Her closest rival, Bill Conway, a former assistant state’s attorney whose campaign was bankrolled by his billionaire father, conceded late Tuesday.
Foxx, 47, will face Republican Pat O’Brien, a former prosecutor and judge, in the mostly Democratic county in November.
Foxx’s questionable handling of another high-profile case — the racist and homophobic attack allegedly staged by Smollett, the former “Empire” actor — had become the focus of the primary campaign.
Foxx’s rivals and other critics, including the police union, had tried to overshadow a record of reform praised by some experts, including the expunging of marijuana convictions, targeting gun violence and moving away from prosecuting nonviolent offenses, such as shoplifting.
Her other Democratic challengers were former federal prosecutor Donna More and former Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti.
Smollett, who is gay and black, said he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack near his Chicago apartment on January 29, 2019.
Police investigated the case as a hate crime but later said the actor orchestrated the attack and paid two acquaintances to stage the incident for publicity. The actor has repeatedly denied making up or orchestrating the assault.
Webb said his office had “sufficient factual evidence to determine that it disagrees” with Foxx’s handling of the case. Webb in a statement said Foxx was unable to provide “documentary evidence” showing “other dispositions of similar cases prior to the Smollett case that would justify this disposition.”
Foxx has admitted fault in her office’s handling of the case and said it could have been more transparent. But she dismissed Webb’s decision to indict Smollett weeks before the primary election as political.
“For the average citizens who live in communities impacted by violence … Smollett is not an issue for them,” she told CNN two weeks before the election. “I’ll have to answer for it. I’m accountable to it, but I’m also accountable that our system is fair and just to everyone.”
In his concession speech Tuesday night, Conway said, “At the end of the day, as Democrats, we both care deeply about our justice system, and I hope Ms. Foxx is able to enact so many of the reforms that it desperately needs,” WBBM reported.
She became the first black woman to head the prosecutor’s office, drawing praise from criminal justice experts for exonerating the wrongfully convicted, increasing the standard for felony shoplifting from a minimum of $300 to $1,000 in stolen goods, and creating a gun crimes unit that put prosecutors to work in police districts with highest rates of violence.
Source : CNN
