Bob O'Dekirk Unseats Joliet Mayor Tom Giarrante

Joliet’s first new mayor in a generation only kept his job for one term as challenger Bob O’Dekirk unseated incumbent Tom Giarrante with a convincing 53 percent of the vote.

Giarrante replaced retired mayor Art Schultz last election. Schultz, a retired Joliet police officer, had held onto the mayor’s job for 20 years. He died just months after the 2011 election in which he did not run.

Giarrante, a retired Joliet firefighter, captured only 26-percent of the vote in the nine-candidate 2011 field. Against O’Dekirk Tuesday, Giarrante amassed 38 percent. The third candidate, Joliet Junior College Board Chairman Andy Mihelich, got nearly nine percent.

As the last precincts were counted, O’Dekirk, an attorney and retired Joliet police officer, spoke of mending fences.

“I plan on sitting down with all the civic leaders in town, those who supported me and those who did not,” said O’Dekirk, who told of the need for a “united front” to “make Joliet great.”

“I think as a group we need to work together,” said O’Dekirk, who was at the Cantigny Post 367 Veterans of Foreign Wars hall on election night.

Gracious in defeat, Giarrante said he was looking forward to spending more time with his family, particularly his eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

“There’s always something positive in the negative,” Giarrante said.

“We have a big family and they all live local,” he said.

Go take a look at our Facebook page.