Lake Forest Mayoral Election Results: Tack Leads Beidler, Hamann

LAKE FOREST, IL — Polls have closed in Lake Forest following the most contested local mayor's race in recent memory, with the candidate endorsed by the Lake Forest Caucus leading by nearly 20 points in unofficial results.

Dr. Randy Tack, a former 3rd Ward aldermen, had more than 58 percent of the vote, compared to 39 percent for his nearest independent challenger, former 1st Ward Ald. Prue Beidler, not counting provisional ballots and late arriving mail ballots, according to the Lake County Clerk's Office.

Usually an uncontested affair whose outcome is determined when candidates are slated at the local caucus party's annual meeting, this year's race for Lake Forest mayor has featured two independent candidates.

Lake Forest 2023 Mayoral Election Election Night Results (17/17 precincts reporting)

• Stanford "Randy" Tack — 3,396 — 58.3%
• Prue Beidler — 2,311 — 39.6%
• Paul Hamann — 122 — 2%

The two former Lake Forest aldermen's campaigns have dominated spending in this year's election.

Tack, a surgeon who served on the City Council from 2014 to 2020, was endorsed by the Lake Forest Caucus following a controversial annual meeting last year.

Beidler, a former teacher who served on the City Council from 2014 to 2020, has largely self-financed her independent campaign.

Last month, Beidler's campaign treasurer, Dianne Casuto, filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections accusing the Caucus of breaking contribution limits to the Tack campaign.

Casuto has not provided a copy of the complaint, and state election officials can withhold it until it is deemed to have been filed on justifiable ground.

But according to Caucus officials, Casuto's complaint stems from a misreading of election finance law — that a new "election cycle" begins after the assigned date of primary elections, even in jurisdictions where no such primary is held.

Hamann, the other independent candidate in the race, is a commodities trader who came in fifth of five candidates in the 2010 GOP primary for the 10th Congressional District. In 2017, he ran against Melanie Rummel for 2nd Ward alderman.

Hamann recently estimated he had a 5 percent change of winning, predicting Tack would receive 50 percent of the vote, Beidler would receive 30 percent and he would receive 20 percent.

Read More: Lake Forest Mayor Election: Randy Tack v. Prue Beidler v. Paul Hamann

Although polls in Lake Forest closed at 7 p.m., results in Lake County will not begin to be uploaded until after 8:35 p.m. due to the lockdown and police response to Highland Park High School, according to Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega.

Voting was interrupted at three area polling places for 95 minutes, so all three remained open for the same amount of time, leading to a delay in the announcement of Tuesday's results, according to the clerk's office.

Candidate profiles:

• Prue Beidler: Lake Forest Mayor Candidate Profile
• Paul Hamann: Lake Forest Mayor Candidate Profile
• Randy Tack: Lake Forest Mayor Candidate Profile