Election 2023 Post Mortem

Even with no Republicans on the ballot, every Lake County Republican candidate failed to win their School or Library Board race in Tuesday's election:

Typically low-turnout, nonpartisan school board elections took on a different tenor this spring, particularly in parts of northern and southwestern Lake County. From Antioch District 34, where 13 candidates duked it out for six open seats, to Barrington — where a New York-based political action committee spent more than $13,000 backing seven candidates for the school, library and village board — voters mostly supported incumbents and their slates.
Apparent winners emerge as dust settles in unusually intense Lake County school board races; 'Our community has some healing to do'

One exception was Millburn District 24 school board member Peter Pettorini. Despite being under criminal investigation, Pettorini (who is President of the Lake Villa Township Republican Club) was not shown the door by the voters.

An expert in political science offered this explanation: "You need to put an asterisk by Pettorini's name. He did not lose this time because he was not running for re-election. His term expires in 2025. We'll see if Pettorini can pull off that trick in two years."