Cook County State's Attorney Foxx Won't Seek Re-Election

CHICAGO — Kim Foxx, the Cook County State’s Attorney who has fallen out of favor with voters and battled other public officials since she was re-elected to a second term in 2020, announced on Tuesday that she will not seek a third term next fall and will no longer be the county's top prosecutor.

Foxx made the announcement during a speech to the City Club of Chicago. Foxx said that she had prepared two speeches, neither of which she was going to use, but that the outcome was the same. Her announcement not to again seek the office came at the end of a 40-minute speech in which she looked back at her 6 1/2-year stint in office, but that was never meant to be a long career.

Foxx said she will not be on the ballot in 2024 "by my choice" and did not make the decision lightly.

"It's time," Foxx said, adding. "I leave now with my head held high (and) with my heart full, knowing that better days are ahead."

Foxx said in the speech that she has carried out the mission she set out on in 2016 and said she alerted Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson of her decision to step down at the end of her term on Monday. She referred to Johnson as "the man for the moment" and committed to spending the next 18 months to making Chicago a safer place to live.

"I knew when I became State's Attorney that I had a mission and an agenda that I wanted to achieve — which was fairness, justice and equity and that kids who lived in neighborhoods like mine could live to see another day," Foxx said on Tuesday. "Not just live, but they could be lawyers and policymakers in the city that they call home. And I feel like I have done that."

In the speech, Foxx thanked her staff, family and friends — and even her detractors — whom she said pushed provided the motivation to "dig into" the why of what she does on a daily basis.

Foxx was first elected in 2016 and won re-election in 2020 four years after she beat incumbent Anita Alvarez, who faced heavy criticism of her handling of the shooting of LaQuan McDonald at the hands of Chicago Police in 2014.

When she was elected, she was part of the less than 1 percent of prosecutors across the United States who are women of color. She said Tuesday that when she took the oath of office after defeating Alvarez that her presence along as a Black woman was disrupting the system.

She said she took office in December 2016, which had been the bloodiest year in Chicago since 1999 after 787 homicides were reported across the city, Foxx said. There were 695 homicides in Chicago in 2022 — the fourth most since 1999.

She said that she alone was not responsible for the lowering of violent crime, but said she has handled the job differently than those who held it before her.

"I did not look like the other State's Attorneys and I did not intend to act like them, either," said Foxx, who said she came with a mandate to be a minister of justice and that communities like the one she grew up in Cabrini Green were safe and thriving.

Foxx cited crime statistics that showed that homicides and violent crimes in Chicago went down over the first three years she was in office. Foxx called claims that her administration was responsible for a rise in violent crimes since then as "disingenuous" and "lies."

Foxx has faced her share of controversy over her handling of high-profile cases, including those involving R. Kelly and actor Jussie Smollett. Foxx, who was reelected by a smaller margin in 2020 than many expected, has also been at odds with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Police Department over her decision of whether to press charges in certain cases.

NBC Chicago, which first reported Foxx's decision to not seek reelection, also reported that Foxx has faced questions about the number of resignations within her office, in which 12 prosecutors stepped down from their jobs over a year’s time between 2021 and 2022.

But in her speech on Tuesday, Foxx discussed her efforts on bail reform and the legalization of marijuana, which she said eliminated the jail sentences of 15,000 people who were convicted of possession charges for amounts of pot that are now legal. Foxx her efforts on bail reform were centered on the Black and brown population and said she looks forward to the day when cash bail is eliminated. The issue is currently being considered by the Illinois Supreme Court.

She said the issue of wrongful convictions led to much of the consternation of her detractors, and that the Smollett case remains at the top of the list. She joked that the Smollett case will likely be listed on her epitaph when she dies.

Instead, she pointed to four cases of convictions she had overturned and used those examples of why "she gets mad" when her detractors constantly tie her to the Smollett case. Foxx also highlighted the viral video of Chicago resident Anjanette Young, whose home was raided by Chicago Police, who were found to have had the wrong address when they served a search warrant.

"Yet, you want to ask me about Jussie," Foxx said repeatedly on Tuesday when she also referred to Smollett as a "D-List actor" and "that other dude". She said in announcing her decision to not seek re-election that she made the choice with those that she assisted in getting their convictions overturned — and others — in mind.

Foxx was a former assistant Cook County State's Attorney before serving as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's chief of staff. Preckwinkle introduced Foxx at the City Club of Chicago and praised her former colleague's efforts in making life better for Cook County residents.

Preckwinkle said that during her time in office, Foxx had focused on collaboration, community and transparency while working in a turbulent and unprecedented time of national surge of gun violence and a global COVID-19 pandemic that has greatly affected Chicago communities.

"Cook County is better because of her leadership, her partnership and her commitment to working for justice in the pursuit of thriving, healthy and safe communities across Cook County," Preckwinkle said on Tuesday.