Kim Foxx will not seek reelection in 2024
CHICAGO - After two terms as Cook County's chief prosecutor, Kim Foxx says she will not run for re-election after her current term concludes in 2024.
"I will be stepping down as state's attorney," Foxx announced on Tuesday.
In a speech explaining her decision, Foxx listed what she considers her top achievements in office and ridiculed her critics as out of touch.
Foxx brought to the City Club luncheon several people who benefited from her work, including people found to have been wrongly imprisoned.
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She mocked the coast-to-coast coverage of her botched handling of former Empire actor Jussie Smollett's case, contrasting it with what she said is too little attention for defendants such as Jose Cruz.
"Jose, if you could please stand up. Why does it make me mad that you ask me more about what happened with Jussie than you did about what happened to Jose Cruz? Because Jose Cruz spent almost 30 years in prison on what he believed would be a life sentence for a crime that he didn't commit, because he was framed by a corrupt Chicago police detective," Foxx said.
She said this month's election of Brandon Johnson as Chicago's next mayor made it likely her sort of progressive policies would now dominate Chicago law enforcement, making it safer for her to move on to another, though still-unspecified job.
Foxx said she told Johnson her decision on Monday.
She won the office in 2016 with support from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle after the police-involved killing of Laquan McDonald shook up leadership at the top and Foxx emerged a winner.
On Tuesday, Preckwinkle introduced Foxx to City Club ahead of her remarks.
Kim Foxx will no longer pursue four sex abuse cases against R&B star R. Kelly
Four years after filing the first in what became a wave of criminal charges against R. Kelly, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced Monday her office will no longer pursue four pending sex abuse cases against the Chicago-born R&B star.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Preckwinkle said she was "incredibly proud" of Foxx’ work.
"I have known Kim Foxx for years and I am incredibly proud of the impact she has had on our criminal justice system," Preckwinkle said. "She has worked to prosecute the right people for the right crimes, restore public trust by addressing racial discrimination and wrongful convictions, and serve the interests of victims of domestic violence."
Most recently, Foxx came under criticism from Mayor Lori Lightfoot who reportedly said Foxx, hands out certificates of innocence "like they're candy," according to the Chicago Tribune.
More than a dozen local lawyers and judges are considering whether to run for state's attorney, according to political insiders.