Politics & Government

Kaupas Has Slim Lead in Will County Sheriff Race; Kelley Wins Democratic Nod

As of late Tuesday, Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas had 50.27 percent of the vote to Nick Ficarello's 49.73 percent.

With all precincts reporting in Will County late Tuesday, Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas held a narrow lead over Nick Ficarello in the Republican primary for Will County Sheriff.

Kaupas' margin of victory is just 223 votes, according to results that came in after a "glitch" caused vote totals to shut down with 12 precincts left to report. By 11 p.m., totals were back on track.

The narrow victory could put Kaupas in line to succeed his cousin, current Sheriff Paul Kaupas, who chose not to seek re-election.

Ken Kaupas previously spent 26 years with the Illinois State Police. Ficarello worked for the sheriff's department for 32 years before retiring in 2009 and served as director of campus security at Lewis University in Romeoville.    

Meanwhile, Democrat Mike Kelley, a detective with the sheriff's department, won out over Lt. Steve Egan and University Park police chief Ed Bradley, a retired sheriff's officer, on Tuesday.

Kelley is a 25-year veteran of the sheriff's department. Among his campaign pledges, Kelley promised to work to strike back against gangs and child predators, and to tackle evidence storage issues within the department. Kelley wound up with about 40 percent of the vote.

Kelley and Kaupas will square off in the November election.


Editor's note: Election results will not be official until validation and counting of provisional and grace period ballots is completed within 14 days after the election, and a canvass has been completed (within seven calendar days of validation).

Find out what's happening in Napervillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here