Elmhurst Woman May Run For County Board

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst's Dan Cronin, chairman of the DuPage County Board since 2010, is not running again. But he may not be the last of his family to serve on the board.

This week, his sister, Cindy Cronin Cahill, announced she was considering running for District 1 on the County Board in the 2022 election. The lifelong Elmhurst resident is the former treasurer at City Hall. Like her brother, she is a Republican.

As with suburbs across the country, DuPage County has become more Democratic in the last few years. With the last election, the County Board became majority Democratic.

In the term before the 2020 election, all the women on the board were Democrats and all the men were Republicans.

In a news release this week, Cahill noted no Republican women serve on the board.

"I would like to change that," she said. "I care deeply for our community, and I believe I have skills and experience to offer."

Now, the three board members from District 1 are Republicans Donald Puchalski of Addison and Sam Tornatore of Roselle and Democrat Ashley Selmon of Addison. Their terms expire next year.

Cahill served as Elmhurst's treasurer from 1989 to 1993. From 2012 to 2019, she served as a commissioner with the Illinois Liquor Control Commission.

A certified public accountant, Cahill opened her own accounting firm in Elmhurst, Cahill & Jensen CPAs, in 1988.

Cahill and her husband, Jerry, raised their five children in Elmhurst.

"There is nothing more important to me — and nothing more fulfilling — than service to our neighbors and our community," she said in the release. "I genuinely feel the call to serve."

She said she would make a formal announcement later in the fall.

District 1 includes all or parts of Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard, Addison, Bensenville, Wood Dale, Itasca, Elk Grove, Bloomingdale, Glendale Heights and Roselle.