* DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick’s Facebook page…
Sheriff Mendrick is running for Governor of Illinois!!!
Today I’m announcing that I will not be running for a third term as DuPage County Sheriff in the election cycle of 2026. This was a very hard decision to make. The legislation changes that have been imposed on Illinois from the governors office are state laws that directly conflict with existing federal laws. The safety act stops us from rehabilitating people in our jails and the sanctuary city laws force federal authorities into our neighborhoods because these state laws deny them access to these criminals while they are in custody within a correctional facility. This is not right. My family and I have decided that we want our State back. We don’t like being fearful of crime that is randomly occurring now in our streets, homes and our retail stores due to soft on crime legislation. We don’t want to move out of Illinois like so much of our population. We really don’t. We love this state. That’s why I’ve decided to run for the Office of Governor of Illinois. I will bring safety, security and fairness to the city of Chicago and the rest of our State. I will bring more than 30 years of law enforcement and correctional facility experience in the second largest county in the State of Illinois to a city that desperately needs it. I will bring State laws back into alignment with law enforcement principles that make rational sense and will once again create an environment in our homes that will make all of us feel safe. An environment where citizens will once again apply to be police officers. Our culture is being eliminated by senseless laws created by our current government that persecutes cops and empowers criminals. I’m here to stop the bleed. To do this we must have strong leaders with actual law enforcement experience. That’s why my current Undersheriff, Eddie Moore, has my full support and endorsement to be the next DuPage County Sheriff. Undersheriff Moore has been with me from the beginning and has helped me create what the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office is today. I feel secure in my home County where I can run for Governor and still have a Sheriff that will keep us safe and secure. Eddie Moore is that person. He has no equal in a race for Dupage County Sheriff. I’ve asked a question to thousands of people over the last 6 years and have only received one response, without question; “do you think that DuPage County should be more like Chicago and mimic their attributes or should Chicago be more like DuPage County and assimilate our attributes?”Take a guess at what every single answer was? DuPage!!!We are DuPage strong. Let’s be Illinois strong! What we have done can be done Statewide. Don’t let them put you to sleep with “it’s always been this way” talk. We need a secure future for our State and we will make Chicago and Illinois safe again.
* Sheriff Mendrick went on Ray Stevens’ WLS program today. Core message…
We have two, I’d say, major problems in this state, and it’s going to be the sanctuary city status, and it’s going to be the SAFE-T Act.
I mean, starting with sanctuary city, you know, you have a safety issue there too. But what, I guess I don’t understand, because, you know, we have a very large budget too, and the sheriff’s office is the biggest, second biggest county in the state. But I get audited all the time. I mean, I get audited probably three, four times a year by all kinds of different entities. I don’t see how you could go so over-budget. And whether you agree with the sanctuary state or don’t, I don’t understand the concept of having a policy that enables something that’s going to blow your budget out of the water. I don’t know how you can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to have a policy. I know it’s going to cost a billion dollars more than the budget that I’m given, but I’m going to keep this policy, and I’m going to still cost money.’ And what a billion dollars was last year will probably be more like $3 billion this year.
Please pardon any transcription errors.
* Regarding Gov. Pritzker’s rhetoric about President Donald Trump and whether that has had an impact on DuPage County…
Well, there have been some things that were staged shortly, nothing that was disruptive, though. I think what they’re trying to do is just to make sure there’s a heartbeat behind the budget request. I mean, when you’re that far again over budget and, you know.
I want to talk really quick about the ICE raids too, you know, I get a kick out of this where we’re hearing all these complaints about ICE raids, ICE raids. But then I want to go back to policy. We have a sanctuary state policy that says we cannot speak to the federal government that’s in charge of a nationwide push for illegal immigrants, and they’re saying that they want to get rid of their rapists and murderers. But part of that is you have no access, ICE has no access to our jail system. So you got to feel bad for the federal government in a way, because they’re charged with the job, the only way they can do it now, they’re being forced to not go to a jail, which is a safe environment where you’re going to get your rapist or murder. I don’t have anybody in my jail, neither does Cook County, that is there just for immigration. They’re there for whatever any other citizen would be arrested for. So they’re in this environment, and they don’t allow access to a jail. So then ICE is forced to go into neighborhoods, find them where they are, and then, yeah, there’s collateral damage now, too, because if say there’s two criminal illegal aliens, and then there’s two people who are just here illegally, if they let those people go, they’re technically committing a crime on ICE laws. I mean, these are federal laws. I mean, so you have a policy that defies federal laws, and it’s also causing your budget to blossom billions over what it’s supposed to be.
