Election 2021: Contested Races For Wilmette, New Trier Boards

WILMETTE, IL — Voters in Wilmette will select a new village president, trustees and school boards at Tuesday's municipal elections.

Two sitting village trustees are seeking to succeed two-term village president Bob Bielinski, while five candidates are competing for three available four-year terms on the village board.

Candidates for Wilmette village president are first-term Trustee Joel Kurzman, who submitted a response to the Patch candidate questionnaire, and two-term Trustee Senta Plunkett.

Watch: Wilmette Village President LWV Candidate Forum »

Of the five candidates seeking three available seats on the Wilmette Village Board, three submitted responses to the Patch candidate questionnaire:

• Kate Gjaja
• Brian Locke
• Justin Sheperd
• Peter Barrow (incumbent)
• Kathy Dodd

Profiles from LWV-Wilmette: Kurzman | Plunkett | Barrow | Dodd | Gjaja | Locke | Sheperd

There are nine candidates seeking three seats on the Wilmette Park Board, including only one incumbent, Bryan Abbott.

Newcomers include Mike Doyle, Rich DeLeo, Patrick Duffy, Allison Frazier, Walter Keats, Kara Kosloskus and Mark Schumacher. Candidates participated in a LWV-Wilmette video forum.

The race for Wilmette Library Board is also competitive, with six candidates seating three seats. incumbents Ronald Rodgers and Stuart Wolf are facing challenges from Julie Cho, Mary Anne O'Keefe, Patricia Nealon and Tracy Sommer. All candidates also participated in a video forum.

New Trier High School Board

There are six candidates seeking four available seats on the NTHS board. Four of them have been endorsed by the local school board caucus and are campaigning jointly as the Top 4 New Trier slate.

Two others are running independently, including former Republican nominee for 18th District state representative and current candidate for Wilmette Library Board Julie Cho and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Chad Prodromos.

Two candidates submitted responses to a Patch candidate questionnaire:

• Kimberly Alcantara — Top 4 New Trier
• Sally Tomlinson — Top 4 New Trier
• Julie Cho — Independent
• Avik Kumar Das — Top 4 New Trier
• Keith Dronen (incumbent) — Top 4 New Trier
• Chad Prodromos — Independent

Watch: New Trier Township High School District 203 LWV Candidate Forum »

Profiles from LWV-Wilmette: Alcantara | Cho | Das | Dronen | Tomlinson | Prodromos

In Avoca School District 37, there are fewer candidates on the ballot than there are available seats. That means two seats will be filled by the highest vote-getters among four registered write-in candidates: Sarah Balassa, Cecelia Dunn, James Rohner and Dan Seals.

Rohner and Dunn are running independently, while Balassa and Seals have the support of the local caucus group, the Avoca Coalition.

In Wilmette School District 39, There are five candidates on the ballot for four available seats, but one of those candidates — Jane Hong Shissler — suspended her campaign and asked voters not to vote for her.