Aurora. Polling locations in Kane County will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. If you're in line by 7 p.m., you will be able to vote no matter how long the line is, election officials say.

Aurora voters will weigh in on a number of contested races Tuesday, including contests for the mayor’s office, seats on the City Council and school board roles.

AURORA MAYOR

The Aurora mayoral race leads the ballot for voters in the City of Lights. Voters have three choices for the city's next leader: incumbent Mayor Richard Irvin, Ald. Judd Lofchie and John Laesch.

Irvin is seeking re-election after first taking the office in 2017. He served as a trial attorney for 20 years, including experience as an assistant state’s attorney and a defense lawyer. Irvin held Aurora’s alderman-at-large seat on the City Council for 10 years before he was elected mayor.

Irvin has made economic recovery and improving Aurora’s educational institutions key planks of his campaign for re-election.

Read Mayor Richard Irvin’s candidate questionnaire here.

Alderman Judd Lofchie, an attorney and commercial real estate broker for more than 30 years, has represented Aurora’s 10th Ward since 2017.

Lofchie has often called out Irvin and his city administration for “irresponsible fiscal management,” and he has put the city’s debt of $1.1 billion at the center of his campaign to unseat the mayor.

He has said he will cut wasteful spending, restructure the city’s debt and “put the city on a tight budget until the current economic climate improves.”

Read Alderman Judd Lofchie’s candidate questionnaire here.

John Laesch has been a union carpenter since 2005 and served on the East Aurora District 131 school board from 2015 to 2019. He is running for mayor to help transform Aurora into a “green city” over the coming years, with the goal of creating new, good-paying jobs to bring down the city’s high poverty rate and income inequality.

Laesch has rejected campaign donations from any entity hoping to do business with the City of Aurora, saying he wants to ensure there are no future allegations of pay-to-play or corruption if he is elected mayor.

Laesch has also promised to take a 25 percent pay cut on the mayor’s salary to show that city employees are public servants. Mayor Irvin earned a salary of about $160,000 in 2020, according to the city’s budget. That compensation is set to rise to nearly $175,000 by 2024.

Read John Laesch’s candidate questionnaire here.

AURORA CITY COUNCIL

There are contested races in three wards for seats on the Aurora City Council, with each featuring two candidates.

John Bell is challenging two-term incumbent William "Bill" Donnell in Aurora’s 4th Ward, while Saul Fultz III is aiming to unseat incumbent 7th Ward Ald. Scheketa Hart-Burns, who was first elected in 1991.

Arjun Nair and Shweta Baid are running to replace Lofchie as the alderman from Aurora’s 10th Ward.

There is a three-way race between Raymond Hull, Ron Woerman and Brooke Shanley for one of the council’s two at-large seats. Incumbent Ald. Robert O’Connor is retiring.

Incumbent aldermen Juany Garza (2nd Ward) and Edward Bugg (9th Ward) are running unopposed for re-election to the Aurora City Council.

AURORA SCHOOL BOARDS

There are just two declared candidates for three open seats on the East Aurora District 131 school board, with incumbents Annette Johnson and Daniel Barreiro seeking re-election. Johnson currently serves as the board's president, and Barreiro is vice president.

Four candidates are vying for three open seats on the West Aurora District 129 Board of Education: Richard Kerns, Valerie Brown Dykstra, Julie Stone and Jennifer Cresse. Kerns and Dykstra are incumbents.

Eleven candidates are contesting four open seats on the Indian Prairie District 204 Board of Education: Allison Fosdick, Marina Kosak, Shannon Adcock, Laurie Donahue, Yanmei May Liang, Saba Haider, Susan Taylor-Demming, Supna C. Jain, Kader Sakkaria, Rajesh Narayan and Robert O. Harris. Donahue and Taylor-Demming are incumbents.

Four seats are up for grabs on the Oswego District 308 school board, with seven candidates in the race: Keisha Earl, Eugene Gatewood, Katie Heiden, Jennifer Johnson, Donna Marino, LaTonya Simelton and Eulalia Valdez. There are no incumbents in the race.

AURORA TOWNSHIP

William "Bill" Catching is running unopposed for another term as Aurora Township supervisor, while Penny "Cassidy" Alexander faces no opponent in his bid to replace Reginald Campbel as the township’s clerk.

Incumbents Davis Offutt and Juan Reyna are also running unopposed for bid for re-election as the township’s assessor and highway commissioner, respectively.

Four Democrats — Dolores Hicks, Juanita Wells, David Moore and Sam Nunez — are seeking four seats on the Aurora Township Board of Trustees. Hicks, Wells and Moore are incumbents.

REGIONAL RACES

Charles Anderson is unopposed in his bid for re-election to the Fox Valley Park District's Board of Commissioners, though no one is running for the board’s at-large seat. Anderson currently leads the board as its president.

Three races for the Kane County Regional Board of School Trustees also appear on Aurora-area ballots, but only one has a declared candidate. Winfried Cordell Cooper Jr. is running for a six-year term on the board.

Four candidates are running for two open seats on the Waubonsee Community College Board of Trustees: Rebecca Oliver, Patrick Kelsey, Giselle Gonzalez and Sandra Gonzalez. Oliver and Kelsey are incumbents.

Randall Brown is running unopposed to continue representing District 4 on the Fox Metro Water Reclamation District's Board of Trustees.