Incumbent Tom Dart Again Faces Libertarian Challenger Brad Sandefur In 2026 Cook County Sheriff's Race

Incumbent Tom Dart squares off for a second time against former sheriff’s department employee Brad Sandefur, who is running as a Libertarian in the 2026 Cook County Sheriff’s race.

Dart is chasing his sixth term as the top cop in Cook County, an office he has held since 2006. He’s proven to be a formidable political candidate. After defeating three Democratic opponents in the 2014 primary, he was unopposed in the November general election. In 2018, he faced no opponents in either the primary or general election, and ran unopposed in the most recent Democratic primary. Dart faced the Libertarian Sandefur in 2022.

As Cook County Sheriff, Dart oversees a police department that patrols and investigates crimes, while also hunting for fugitives, throughout suburban Cook County. He also oversees more than 10,000 inmates and 3,000 correctional officers at the Cook County Jail—the largest single-site jail in the nation. Additionally, Dart’s deputies are responsible for providing judicial safety in hundreds of courtrooms scattered across Cook County, while they are also responsible for serving thousands of court orders every year, according to Dart’s campaign bio.

Dart brings extensive law enforcement and political experience, including serving in the Illinois House (1992 to 2003), the Illinois Senate (1991-1992), and was a Cook County assistant state’s attorney from 1987 to 1991.

He told WTTW that he is running because he is as passionate about the job as he was when he started.

“The Cook County Sheriff’s Office not only is responsible for public safety but is also one of the state’s largest mental health providers—a responsibility we see as critical to the safety and security of our community.”

Dart claims to bring a reformative vision to his role as sheriff. After recognizing that much of the population in Cook County Jail needed mental health treatment, Dart worked with Cermak Health to provide detainees in custody with mental health treatment plans. For people outside of the jail, Tom Dart created the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Community Resource Center, which seeks to help fill the large void that was left when mental health facilities closed by connecting those in need of mental health treatment to available providers.

In 2008, Dart became the first sheriff in the nation to respond to the mortgage foreclosure crisis, announcing the sheriff’s deputies would no longer conduct evictions until greater safeguards could be put in place to protect tenants.

He also touted that the Cook County Sheriff’s Department has become a “national model for innovation in law enforcement.”

“Through technology, intensive training and adherence to best practices, we have developed a highly adaptable workforce serving in the jail, the courts and on the street that is seen as the model around the country,” Dart told WTTW. “This has allowed us to quickly focus on emergent issues, including our new emphasis on confronting gun violence in Chicago and the suburbs. There is always room for improvement across the board.”

In its endorsement of Dart, the Chicago Tribune said it has long been impressed by him, “well before he stood up against the thuggish overreach of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which had threatened his arrest. We’ve also admired his willingness to become part of the solution to the CTA safety problem, putting teams of officers this summer onto the Red and Green lines where crime had spiked.”

Dart touted his successes as creating the county’s first animal crimes task force to combat dog fighting and establishing a first-of-its-kind prostitute intervention team. In March 2009, Dart drew headlines and accolades from around the country when he filed a federal lawsuit against the popular website Craigslist, accusing its owners of creating a public nuisance through its “erotic services” section, calling it “the single largest source of prostitution in America.”

Brad Sandefur wants to be the “new sheriff in town” by focusing on practical changes that he claims will strengthen public safety, professional standards, accountability, operational readiness, treatment options, and trust throughout Cook County.

He says he is running “to put law-abiding American Cook County citizens ahead of criminals, stop the release of dangerous criminals back onto the street without their ever having seen the inside of the jail, and to stop the continuing political reward system.”

Sandefur served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He joined the Cook County Sheriff’s Department in 1990, where he has served as a correctional officer, police officer, tactical officer, investigator, academy instructor and supervisor. Seventeen of those years has been supervisory leadership.

He completed both federal and professional training with the U.S. Secret Service, FBI and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and holds a master’s in criminal justice with a forensic psychological cognate and is a Ph.D. candidate.

Sandefur said he is running “to put law-abiding American Cook County citizens ahead of criminals, stop the release of dangerous criminals back onto the street without their ever having seen the inside of the jail, and stop the continuing political reward system.”

He has built his campaign on six commitments: justice, community, safety, mental health, training and service.

Sandefur supports major changes to the SAFE-T Act and Pretrial Fairness Act, with stronger public-safety safeguards and more effective handling of repeat offenders. He brings a rank-and-file mentality to prioritize more cross-training, broader arrest procedures, stronger preparation for specialized and street assignments so deputies are equipped to respond safely, confidently and professionally.

He told WTTW the most pressing issue facing Cook County residents is the high crime rate, pointing to “recently publicized false reporting of crime data” reported in the Chicago Contrarian,

“to make it appear that crime is down has given a false sense of increased safety to the public. There is no single solution to reducing crime. Eliminating crime will never happen, so reduction is the achievable goal.”