“Aurora and Evanston Mayor Races Heat Up as Voters Cast their Ballots in 2025 Election”

AURORA, Ill. (WLS) — Tuesday is Election Day in several suburbs.

For her first General Election serving as Cook County Clerk, Monica Gordon cast her ballot at her home precinct in the south suburbs.

She greeted voters and election judges at Wilson Elementary School in Chicago Heights.

Clerk Gordon expressed satisfaction with the weather on election day and reported no significant issues since polls opened at six in the morning. Early voting saw a great turnout with approximately 81,000 votes cast, showing an increase from 74,000 in 2021 and 54,000 in 2023. Efforts to boost local voter participation have been successful, thanks to a focused campaign.

Many suburban communities are voting on key leadership positions Tuesday, including the race for mayor in Aurora.

The Kane County Clerk said there are already more early votes cast than this time four years ago.

Fueling the motivation to vote for some appears to be the race for mayor in Aurora, the state’s second-largest city.

Incumbent Mayor Richard Irvin faces challenger, Aurora Alderman John Laesch.

The two were separated by just 500 votes during the primary election.

Laesch has already voted while Irvin will cast his ballot later on Tuesday morning.

In his bid for reelection to a third term, Irvin has associated himself with President Donald Trump. However, his focus in this local election lies on crime reduction initiatives and economic growth plans, such as the upcoming opening of a new casino and hotel next year.

Irvin highlighted the progress made over the past seven years in economic development, surpassing the achievements of the previous seven decades. He emphasized the revitalization of old vacant buildings that had remained unused for decades, crediting his tenure as mayor for the transformation.

Challenger John Laesch is a former naval intelligence officer and union carpenter.

An alderman at large for Aurora who wants to see ethics lead city projects, he’s critical of recent incentives to big developers and has received much attention and support from the Democratic Party.

“A lot of working families are hurting right now struggling with inflation, and these are the kinds of things that benefit the wealthy, not the working class. So, in Aurora, we are going to have to focus on making single-family homes more affordable instead of subsidizing high-end that nobody in our city can afford,” Laesch said.

With over 50 races to be decided Tuesday in Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham says more than 19,000 people have voted early so far and they’ve received more than 16,000 mail-in ballots.

Over in Evanston, Mayor Daniel Biss is also running for a second term in office.

He highlighted accomplishments in public safety, affordable housing and climate action, pledging to continue moving the city forward with a progressive agenda, he says, over the next four years.

He’s running against Jeff Boarini who retired from a career in corporate media production and consulting.