Cook County Board of Review Primary: Steele vs. Nicholson

Samantha Steele is fighting to keep her seat on the Cook County Board of Review, but Tuesday’s Democratic primary puts her up against a challenger armed with a long resume and a growing list of Steele’s own controversies to run against.

Steele, who represents District 2 on the three-member board, faces Liz Nicholson, a veteran Democratic operative, in a race that covers much of the North Side and the northern suburbs. Across the ballot, Steele’s fellow commissioner George Cardenas faces his own primary threat from Juanita Irizarry, a longtime Chicago parks activist.

The Board of Review draws little attention from most voters, but the panel carries serious weight. Its commissioners have the authority to reduce property tax assessments for anyone from individual homeowners to major real estate interests across Chicago and Cook County. That power has kept the board in the middle of some of the region’s biggest political and financial disputes, including years of back-and-forth over the Chicago Bears’ proposed move to the former Arlington Park site in the northwest suburbs.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has been a loud critic of the board, arguing that commissioners have tilted the scales toward business interests while ordinary homeowners absorb rising tax bills. The board has pushed back hard on that characterization.

Steele won her seat in the 2022 primary by defeating incumbent Michael Cabonargi, who had the backing of the Cook County Democratic Party. That insurgent victory gave her a platform. Her first term gave her critics plenty of material.

The DUI arrest in November 2024 generated the most damaging headlines. Steele crashed into a parked vehicle on Ashland Avenue on the North Side and was charged by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office with drunken driving. Police body camera footage made the situation worse. In the video, Steele repeatedly invoked her status as a county elected official while refusing to cooperate with responding officers. She declined to hand over her driver’s license, declined to exit the vehicle, and insisted on speaking with Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton of Glenview, whom she identified as her lawyer.

One officer warned her directly. “Ma’am, if you don’t exit the vehicle, I’m going to help you to exit, and you don’t want that.”

Steele’s response: “You don’t want that. I’m an elected official.”

The officer asked what office. “Cook County,” she told him. When he asked her name, she extended her hand and said, “I’m Sam.”

Steele has vowed to fight the charges. Court records show the case remains pending as of this primary.

The arrest did not exist in isolation. Steele’s tenure has been marked by disputes with the other two commissioners, the county’s inspector general, and former members of her own staff. The friction has been consistent enough that Cardenas, her fellow Democrat on the board, endorsed her opponent. He cited Nicholson’s experience and the string of controversies that have trailed Steele through her first term.

Nicholson brings institutional credibility to the race. Her background as a Democratic operative gives her connections and fundraising capacity that typical challengers in a down-ballot race rarely have. Cardenas’s endorsement adds further pressure on Steele heading into Tuesday.

Irizarry, the challenger facing Cardenas, comes from a different kind of background. Her years of work in Chicago’s parks advocacy community have given her name recognition among North Side and lakefront progressive voters who tend to show up in primaries.

The third commissioner, Larry Rogers Jr., won his sixth term in 2024 and is not on the ballot this cycle. All three commissioners are Democrats.

Both contested races reflect something deeper about how Chicago-area voters are starting to look at the Board of Review. For decades, this was a sleepy corner of county government where incumbents held on by default. The combination of Kaegi’s public attacks on the board, rising property tax frustrations among homeowners, and Steele’s self-inflicted wounds has pushed this panel into a level of scrutiny it rarely faces.

Whether that scrutiny translates into votes against the incumbents is what Tuesday will settle.