BRIGHTON PARK — The 12th Ward will get a new alderman after current Ald. George Cardenas won his primary race for Cook County Board of Review.
“The results are clear and I am humbled that the voters have elected me as their new Cook County Board of Review Commissioner,” Cardenas wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.
Cardenas beat incumbent Commissioner Tammy Wendt 53 percent to 46, according to unofficial results. The three-member board of review oversees property tax appeals for residential, commercial, industrial and condo properties, as well as vacant land.
A spokesperson for Cardenas’ campaign said the alderman will leave his City Council post before he assumes office for his Board of Review role in December. He said Cardenas hasn’t made a decision on when exactly he will step down.
A spokesperson for Cardenas’ campaign said the alderperson is not yet supporting anyone to fill his City Council seat. The Mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cardenas has served as 12th Ward alderman since 2003, heads the Environmental Protection and Energy Committee and is the mayor’s deputy floor leader. His ward covers parts of Little Village, Brighton Park and McKinley Park.
Cardenas will take the Cook County Board of Review seat representing the 1st District, which covers the Northwest outskirts of the county, and juts into the city to include west and southwest majority-Latino neighborhoods.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed off on a new map of the Board of Review’s three districts last summer which brings the Latino population in the 1st District to 43 percent.
Cardenas previously said he’d like to bring “more representation to the Latino community” by running for the position.
Cardenas was the only City Council member to win a seat in Tuesday’s primary.
Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) lost her bid to take over Rep. Bobby Rush’s seat in Congress; Jonathan Jackson prevailed in a crowded field for the Illinois’ 1st Congressional District seat.
Ald. David Moore (17th) lost the race for Illinois Secretary of State.
Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) narrowly lost his bid for a seat on the Cook County Circuit Court and Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) lost in the race for Cook County Judge.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) lost to State Rep. Delia Ramirez in the election for Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District.