The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is the clerk of Circuit Court of Cook County, located in Cook County, Illinois.
Office description The office was first established in 1831, the year that Cook County was created. In 1848, the office of Cook County recorder was merged into the office of clerk of the Circuit Court. The office was accordingly renamed as "clerk and recorder". For decades thereafter, the office served not only as the Circuit Court's clerk, but also served as the ex-officio county recorder of deeds. This ended in 1872, when the county's recorder of deeds was again created as a separate office.
On January 1, 1964, the more than 200 courts of Cook County were unified. Replacing the separate clerks that existed for different courts was a single popularly elected clerk of courts for newly merged Circuit Court of Cook County.
Pre-1964 officeholders
ClerkTerm in officePartyNotesCite R. J. Hamilton 1831–1841 Democratic H.G. Hubbard 1841–1843 Samuel Hoard 1843–____ Norman T. Gassette Dec. 1868–Dec. 1, 1872 Republican Jacob Gross Dec. 1872–Dec. 1884 Republican 'Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Christian County,' vol. 1, Henry L. Fowkes-editor, Munsell Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois: 1918, Biographical Sketch of Jacob Gross, pg. 212'Illinois State Treasurer 1885-87,' Obituary of Jacob Gross, Chicago Tribune, December 29, 1918 Henry Best Dec. 1884–___ Republican John E. Conroy Democratic Joseph P. McMahon
Officeholders since 1964 The following individuals have held the office since the modern iteration of the Circuit Court of Cook County was established in 1964.
ClerkTerm in officePartyNotesCite Joseph B. McDonough 1964–1968 Matthew J. Danaher December 1968 – 1974 Democratic Elected in 1968 and 1972 Morgan M. Finley 1974–December 1988 Democratic Appointed in 1974; elected in 1976, 1980, 1984 Aurelia Pucinski December 1988–December 1, 2000 Democratic (1988–1998)Republican (1998–2000) Elected in 1988, 1992, 1996 Dorothy A. Brown December 1, 2000 – December 1, 2020 Democratic Elected in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 Iris Martinez December 1, 2020–December 2024 Democratic Elected in 2020 Mariyana Spyropoulos December 4, 2024–present Democratic Elected in 2024
Recent election results
| colspan=16 style="text-align:center;" |Clerk of the Circuit Court general elections |- !Year !Winning candidate !Party !Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) |- |1984 | | Morgan M. Finley | | Democratic | | 1,260,257 (61.32%) | | Deborah L. Murphy | | Republican | | 794,882 (38.68%)
|1988 | | Aurelia Pucinski | | Democratic | | 1,170,558 (59.38%) | | Edward R. Vrdolyak | | Republican | | 800,783 (40.62%)
|1992 | | Aurelia Pucinski | | Democratic | | 1,349,837 (68.39%) | | Herbert T. Schumann, Jr. | | Republican | | 486,185 (24.63%) |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Deloris "Dee" Jones |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party |Text style="background:#D2B48C | 137,642 (6.97%)
|1996 | | Aurelia Pucinski | | Democratic | | 1,149,216 (70.37%) | | Sandra M. Stavropoulos | | Republican | | 397,191 (24.32%) |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Philip Morris |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party |Text style="background:#D2B48C | 64,204 (3.03%) | Janet Dennis | Justice Party | 22,581 (1.38%) |- |2000 | | Dorothy A. Brown | | Democratic | | 1,197,773 (72.94%) | | Nancy F. Mynard | | Republican | | 444,336 (27.06%)
|2004 | | Dorothy A. Brown | | Democratic | | 1,365,285 (74.06%) | | Judith A. Kleiderman | | Republican | | 478,222 (25.94%)
|2008 | | Dorothy A. Brown | | Democratic | | 1,315,731 (68.29%) | | Dianne S. Shapiro | | Republican | | 517,115 (26.84%) | | Paloma Andrade | | Green | | 93,906 (4.87%)
|2012 | | Dorothy A. Brown | | Democratic | | 1,291,499 (70.44%) | | Diane S. Shapiro | | Republican | | 541,973 (29.56%)
|2016 | | Dorothy A. Brown | | Democratic | | 1,345,696 (67.22%) | | Diane S. Shapiro | | Republican | | 656,232 (32.78%)
|2020 | | Iris Y. Martinez | | Democratic | | 1,549,615 (73.03%) | | Barbara Bellar | | Republican | | 572,169 (26.97%)
|2024 | | Mariyana Spyropoulos | | Democratic
| | Lupe Aguirre | | Republican
| | Michael Murphy | | Libertarian
References