Mayoral Race
Results for the Naperville’s 2019 consolidated elections are in. Incumbent Steve Chirico won a close mayoral race edging out opponent Rocky Caylor by less than 700 votes.
Mayor Chirico is looking forward to his second term in office.
“Everything is moving in the right direction. We’re a city that has met the highest standard for a long time. And it’s hard to keep getting better every single time, but we keep working at it. I think we’ve done a good job and I want to take it to the next level,” said Chirico.
While the unofficial results with all precincts have reported Chirico as the winner, Caylor did not concede and is waiting for all votes to be tallied. “We still have over 900 mail-ins that haven’t been counted and absenteeism,” said Caylor. “There’s the 600 swing and that what he has so it’s still a race. You know it’s not over, they call me Rocky so I’m going 15 rounds.”
Watch our coverage the night elections results were announced.
City Council Race
Incumbents also did well in the Naperville city council race. Patty Gustin and Paul Hinterlong both racked up 15% of the votes earning them each a four-year term.
Joining the dais will likely be Patrick Kelly who came in third and Theresa Sullivan, who took fourth place by less than 300 votes over her closest competitor, Bruce Hanson.
Sullivan is ready to try and tackle some of Naperville’s issues. “I really feel like we can solve the commuter parking problem at the train station. It’s something that I did with my husband back and fourth for many years. And I do think using technology we can solve that issue,” said Sullivan.
District 203 School Board
Turning to the school boards, District 203 will welcome newcomer Joseph Kozminski who took 19% of the votes. He joins Kristine Gericke and Janet Yang Rohr, who each had over 20% of the votes, to serve a four-year term.
Yang Rohr is looking forward to the next four years. “I think the things that guided me in the last two years will continue to be guiding principals for me going forward,” said Yang Rohr. “For me it’s really just putting students first. As long as you have that guiding principal in mind you’ll always make decisions that are right for students and right for our schools.”
District 204 School Board
District 204 kept the status quo. Incumbents Natasha Grover and Mark Rising both got 25 % of the vote, while Justin Karubas took the final spot with 20%.
Grover plans to continue to advocate for better mental health support for students. “If we teach kids the tools for mental health; perhaps mindfulness or breathing techniques, when they come to middle school or high school, the situations they’ll be able to deal with them better,” said Grover.
Naperville Township
Finally, 75% of Naperville Township voters were in favor of dissolving the Naperville Township Road District, transferring the responsibilities to the Township.
This would eliminate an earlier plan voted in 2017, which would’ve had that Road District merge with Lisle Township Road District.
What Was the Voter Turnout?
Overall voter turnout was low as is typical for a consolidated election. Turnout for Will County was near 13%, while DuPage County had close to 15%.
Naperville News 17’s Christian Canizal reports