CHICAGO (CBS) — Cook County Prosecutor Kim Foxx's seat becomes available next month as she prepares to leave office at the end of her term. The Republican nominee for her seat is a familiar face to Chicago voters.
Civil rights attorney and former Ald. Bob Fioretti insists he's the best person for the job.
Fioretti criticized Fox's handling of her role as Cook County's top prosecutor, and her relationship with police.
“Police officers are the bad guys, victims don't count. Well, I'll change that opinion on November 5th,” Fioretti said.
Fioretti said caring for victims and their families and improving the Cook County Prosecutor's Office's relationship with police are two of his top goals.
“It's tense. People don't trust each other in one office compared to the other,” he said.
Fioretti is a well-known figure in Chicago politics, but not necessarily on the Republican ticket.
He was alderman for the city's Second Ward from 2007 to 2015.
He ran for Cook County Board of Governors twice, losing to Toni Preckwinkle in the Democratic primary in 2018, then challenging her again as a Republican in 2022, his first time running as a Republican. Both times, he received less than 40% of the votes.
He's also run for state's attorney before, finishing a distant fourth in the Democratic primary in 2020. He ran for mayor in 2015 and 2019 — finishing fourth with 7.4% of the vote in a five-way race in 2015, winning On less than that. More than 1% of the vote in a crowded 2019 race.
He said his political allegiances have changed in recent years.
“I think the Democratic Party left me, like a lot of people,” he said.
The longtime civil rights attorney, who recently received the endorsement of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., blames a “lack of direction” in the states' attorney general's office for the historic departure of assistant district attorneys in recent years.
From the attorney general's perspective, he believes getting rid of Chicago's ShotSpotter gunshot detection system was a mistake by Mayor Brandon Johnson. He also said he still has concerns about the expiration of cash bail in Illinois, and pledged to “make sure people are fully charged with crimes.”
He said: “I do not want to release criminals into this revolving door that we see on 26th Street… when they could be harmful to our community, and harmful to the victims and their families.”
Fioretti said he repeatedly asked his Democratic opponent, retired Judge Elaine O'Neill Burke, who narrowly won her nomination, to debate him.
“We sent out a letter asking for five people. I know community groups have asked her to debate, I know others have asked her to debate. So far, silence,” he said.
Megan Hickey, an investigator for CBS News in Chicago, also sat down with Burke to talk about why she thought she was the best choice. Stay tuned for this story on Friday.
Libertarian Andrew Charles Kopinski is also on the November ballot.
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