Here's Who's Running For Lake County State's Attorney

WAUKEGAN, IL — A pair of candidates to become the county's top prosecutor filed nominating petitions to run in next year's primary elections Monday at the Lake County clerk's office.

Incumbent Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart, a Highland Park Democrat, is facing a challenge from Lake Bluff Republican Mary Cole.

So far, both are unopposed in their respective parties' primaries on March 19, 2024.

In 2020, Rinehart, 47, defeated two-term Republican incumbent Mike Nerheim — now a Lake County circuit judge — by a four-point margin, or about 13,500 votes.

“Four years ago this week, I filed nominating petitions with the goal of making our community safer and courthouse fairer," Rinehart said Monday in a statement. "Today, I stand here as Lake County’s State’s Attorney, with petitions gathered by over 100 volunteers from every part of the county who want to see our office continue to move forward with proven results."

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Cole, 39, is a Gurnee-based attorney who, in 2021, quit her job as an assistant state's attorney in response to what she described as Rinehart's politicization of the office. She said Rinehart immediately rewarded campaign donors and special interest groups after taking office, replacing "numerous" experienced supervisors with his friends and political allies.

As of her campaign announcement in August, 83 employees of the state's attorneys office have left since Rinehart took office, 30 of whom were hired since he started on the job, according to Cole, who has also worked as a public defender in DeKalb County and as a domestic violence victims advocate in the Williamson County State's Attorney's Office.

"Gathering signatures for petitions was a wonderful opportunity to speak to residents across the county and discuss the issues they face," Cole said in a statement after filing her petitions.

"By and large, residents said they look at safety as their number one priority in Lake County; they want better safety for themselves, their children, their family members and their neighborhood," Cole said. "I am honored to have been able to garner more than three times the signatures needed to get on the ballot. Support for my campaign is growing by leaps and bounds, and we look forward to the election."

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Rinehart's campaign touted his office's upgrade of its forensic cyber lab, reassignment of prosecutors to domestic violence cases, hiring of more victim specialists and acquisition of millions of dollars in grant money.

"We have gained so much support," Rinehart said, "because we are advocating for all victims, holding violent offenders accountable, and initiating domestic violence and gun violence prevention programs before the crime even happens."

Last year, Rinehart was the state's only chief county prosecutor apart from Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to publicly advocate in favor of the Pretrial Fairness Act contained in the SAFE-T Act, which replaced money bond with an offense-based formula for determining who would be jailed ahead of trial.

After it was upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court in July and implemented in September, Cole described the act as "radical legislation." She said he worried it would make Illinoisans less safe and harm crime victims, though she admitted it was "always clear bail reform was needed in Illinois."

Rinehart and his Republican challenger have also disagreed about the handling of the trial of Bob Crimo, the father of the accused Highland Park parade shooter, for signing an affidavit allowing his then-19-year-old son to apply for a Firearm Owners Identification card despite red flags.

"This wasn’t a fishing license. This wasn’t a permission slip to go to the museum — this was a permission slip for his son to buy an assault rifle. And when he signed this permission slip — he knew exactly how dangerous it was for this 19-year-old to have a weapon," Rinehart said.

Prosecutors under Rinehart's supervision negotiated a plea deal with Crimo that reduced the seven felonies he faced to misdemeanors and resulted in a 60-day jail sentence, of which he has to serve at least half. A conviction for the felony could have led to a sentence of up three years in state prison.

"Today, the legal system has found that Robert Crimo Jr. bears responsibility for endangering many and Mr. Crimo Jr., himself, has agreed it was a crime," Rinehart said after the sentencing. "Today, we know the father of the Highland Park shooter will receive certain punishment for that decision."

In response to the plea deal, Cole said that Rinehart should have taken the case to trial if he had probable cause for felony charges in the first case, and if not, he should have only charged Crimo with misdemeanors.

“If he called that news conference to announce he filed felony charges, but never had probable cause to do so, he didn’t just violate his oath of office but also used this tragedy for his own political gain, so shame on him,” Cole said. “But, if he had probable cause that a felony was committed then chose to accept the plea deal instead, he’s exactly what the entire county knows he is – a defense attorney, not a prosecutor.”