Dolton Trustee Kiana Belcher is running for the 5th District Cook County Board seat against Harvey Park District Executive Director Kisha McCaskill, who was appointed to the position last year, in the March 17 Democratic primary.
The seat was previously held by Monica Gordon, who was elected in 2022. It represents parts of the South Side and large sections of the south and southwest suburbs and includes portions of Bloom, Bremen, Calumet, Lake, Rich, Thornton and Worth townships.
Gordon resigned in 2024 after being elected as Cook County clerk in a special election, and McCaskill was appointed to fill her seat in January 2025.
“Right now, that means that it’s two people on the ballot that have never been on the ballot for that seat,” Belcher said. “So we’re gonna let the residents decide.”
Kiana Belcher
Belcher was elected a Dolton trustee in 2021. She was reelected in 2025 as part of now-Mayor Jason House’s Clean House slate in opposition to former Mayor Tiffany Henyard.
“I think I may have a little bit more visibility because of the whole Dolton saga,” Belcher said. “People have seen that I don’t mind going against the grain, I don’t mind standing up for my residents, and I’ll do the same thing at the county level.”
Belcher said she wanted to be an advocate for the communities of the south suburbs and make sure they get their fair share of county resources.
“For a very long time the Southland has been underserved. And when I say underserved, most of the times, when knocking on doors, people don’t even know what the commissioner does,” Belcher said.
Proper allocation of county resources is especially important now, with federal funds being cut, Belcher said.
“The county has a $10 billion budget,” Belcher said. “We need to make sure that in the Southland, that someone is advocating for us, making sure to say like, hey, with all these water main breaks, safer water is very important, and most of our infrastructure is 80 years old.”
If elected, her first priority would be learning how to work collaboratively with the other 16 commissioners.
“Getting acclimated would be first, because you can’t go in there and say, ‘Oh, you’re going to do this,’ or ‘Oh, let’s work on this’ without being acclimated to what’s actually going on,” Belcher said.
Both Belcher and McCaskill mentioned high property taxes as a priority.
Like McCaskill, Belcher was one of the five candidates who applied to fill the county commissioner seat following Gordon’s resignation. She said she felt she could benefit more people by working on the county level. Each Cook County district represents about 300,000 residents.
“As a trustee, at the Dolton level, it’s good to be a representation of your community,” Belcher said. “But at the county level, you have a substantial amount more people that would be able to benefit as long as they have an advocate there to make sure that they have someone to speak up for them.”
Kisha McCaskill
McCaskill has been executive director of the Harvey Park District since 2015. She said her desire to serve on the county board came from her experience as a lifelong Harvey resident.
“Just seeing the lack of care, just the lack of resources and lack of opportunity brought to my specific city and across the Southland,” McCaskill said. “That was what catapulted me to want to do it.”
McCaskill said her priorities are addressing high property taxes and housing instability in the Southland.
“We have a situation called the grey wave, where we’re seeing more and more seniors that are basically not able to live in their own homes,” McCaskill said.
She said she’s proud of her work in the year she’s spent on the board.
“I enjoy what I do because I’ve been able to be very effective,” McCaskill said. “Along with my fellow commissioners, of course, we’ve passed over 300 pieces of legislation, or resolutions, specifically for health care, affordable housing, infrastructure, economic development, and most importantly funding, specifically for small organizations and community-based organizations.”
STH Media
Kisha McCaskill speaks to Cook County Board members after being sworn in Jan. 16, 2025, as commissioner in the 5th District. (STH Media)
When she was appointed, McCaskill said her priorities included expanding vaccine access in the south suburbs and securing a Level I trauma center for the region, which represents the highest state-certified level of trauma care.
She said in the year since, she’s worked to expand health care services offered by clinics in Ford Heights, Robbins and Blue Island.
“Some of the things that are being done over at Blue Island (Health Center) for example, we’ve expanded our material services,” McCaskill said. “With Ford Heights, we’ve actually expanded immunization care, where we have outdoor events and more outreach into the churches and the community.”
Securing a Level I trauma center has been more difficult, she said. Improving trauma care in the south suburbs was also a goal of Gordon, her predecessor.
“We really don’t have the dynamics for that right now,” McCaskill said. “But the conversations are still taking place, so I’m still optimistic about it.”
McCaskill said she tries to think about benefiting neighboring districts and the region as a whole, not just the 5th District.
“When we look at economic development, our development has to be something that’s more regional,” McCaskill said. “That’s what people need to see, that it’s not just about a few being taken care of, but it’s about all of us having the opportunity.”
elewis@chicagotribune.com
Evy Lewis
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