* SAFE-T Act…
I gotta go back to the SAFE-T Act, and why it bothers me so bad is it actually promulgates long term incarceration. So you take, before the SAFE-T Act, you take a burglar, you come in. We used to classify like a burglar. We call them low hanging fruit. It’s usually a substance driven crime. We do full detoxification stabilization of your personnel through psychiatric services. We have 200 classes, courses taught by 80 counselors and educators per week. And then we start vocational training. We have welding, tiling, dry walling, horticulture, indoor and outdoor, small engine repair, the tattoo removal, suits for success, they get suits. And then we have a re-entry program, so we bring our recidivism rates down from a 75 percentile level down to more closer to 20%, so that is because we’re stabilizing a personality and getting them a job. And what the SAFE-T Act does is they let them go. They believe they’re just getting a ticket, but that still qualifies as an arrest. So when you get three more of them and finally wind up in front of a judge, you’re a multiple offender, and you can do 15 years in IDOC, so the SAFE-T Act actually pumps them out temporarily, until they go to court, then they’re getting the big charges. So the SAFE-T Act fails. And we have so many people on warrants, we haven’t reduced our population. Nothing in the SAFE-T Act worked, other than demoralizing the police being soft on crime and, you know, taking away, I would say, just the protections from the police and giving those protections to criminals.
* Asked whether he has campaign donors…
So you know, I’ve been an elected official for six years, and we actually ran pretty hard. We ran for preparatory about two, three years prior to that to first get elected. So through the course of my political career, I’ve have thousands of donors. So I do have donors en masse, and I have been starting getting calls just yesterday without announcing, people are hearing rumblings. And these are from some of the bigger guys that are saying that first they want to make sure that a) that I’m Republican. I think a lot of these people don’t want another, and I mean no offense to Democrats, it’s just that the Democrat policies that have led to what I think, the dismantling destruction of Illinois, aren’t popular anymore. I think they want to see conservative values. And when I say I’m a Republican, that means, yes, I am conservative. It doesn’t mean that I’m hardcore and, you know, extremist, no, not at all. In fact, you know, I understand the value of the real business.
In ten years, he’s raised $854K. As of the end of the last quarter, he had $87K in the bank. He had one race, in 2018, which he won. He was unopposed in 2022.
* You’ll likely hear this question a lot from him…
Obviously, I want to protect the police. I want to see police empowered again. I want to see us be tough on crime again. You know, I always ask this question every forum I go. Thousands of people, I’ve never had an adverse reaction to this question other than one answer. Now you’ll see clearly what question this is? So, I would say, so do you think that DuPage County, second biggest county in the state, right next to Chicago, do you think that they would do better by absorbing the attributes and being more like Chicago? Or do you think Chicago could benefit from absorbing the attributes of DuPage County and being more like us?
* Related…
* Capitol News Illinois | Audit finds Illinois’ noncitizen health care programs far outstripped original cost estimates: The audit, which lawmakers requested in late 2023, comes one week after Pritzker delivered his annual budget proposal to the General Assembly. The governor’s plan would defund the newer of the two programs, which is aimed at noncitizens aged 44 to 64, while leaving in place the smaller program for noncitizen seniors aged 65 and older.
* Tribune | Audit finds many were improperly enrolled in state health care program for noncitizens, while costs were vastly underestimated: The cost overruns were particularly pronounced in the program meant for recipients ages 42 to 64, with the actual expenditure of $485 million through the three years ending June 30, 2023, the period covered by the audit, coming in at nearly four times the initially estimated cost of $126 million, according to the report. During the same period, the actual cost of the program for those 65 and older was $412 million, nearly double the original projection of $224 million.
