By Adam Pagnucco.
Sheriff Max Uy, who is facing an effort by MCGEO to replace him with challenger Will Milam, has encountered a new problem in his effort to win a second term. A slate of courthouse officials that includes the sheriff and normally runs as a team will not be doing so in this cycle. And the most powerful member of that team – State’s Attorney John McCarthy – will remain neutral in the sheriff’s race.
First, some background. Candidates – usually incumbents – running for state’s attorney, clerk of the circuit court, register of wills and sheriff often run together as a slate, calling themselves the Courthouse Team. That happened in 2022 when two long-time incumbents – McCarthy and Register of Wills Joe Griffin – teamed up with newly appointed Circuit Court Clerk Karen Bushell and new candidate Max Uy, who was running for an open sheriff’s seat. In the primary election, McCarthy and Bushell crushed their opponents, Griffin ran unopposed and Uy defeated his opponent by 13 points. All four ran unopposed in the general election.
Uy runs with the Courthouse Team in 2022.
Last month, Griffin – who had been elected seven times as register of wills – passed away. His seat may attract multiple candidates. Yesterday, McCarthy informed me that the remaining members of the 2022 team decided that they would not be running together next year. Furthermore, McCarthy told me that he has decided to remain neutral in the sheriff’s race.
This is bad news for Uy for two reasons.
First, in the 2022 cycle, McCarthy raised FAR more than any other member of the team. Here are the totals raised over the cycle for the four team members.
McCarthy: $275,774
Uy: $33,820
Bushell: $10,800
Griffin: $849
So McCarthy by himself raised 86% of the team’s money. In financial terms, McCarthy made sure that the whole team got elected.
Second, McCarthy is a strong incumbent on his own. After winning his first primary in 2006 by 36 points, he ran unopposed in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 primaries and then claimed 52% of the vote in a four-person field in the 2022 primary. I profiled that 2022 race three years ago and it was not just a win: it was domination.
With McCarthy sitting out the sheriff’s race, Uy has been deprived of perhaps his most powerful political and financial supporter. MCGEO President Gino Renne, who has targeted Uy for defeat, must be licking his chops – especially since Uy’s challenger has lined up some prominent supporters of his own.
If Max Uy wants to be reelected, he should start showing some strength right now.