Patrick Hynes, the Democratic nominee for Cook County assessor, is poised to take office in December following his victory over incumbent Fritz Kaegi in the March primary. Hynes faces Libertarian Nico Tsatsoulis in the Nov. 3 general election, with no Republican candidate on the ballot. The assessor’s office is responsible for valuing approximately 1.8 million parcels across the county, a key factor in determining property tax bills.

Hynes has pledged to bring “stability” to the office after years marked by substantial assessment increases and tensions between Kaegi’s administration and the Board of Review. Kaegi attributed the rise in assessments to a strong housing market and efforts to correct longstanding undervaluation of commercial properties under his predecessor, Joe Berrios. By contrast, Hynes intends to ease conflicts with the Board of Review, which frequently overturned Kaegi’s commercial property valuations on appeal.

A notable shift under Hynes would be reducing the assessor’s office’s direct involvement in appeals hearings. Where Kaegi deployed staff to contest appeals in person, particularly regarding data centers, Hynes plans to provide requested information without an adversarial presence. He stated that the office would supply supporting data to the board but would avoid aggressively opposing adjustments, signaling a softer approach to appeals.

Hynes’s career with the assessor’s office began in 1998 as a field inspector, followed by his election as Lyons Township assessor in 2021 and reelection in 2025. His campaign against Kaegi gained strong support from trade unions such as Operating Engineers Local 150, LiUNA Chicago, and Electrical Workers Local 134, as well as business groups dissatisfied with the current administration. These coalitions helped Hynes secure a narrow primary win by 52% to 48%.

The candidate also enjoys backing from family members with deep political ties in Illinois. His uncle Thomas C. Hynes served as Cook County assessor for nearly two decades, while his cousins Dan and Matt Hynes have held various government roles.

Hynes has raised over $1 million from unions tied to construction trades since launching his campaign, along with more than $500,000 from business interests, including property tax attorneys. Supporters argue these contributions reflect broad confidence in his leadership, while Kaegi has criticized the donations as indicative of a return to past practices favoring undervaluation of commercial properties.

Central to Hynes’s platform is a proposal to create an office offering developers early estimates of a project’s future assessment and tax obligations. He argues this transparency will stimulate investment, broaden the tax base, and eventually reduce tax burdens. The Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, which contributed $50,000 to Hynes’s campaign, expressed hope this approach would remove barriers to economic growth caused by the current property tax system.

On the operational front, Hynes acknowledged challenges in reallocating staff to the new economic development office while maintaining timely assessments and updating property records. Despite critiques of Kaegi’s leadership, Hynes plans to retain much of the current senior team and data experts, unlike Kaegi’s extensive overhaul after taking office in 2018. He emphasized that changes would focus on management but not necessarily personnel replacement.

As the current south suburban reassessment concludes, the new assessor will face the city of Chicago’s complex reassessment cycle. Hynes criticized the last city reassessment under Kaegi for sharply increasing values and tax bills in several neighborhoods, gains that won him endorsements from local officials formerly aligned with Kaegi. Although he did not specifically commit to lowering values, Hynes said he aims to deliver stability and predictability, recognizing that uncertainty upsets the property tax balance.

Hynes also plans to address the backlog of “certificates of error,” corrections that typically result in taxpayer refunds. He proposed implementing a tracking system to ensure timely action on these requests, which had been delayed during system upgrades in Kaegi’s office.

Regarding a pending initiative by Kaegi to automatically renew the “senior freeze” tax exemption, Hynes expressed opposition until stricter verification processes are implemented. The exemption protects eligible senior citizens from rising assessments, but an audit found weaknesses in the assessor’s office’s administration of the program, increasing the risk of improper grants.

Challenging Hynes, Libertarian candidate Nico Tsatsoulis, a property manager from Hyde Park, has focused his campaign on abolishing tax increment financing districts and implementing a property tax system modeled after California’s Proposition 13. The latter would cap property tax rates and limit annual assessment increases, a significant overhaul requiring state legislative changes. Tsatsoulis criticized Hynes for accepting donations from property tax attorneys and has refrained from fundraising himself.

The Cook County assessor election underscores competing visions for property tax administration as the county navigates issues of assessment fairness, economic development, and taxpayer protections. Hynes’s anticipated leadership marks a potential shift towards cooperation and predictability following a contentious period under Kaegi.