* Crain’s | Illinois’ immigrant health plans cost taxpayers much more than projected, audit finds: Auditors found 6,098 enrollees designated as “undocumented” who had Social Security numbers. When that information was presented to the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, or HFS, the agency provided responses for a sample of 94 enrollees. Auditors determined that 19 of those 94 should have been designated as lawfully present or as being a legal permanent resident — an important distinction because legal permanent residents become eligible for Medicaid after five years in the U.S.
* Sun-Times | Pritzker team vastly underestimated health care costs for adults who lack legal status, state audit finds: At a news briefing in Chicago Wednesday, Pritzker bypassed some of the errors spotlighted in the audit and focused on the fleeting nature of immigration status. He also spoke of his support for universal health care. “I think the thing that is missing from the reporting, and what I would point out to you, is that number one, people’s immigration status changes during the course of a year. You’ve got people who were eligible for the program, who became ineligible for the program,” Pritzker said.
* WTVO | Audit finds Illinois vastly underestimated cost of noncitizen heathcare on taxpayers: Republicans have been critical of the program since its inception. “We’re the only state that puts this burden on Illinois tax on their own state taxpayers taking this on and to not run it properly and to have these large cost overruns, that’s how you end up with a budget deficit,” Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) said Wednesday. “That’s what’s crowding out spending on education. That’s what’s crowding out spending on other components of the state budget. That’s why we need an audit.”
- RumblinBS - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:11 pm:
Chicago needs to be more like DuPage is one of the most obvious dog whistles I’ve heard in a long time.
- Big Dipper - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:13 pm:
Another Bailey/Devore type. Good luck with that.
- DuPage Dad - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:13 pm:
Whatever, Sheriff. Pritzker will be declared the winner of the election at 7:01 pm.
- BE - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:25 pm:
==So you got to feel bad for the federal government in a way, because they’re charged with the job, the only way they can do it now, they’re being forced to not go to a jail …So then ICE is forced to go into neighborhoods, find them where they are==
I thought ICE can go to jails, they just have to have proper warrants, right?
No, one does not have to ‘feel bad’ for ICE and Trump’s government, especially when they decided that they can raid hospitals, religious houses of worship and schools for pretty much anyone they decide they want to take, even if they are not ‘rapists’ or ‘murderers’ or even in the country illegally, as we are seeing with a number of US citizens being taken in these raids.
Empowered police… I would like to see what he thinks of Trump’s pardons of the Jan6 folks.
- H-W - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:25 pm:
This will be an easy win for the right Democrat.
- Stones - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:26 pm:
Unless one of his friends is named Elon Musk, 87K isn’t going to cut it.
- James - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:27 pm:
I hope there are about 20 others just like him run in order to split up the far right vote in the primary. That is the only thing that could open the gate for a moderate republican to win the primary, and then potentially the general.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:33 pm:
=My family and I have decided that we want our State back.=
Where did it go and how do you lose and entire state? Asking for a friend.
=We don’t like being fearful of crime that is randomly occurring now in our streets, homes and our retail stores due to soft on crime legislation.=
You are the sheriff and you are fearful of crime? Seems like that might be a self own. Does he know he can carry a gun? Someone should tell him quick.
- Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:34 pm:
He’s either delusional from living in his sheriff bubble too long, or he’s just another grifter preying upon the elderly remnants of the former GOP stronghold county. He’s going to get a wake up call once he hits the campaign trail.
Dog whistle? Heck, he’s a whole Zamphir pan flute concert.
Darren and Timpone will love this guy. Pity he’s going to burn down his finances to satisfy his ego.
- Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:36 pm:
Js Mill you nailed it so hard you put a dent in the drywall.
- Jerry - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:38 pm:
Great question “BE”. Wonder what the new sheriff thinks of pardoning the January 6th terrorists? Oh, thats right. They were “tourists”.
- Perrid - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
Not 100% sure what he’s talking about with the sanctuary city “policy” and cost overruns, but if he means the HBIA program, enrollment was frozen almost 2 years ago and Pritzker wants to end the program this FY. So… congrats? The program isn’t being continued.
