The hottest mayor’s races to watch in DuPage, Kane counties

Aurora mayoral candidate John Laesch, left, campaigning door to door on March 20, and current Mayor Richard Irvin greeting supporters before he gives his 2025 State of the City speech at the Fox Valley Mall on March 26.

Voters in Tuesday’s election will finish selecting mayors and village presidents in some hard-fought races throughout DuPage and Kane counties.

Here’s a recap of the top matchups.

Aurora

In the second-largest city in the state, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin hopes to get a third term, but he must fend off a familiar opponent in Alderman-At-Large John Laesch.

The candidates are on opposite sides of many issues, particularly when it comes to economic development and downtown revitalization efforts.

Irvin supports the City of Lights Center, a 4,000-seat venue envisioned for a downtown site at New York and Lake streets as part of a three-phase plan to attract larger acts and support the Aurora Civic Center Authority’s other operations, including the Paramount, Copley and Stolp Island theaters and RiverEdge Park.

“This will be iconic for the city of Aurora,” Irvin said during a League of Women Voters forum.

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin and challenger John Laesch both have campaign signs at the intersection of Indian Trail Road and Aurora Avenue.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.

Under Irvin’s leadership, state law changed so the Hollywood Aurora Casino riverboat could move to dry land near the Interstate 88 tollway, a project for which the city is providing millions of dollars in donated property and loans. The redevelopment agreement calls for the bonds to be paid from increased property taxes generated by the new casino via a tax-increment financing district.

Laesch, who ran against Irvin in 2021, has questioned the city’s spending and what he calls the overuse of TIF districts. He also has voiced concerns with the proposed City of Lights Center.

“Right now, the other 4,000-person concert venue in the state of Illinois is looking at selling because they’re not making enough money,” Laesch said, referring to a potential sale of the Rosemont Theatre. If “they’re right off the interstate, adjacent to the airport and close to 2.6 million residents in the city of Chicago, and they’re not making it, I think we need to better analyze that plan.”

Laesch also wants to see the old downtown post office, the former SciTech museum, become a multiuse art space, similar to Batavia’s Water Street Studios.

West Chicago

West Chicago Mayor Ruben Pineda faces his toughest reelection bid in years with two challengers trying to deny him a fourth term.

The future of the city’s downtown has been one hot topic in the race, with Pineda and his opponents, Daniel Bovey and Joseph Sheehan, offering sharply different visions.

“There is an alternative to what we’ve been doing for the last 25 years, and that’s to build small, to invest in small developers, to invest in small businesses,” Bovey said at a League of Women Voters forum. “Let’s play to our strength.”

Sheehan has promoted the idea of an underpass to improve traffic flow and suggested either selling or leasing city-owned properties at favorable rates to “bring in blue-chip companies, the likes of Panera, the likes of a Starbucks.”

Pineda became West Chicago’s first elected Hispanic mayor more than a decade ago. He has touted city-funded grant programs and defended plans for a new city hall campus, saying he wants a “destination point” for residents.

“We have all the amenities we need to bring people here, and we need rooftops, and we need density,” he said.

From left, Daniel Bovey, Ruben Pineda and Joseph Sheehan are candidates for West Chicago mayor in the April election.

Geneva

Voters in Geneva will choose between Kevin Burns, who has been Geneva’s mayor for 20 years, or his challenger Karsten Pawlik.

A controversial apartment development on the south end of the city’s downtown has been all the rage throughout the campaign. The developer in question built a small subsidized townhouse development on the west side of the city several years ago, and people have complained that it is ill-managed. Pawlik and his supporters contend Burns has ties to the developer and supported the developer’s application for financial aid to the state before the developer bought the property. Burns said he sent the letter after discussing it with council members individually. He described it as a routine letter intended to assure the state that the site already was zoned for apartments.

Burns also has criticized Pawlik for having no government experience and not serving on any board or appointed panel. Pawlik said he has served the town by volunteering at his church and for his children’s activities.

Incumbent Kevin Burns, left, and challenger Karsten Pawlik are running for mayor in Geneva.
Julie Walker for Shaw Local News Network

St. Charles

In St. Charles, lifelong resident Clint Hull, a retired Kane County chief judge, is running against Mayor Lora Vitek.

Vitek is seeking a second term at the helm. She was an alderman for four years.

Hull has criticized Vitek’s leadership style, including how she handled an appointment to fill a vacancy on the council in 2022. He said she did not consult with all the aldermen on the council, several of whom voted against her chosen candidate in protest. At the time, Vitek said she consulted with people on the council who supported her.

Vitek cited economic developments among her accomplishments, including retail and restaurants around the edges of the shuttered Charlestowne Mall.

Clint Hull

Lora Vitek

Elsewhere

In Batavia, Mayor Jeff Schielke is seeking an 12th term, which would make him one of the longest-serving municipal leaders in the state. He is opposed by former alderman Tom Connolly.

Voters in Glendale Heights will choose from a field of four candidates — Michael Ontiveroz, Rebecca Giannelli, James Francis Sullivan and Michael J. Light — vying to become the next village president. Current Village President Chodri Khokhar ran for reelection, but was removed from the ballot by the village’s electoral board.

In Sugar Grove, first-term Village President Jen Konen faces Sue Stillwell. Konen has been much-criticized for supporting the controversial Crown Community Development project, a 760-acre commercial, industrial and residential development that hundreds of village and nearby residents opposed.