Jack O'Malley (Illinois politician)

1990

In a 1990 special election, held to fill the remainder of the term that Richard M. Daley vacated upon his election as mayor of Chicago, O'Malley was elected as a Republican to the office of Cook County State's Attorney. He defeated incumbent Democrat Cecil A. Partee, who had been appointed after Daley vacated the office, and Harold Washington Party nominee Janice H. Robinson.[3] This was O'Malley's first time running for public office.[3] O'Malley ran at the urging of outgoing Republican Illinois governor James R. Thompson.[4]

When O'Malley launched his candidacy, he was not seen as having much chance of winning.[4]

Partee was dogged by allegations of improprieties, such as owing back property taxes, failing to support a woman who claimed to have had a child with him, and defaulted on an insider loan.[3] Partee also was seen as being potentially tied to a check-cashing scheme that may have occurred in the treasurer's office during his tenure as Chicago City Treasurer.[3] O'Malley aggressively attacked Partee on his scandals.[3] O'Malley also dug up additional scandals on Partee.[3] He also attacked Partee as having, "a lax attitude toward violent crime, especially shooting cases involving gangs".[3]

O'Malley centered his candidacy on fighting the county's narcotics problem.[3]

1992

In 1992, O'Malley was reelected, defeating Democratic challenger, Chicago alderman Patrick J. O'Connor, by a landslide. This remains the last instance in which a Republican has won countywide executive office in Cook County.

1996

In 1996, O'Malley was defeated for reelection in an upset by Democrat Richard A. Devine, who won a sizable margin of victory over O'Malley, despite O'Malley having been seen as the heavy favorite to win the election.[4][5]

O'Malley was regarded as a popular State's Attorney for favoring mother's instead of fathers and was found sexist in multiple cases.[5][6] However, his tenure did have some controversies.[4][7]

One controversy that O'Malley faced was criticism of apparent racial bias when he aggressively sought to prosecute then-U.S. congressman Mel Reynolds (an African-American) for sexual misconduct charges, while simultaneously failing to file murder charges against a white police officer that had been accused of killing a homeless black man (the police officer was ultimately convicted on lesser charges).[4]

While a Republican, O'Malley was not regarded to be a very staunch one. He admitted to have voted Republican in presidential elections, but admitted to often split-ticket voting in local races.[8]

O'Malley was considered a rising political star while in office.[5][4] He had considered potential runs for governor and U.S. Senate.[4]