Incumbent Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez lost her re-election bid to challenger Mariyana Spyropoulos in the Democratic primary race.

Spyropoulos, a commissioner on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board who had far more campaign contributions and the backing of the county Democratic Party, had 65% of the vote, compared to Martinez’ 35%, with 99% of precincts reporting.

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Democratic Party politics loom large over fight for Cook County Circuit Court Clerk

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In her victory speech, Spyropoulos said it’s not easy to convince volunteers and donors that the Circuit Court Clerk’s office matters to them. “I’m here to tell you that it does matter,” Spyropoulos said. “It matters to defendants, victims, attorneys, public defendants, prosecutors, all of whom have a vested interest in seeing our system run effectively.”

“I ran on a platform of transparency, reform and accountability,” Spyropoulos said. “I intend to keep the promises I made on the campaign trail.”

Cook County tilts Democrat, so whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely to win the election in November. Lupe Aguirre is on the Republican ballot seeking the office. Michael Murphy is running as a Libertarian.

The clerk oversees one of the largest circuit court systems in the nation, with tens of millions of documents and some 1,400 workers. The clerk’s role is mostly administrative. The circuit court houses everything from criminal cases to divorce filings, but this office is fiercely political.

In 2020, Martinez won even though the Democratic Party endorsed another candidate. Two years later, Martinez backed candidates in other races who weren’t endorsed by party leaders, ruffling feathers in a political organization that thrives on loyalty.

This time around, the Democratic Party endorsed Spyropoulos, an attorney who had about $267,000 in campaign contributions on hand as of Dec. 31 — at least five times more than Martinez, state campaign finance records show. Then in February, Spyropoulos poured more than $1 million of her own money into the race, records show.

Spyropoulos has also wooed other big endorsements, including the Chicago Teachers Union, the Teamsters Local 700 that represents Martinez’s unionized employees, and more than a dozen suburban mayors.

In a speech to supporters Tuesday night, Martinez congratulated Spyropoulos, but also said her opponent lied about alleged corruption in the circuit court clerk’s office.

Martinez said she could not compete against how much money Spyropoulos raised — and sunk into the race of her own money.

“She basically paid for the seat,” Martinez said inside a crowded Northwest Side bar. “Let’s be honest here.”

She lashed out at the Cook County Democratic Party for endorsing her opponent.

“It’s not about the hard work you do to change an office, to transform an office,” Martinez said. “It’s about the politics. I will never compromise who I am and what I believe in.”

Martinez said she can walk away after 40 years of public service. She said she plans to spend time with family when her term ends.

Martinez was the first Latina in the state Senate, where she spent 17 years, rising to assistant majority leader. She ran for clerk after Dorothy Brown decided not to seek reelection after 20 years in office. Brown’s tenure was mired in scandal, from the infamous policy of charging employees to wear jeans to work, to accusations of selling jobs and promotions.

Martinez lists among her accomplishments modernizing the circuit court system, digitizing all 49 million cases going back to 1970, representing about 71 million document IDs. One ID may have multiple pages. Documents previous to 1970 are digitized on microfilm. She has opened a domestic violence survivor center and a department where residents can get help expunging their criminal records.

There’s criticism though that the courts are still disorganized and that it can be hard to find files, delaying people’s cases. Last year, WBEZ revealed the county had been erroneously putting felonies on the records of people in some diversion programs for at least three years. Martinez’s office said Chief Judge Timothy Evans was ultimately responsible because the Circuit Court Clerk’s office takes orders from him.

In February, the Illinois Answers Project reported that the clerk’s office accidentally exposed online the names of at least 5,000 children charged with crimes, violating state law. A spokesman for Martinez responded that any potential exposure was brief and limited in nature.

Among Spyropoulos’ goals if she wins is to push to have the court system, including judges, subject to Illinois’ public records laws.

Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County for WBEZ.