- Steve Polite - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:53 pm:
ICE shouldn’t be required to get criminal warrants to detain people.
People who are charged with a crime are criminals before their trial and should be held in jail awaiting trial, so correctional officers can “rehabilitate” them.
So he’s pro-law enforcement and anti-constitutional rights. Got It.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:54 pm:
I just wonder how he feels about police officers being assaulted…? Is there an acceptable instance when a police officer can be assaulted in his view? How does he feel about executive authority being used to pardon terrorists who assaulted police officers?
- Squib Kick - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:01 pm:
So the Safe-T Act is somehow both soft on crime and leading to long term incarceration. Got it.
also, tell me you can’t get re-elected in DuPage without telling me you can’t get re-elected in DuPage.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:02 pm:
He might as Weill run for governor he wasn’t going to win a race for sheriff. What a great time to be a Democratic candidate. Are there any serious Republicans left?
- Protocol Droid - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:03 pm:
Mendrick running for governor should lead to more scrutiny of the deaths that have occurred on his watch at the jail and the lawsuit costs to the taxpayers.
- Look - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:07 pm:
Democrats proved they’re out of touch with voters on a whole host of issues including immigration and crime last election. Now the ongoing city of Chicago mismanagement that will depress Democrat turnout which makes the collars and downstate key for Democrats. This could be a close race.
- Anyone Remember - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:11 pm:
===We do full detoxification stabilization of your personnel through psychiatric services. We have 200 classes, courses taught by 80 counselors and educators per week. And then we start vocational training. We have welding, tiling, dry walling, horticulture, indoor and outdoor, small engine repair, the tattoo removal, suits for success, they get suits.===
If a sheriff has to do all that to not comply with the SAFE-T Act, he’s deluded if he thinks other counties in Illinois can afford all that. Let alone be inclined to do so.
- Sir Reel - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:12 pm:
“The Safety Act stops us from rehabilitating people in our jails.” Yeah, right. I don’t recall lots of rehabilitating going on in jails, especially county lock-ups.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:19 pm:
Note that he posted on his personal FB page. Not exactly a professional operation here…but that would make him a frontrunner for a dying ILGOP.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:24 pm:
=Democrats are so tone deaf they won’t acknowledge crime is still the number 1 issue=
Illinois Republicans are so tone deaf they won’t acknowledge the dishonesty of their electeds.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:28 pm:
===crime is still the number 1 issue===
In Chicago, yes. Elsewhere? Not so much.
- Steve Polite - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:28 pm:
“Democrats are so tone deaf they won’t acknowledge crime is still the number 1 issue”
Actually, the SAFE-T act does make the state a safer place, because people who are alleged to have committed acts of violence can be detained until trial without the option of posting a cash bond. Whereas before, they could buy their release.
- Dirty Red - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:44 pm:
Would it upset the electoral math if the campaign announcement had proper grammar and punctuation?
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:46 pm:
===We have two, I’d say, major problems in this state, and it’s going to be the sanctuary city status, and it’s going to be the SAFE-T Act===
Fascinating to see a candidate for the office of Governor be so absorbed by their current job that the two major issues they identify are literally only impactful to his current job.
Not a word about spending, taxes, or pension ramp concerns? Yikes.
- James - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:48 pm:
The Safe-T-Act is a pretty good piece of legislation but you can’t say that as a Republican. Oddly enough, it’s set up a system that allows local voters to hold judges more accountable. Got a judge that doesn’t detain enough people? Fire em at the ballot box. They can’thide behind bail anymore.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:54 pm:
Three banned punctuation violations in his opening sentence?
So much for law ‘n’ order.
– MrJM
- Original Rambler - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 1:56 pm:
100% agree with Steve Polite. If Mendrick has ways to improve the Safe-T-Act, then make a proposal but to get rid of it entirely is ludicrous. If the GOP are going to keep recycling guys like this as statewide candidates…good luck.
- JoanP - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:04 pm:
= You are the sheriff and you are fearful of crime? =
Well, I did know a deputy sheriff in DuPage County who told me he was afraid to come to Chicago. And he did, indeed, carry a gun. Unlike many of us who actually live here.
