Despite Kelley Endorsement, Jungles Loses Democratic Sheriff Primary By Wide Margin

JOLIET, IL — Will County Sheriff three-term Democratic Mike Kelley urged the voters of Will County to follow his recommendation and make newly appointed Undersheriff Dan Jungles the next sheriff. The majority of the voters in Tuesday's Democratic Party ignored Kelley's endorsement and decided it's time to bring an end to the Kelley administration. Jungles was behind by a wide margin in his primary against fellow Will County Sheriff's employee, Patrick Jones.

Jones is a sergeant in the department, and he had a lot of political signs displayed around Joliet.

According to the preliminary election totals posted by Will County Clerk Annette Parker, Sgt. Patrick Jones had 59 percent of the Democratic primary vote and 28,873 votes compared to Jungles at 40 percent with 20,000 votes.

On Saturday, the retiring Will County Sheriff, Mike Kelley of Lockport, shared the following message to his Facebook followers: "To all my supporters, I know it's odd not seeing me on the ballot. I greatly appreciate all your support! But, I'm asking you to please pull a democratic primary and vote Dan Jungles Sheriff! ! I have supervised him and promoted him all the way to undersheriff. There's no other better person to run the sheriff's department."

Meanwhile, Jones told Joliet Patch's editor at 10 p.m. Tuesday that Jungles had already reached out to concede Tuesday's Democratic primary race.

Jones said he was pleased that both men ran a very clean campaign. Jones said that too often, when two people from the sheriff's office compete against one another, it can divide the entire department, but he was appreciative that did not happen in his campaign against Jungles.

"We both ran clean campaigns, thank God for that," Jones told Patch.

Jones said he felt good about his chances of winning the primary even though Jungles received a slew of campaign endorsements from several of Will County's top politicians on the Democratic side.

"Yes I did. I worked very hard and I had a great team and we worked real hard. I felt good and I just think that we've still got a lot of work to do," Jones said.

In February 2025, Patrick Jones announced his candidacy for Will County Sheriff and his plans to compete against Jungles.

"I currently have 24 years of experience between the jail and being a police officer with the Will County Sheriff's Office," Jones announced in his introductory YouTube video. "I hold the rank of sergeant, patrol division, right now. The reason for me running is that I believe that the squad car has become a barrier to the community, and we need more interaction with the community. I want to build trust through transparency."

Republican Primary

In the Republican primary, well-known Will County Sheriff's Deputy James "Jim" Reilly, made his third bid to become the sheriff. In 2022, Reilly was ahead against Kelley in the last general election on election night, only to lose after all the mail-in ballots were counted afterward.

In Tuesday's primary, Reilly had 20,810 votes, or 75.5 percent, compared to the 6,757 votes for Justin Fialko, which was 24.5 percent, with 93 percent of the votes being tallied, according to the unofficial totals.

"Thank you to my family, friends and the countless supporters and volunteers who have provided overwhelming support throughout the campaign," Reilly notified Joliet Patch late Tuesday night. "To all the candidates on both sides of the aisle who participated in today's primary, thank you. You're all winners in my eyes for stepping and engaging in the process that truly makes America the greatest country in the world. I look forward to the challenges ahead, and I am confident that the future of the Will County Sheriff's Police Department has never been brighter. We're just getting started."