Davis mulling run for County Board

Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) said Thursday that he would be interested in running for Cook County Board president if the current president’s health continues to fail, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

The fifth-term congressman and former Cook County commissioner would be forced to drop his reelection bid in the solidly Democratic 7th District, covering Chicago’s West Side and western suburbs. In 2004, Davis won 86 percent of the vote and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry won 83 percent.

Davis emphasized that he is not campaigning for the position yet. Board President John Stroger suffered a serious stroke a week before winning the March primary, and there has been little word on his condition since then.

“I indicated to them that, should it become necessary to find a replacement for President Stroger on the ballot, that yes, I would be interested,” Davis, who has also served as a city alderman, told the newspaper.

Davis grabbed his party’s nomination with 88 percent of the vote in the primary, beating Jim Ascot (9 percent) and Robert Dallas (4 percent). Republican Charles Hutchinson is also running.