- H-W - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:15 pm:
@ Look
=== Democrats proved they’re out of touch with voters on a whole host of issues including immigration and crime last election. ===
Not in Illinois. Check yourself.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:18 pm:
“We don’t like being fearful of crime that is randomly occurring now in our streets”
Same old right wing crime fearmongering that made the ILGOP a super-minority. It will never end. And that’s two years before more MAGA.
Violent crime decreased in Chicago last year, thanks to Mayor Johnson’s plan.
“We don’t want to move out of Illinois like so much of our population”
Illinois gained population. Until a fully reviewed census proves otherwise, that’s the story and the end of the matter.
- #Saywhat - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:20 pm:
The one good thing Mendrick has done in last several years is endorsing Eddie Moore.
- BE - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:24 pm:
JSMill -
==Where did it go and how do you lose and entire state? Asking for a friend.==
I hear you can call certain departments if you think someone has stolen something…what are they called again…and there’s usually someone at the head of the departments…should ask this guy if he’s heard of them.
- We’ll See - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:25 pm:
Other than Cook’s Tom Dart can anyone name a county sheriff who don’t have an overinflated sense of their skill sets?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:34 pm:
===Other than Cook’s Tom Dart===
lol
You really excluded Tom? C’mon, man.
- low level - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:36 pm:
Sheriff who? I have never heard of the guy.
- Hoo Doggy - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:38 pm:
Du Page County Sheriff Mendrick will be challenged by Palatine Township Highway Commissioner Del Mar.
Some political observers opined that it was a blessing in disguise for Richard J. Daley when he lost the 1946 election for Cook County Sheriff in to his Republican opponent (Elmer M. Walsh).
The only two Sheriffs that I remember reaching higher offices were President Grover Cleveland (Erie County, NY) and Governor Richard B. Olgivie (Cook County, IL).
- Sue - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:39 pm:
Grandson-Illinois gained population solely due to the newcomers-so you think losing taxpaying citizens is ok so long as we gain couple of hundred thousand migrants- we were third in terms of outward migration to other states
- Gravitas - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:44 pm:
Bashing Cook County crime was always a given in Du Page Republican politics.
- Frida's Boss - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:45 pm:
Mendrick has won twice in DuPage.
First, he won against a Democrat in the anti-Trump 2018 tidal wave. That year saw all State Senate offices but Curran flip, Multiple House seats flip, and multiple County Board seats flip. Lauren Underwood took a seat no one thought she could win, and Casten took out Roskam, a DuPage mainstay. JB beat Rauner, which was the first time a Democrat beat a Republican in DuPage in decades. Mendrick survived.
Dems ran no one against him in ‘22.
Mendrick will have some fun going around the state to chicken dinners telling his story but won’t succeed.
- just here for the fun - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:47 pm:
Remember 4 years ago when liberals were all in favor of police officers being beaten ala Portland?
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 12:54 pm:
I just wonder how he feels about police officers being assaulted…? Is there an acceptable instance when a police officer can be assaulted in his view? How does he feel about executive authority being used to pardon terrorists who assaulted police officers?
- low level - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 2:53 pm:
==Illinois gained population solely due to the newcomers-==
Wrong again, Sue. Thanks for entertaining us.
==are state laws that directly conflict with existing federal laws.==
Precisely what state laws are in conflict w federal laws, Barney?
- Pundent - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 3:04 pm:
=Remember 4 years ago when liberals were all in favor of police officers being beaten ala Portland?=
You might want to consider another straw man as I don’t recall anyone in Illinois, liberal or otherwise, running on this.
- Steve Polite - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 3:04 pm:
“Illinois gained population solely due to the newcomers-so you think losing taxpaying citizens is ok so long as we gain couple of hundred thousand migrants- we were third in terms of outward migration to other states.”
Sue,
First, what’s your source for claiming no U.S. citizens moved into Illinois? That seems to be a fantastical claim.
Second, and more to your point, migrants get jobs and become taxpayers too.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 27, 25 @ 3:11 pm:
===4 years ago when liberals were all in favor===
Name one.