Republican Will County Sheriff Deputy James “Jim” Reilly and Democrat Sgt. Patrick Jones both claimed victory Wednesday in their primary elections to replace retiring Sheriff Mike Kelley.
Jones had 59% of the votes to Undersheriff Dan Jungles who received about 41% of the votes cast, according to unofficial results. Reilly had 75.3% of the vote while Deputy Justin Fialko had about 24.7%.
Reilly credited his supporters, volunteers, friends and family for getting his message out. Reilly previously ran against Kelley in 2018 and 2022 and said county residents are familiar with his name and message.
“Our campaign was based on honesty, integrity and bringing community policing to Will County,” Reilly said.
He said he has respect for Fialko and applauded him for getting into the political arena. Each candidate ran a clean campaign, and he said he anticipates his bid against Jones will be one of the friendliest elections ever for Will County sheriff, calling Jones a good friend.
Reilly pledges to work with the Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey to repeal or reform the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T Act.
“People are tired of crime,” Reilly said.
Reilly is a 23-year department veteran who has a doctorate degree in criminal justice.
Jones said Wednesday residents appreciated his vision for the office, which included more mental health screenings for police, being involved with the community to talk about their issues and more transparency, especially with officer-involved shootings.
He said one of his main goals residents liked was putting programs in jails to reduce recidivism.
Jones said the two Democratic candidates stuck to the issues and their vision in the campaign, and “no dirt was thrown.”
“I take my hat off to Dan,” he said.
Jones said he will continue to run a clean race to put his message out to the community.
County treasurer
The county treasurer’s race saw Homer Township Assessor Carmen Maurella leading with 64.4% to certified public accountant Raj “Pi” Pillai, of Plainfield who had 35.6% of the votes.
“I can’t take all the credit,” Maurella said Wednesday. “My team worked very hard.”
He said his main message to prevent equity theft resonated with voters since their biggest investment is their home.
He said if Republicans want to take the office from incumbent Tim Brophy, a Democrat who ran unopposed in the primary, they have to show up to vote.
County Board
Incumbents on the Will County Board were leading their respective races, including Republicans Steve Balich, of Homer Glen and Judy Ogalla, of Monee, and Democrat Jacqueline Traynere, of Bolingbrook, who all recently had leadership positions.
Incumbents Frankie Pretzel, of New Lenox, and Jim Richmond, of Mokena also had leads in their primaries.
While the makeup of the evenly split Will County Board won’t be decided until November’s election, three districts had contested primaries Tuesday, featuring some of the board’s longest-serving members.
Voters choose two candidates in eight different County Board districts for the primary, though most races Tuesday featured only one or two candidates per district.
Balich, the past Republican Leader, said it was likely he and Ogalla, the former chair, faced primary opponents because they challenge the status quo and ask a lot of questions.
“Judy and I have been there for a long time,” Balich said. “We know how to operate. We aren’t going to give in to a bunch of garbage. Judy and I know what’s going on and we fight back.”
Primary results do not become official until April 7 after all mail-in and provisional ballots are counted.
District 4
Balich, a board member since 2012, is seeking reelection along with Jim Richmond, of Mokena, elected in 2022 and who succeeded Balich as Republican Leader.
The incumbents were challenged by Homer Glen Trustee Mike Lepore in the Republican primary. Homer Township businessman Pawel Tyrala was also on the ballot, but said he wasn’t campaigning.
Lepore said Homer Glen residents don’t feel the County Board listens to their concerns after residents and elected officials fought to stop a road widening project through town. He has also targeted Homer Township’s unfinished Civic Center that started when Balich was township supervisor as reason to remove Balich from the Will County Board.
Balich said it’s been a nasty campaign similar to the 2025 Republican primary when he lost his reelection bid for township supervisor. He said Homer Glen Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike, a candidate for lieutenant governor, has tried to knock him out of politics, first by endorsing an opposing township slate last year and by endorsing Richmond and Lepore this year.
Richmond said he will continue his work on the board and he will continue to earn his constituents’ trust through the November election.
Unofficial totals show Richmond with 32.4%, Balich with 31.7%, LePore with 29.7% and Tyrala with 6.2% with all precincts reporting.
At the end of Election Night only 159 votes separated Balich and Lepore.
Lepore said he will wait to concede because some additional mail-in ballots are pending, but he doesn’t know if there are enough votes out there to close the gap.
As a newcomer to County Board politics, Lepore said it was hard to take on entrenched incumbents, but believed there should be a change in board members.
Lepore still has three years remaining as Homer Glen trustee and said he is very happy with that position.
In the Democratic primary, candidates are William Pratt and Sheri Boniecki-Cooling. Kevin Koukol filed to be a write-in candidate after a judge removed him from the board for writing the wrong district number on his petitions.
District 2
With all precincts reporting unofficial totals show Pretzel with 44.3%, Ogalla with 38.5% and Neil “Muggsy” Gallagher, of Manhattan, with 17.2%.
Ogalla has been a board member since 2012, the past County Board chair and is president of the Forest Preserve District of Will County board. Pretzel has been a board member since 2020 and chairs the board’s Land Use and Development Committee.
Gallagher’s voting record became a talking point during the race, with both Ogalla and Pretzel noting he pulled Democratic ballots and questioned whether he was really a Republican. Records show he pulled Democratic ballots in six primary elections since 2010, but he said he holds longtime conservative beliefs and tried to vote for candidates who were moderate, especially if there was an uncontested Republican primary.
Ogalla said she was targeted by six mailings from Gallagher’s campaign that distorted her voting record, especially on property taxes and her efforts to reduce truck traffic. She regularly votes against raising taxes and has been an advocate for improvements on roads that have seen several accidents, and has been trying to correct the misinformation circulating, she said.
“We’ve worked as hard as we can,” she said.
District 11
District 11, which covers the Bolingbrook area, was the only other County Board race to feature a contested primary. Four Democrats filed to run, including incumbent Traynere, a board member since 2008 and a former Democratic Leader.
Unofficial results show Sheldon Watts with 33%, Traynere with 24.3%, Tyler Giacalone with 22.2% and Barbara Parker with 20.4% with 100% of precincts reporting.
Traynere last week was found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor computer tampering for accessing Ogalla’s email account. She testified she was trying to test a rumor that all board members were given the same email password when they were issued new computers, and she plans to challenge the conviction.
Traynere said she believes district residents recognize she works hard on the County Board, and said messages from constituents said they thought the charges against her were political in nature.
Watts and Traynere previously ran against one another for Bolingbrook mayor. Traynere said she will run her own campaign and doesn’t plan to work alongside Watts for November’s election, but will work with him if they are both elected to the County Board.
Watts has been a Bolingbrook Zoning Board of Appeals commissioner, DuPage Township trustee and Bolingbrook village trustee. Giacalone is the founder and president of Young Democrats of Will County. Parker is the DuPage Township clerk.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter.
