Kim Foxx faces challenges from O'Brien, Dennehy in Cook Co. State's Attorney race

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In two weeks, Cook County voters will make a critical choice about who will be the top law enforcement official, as incumbent Kim Foxx faces a pair of challenges from Republican Pat O'Brien and Liberatrian Brian Dennehy.

Foxx is looking for voters to give her another four years in office.

"I think I have a proud record to stand on; for the first three years of this administration, violent crime went down year over year, three years in a row," she said.

Her main rival, Republican Pat O'Brien, is a former prosecutor who once served as chief of the criminal division.

"If she wants, one, to take credit for the crime going down between 2017 and 2019, she also has to take the blame for crime going up to skyrocketing levels in 2020," he said.

Libertarian Brian Dennehy would prioritize prosecuting violent crime and property crimes.

"To the extent of my lawful discretion, I will not be spending any time at all on adult consent crimes," he said. "I believe the drug war is immoral. I believe that laws against sex work are immoral."

On Tuesday, Foxx released a new add criticizing O'Brien for 27 wrongful convictions under his watch.

"We've gone from being the false confession capital of the United States wherein my opponent has 27 wrongful convictions under his belt, to vacating over 100 convictions of those who were wrongfully convicted," she said.

O'Brien said he did not personally prosecute any of those cases. In his new ad, he attacks Foxx for policies he said contributed to the murders of dozens of Chicago children.

"She doesn't prosecute violent crime, she doesn't give victims a voice," he said.

He also points to the Jussie Smollett case as raising questions about integrity.

"I've said all along we could have handled things better. And I believe that the special prosecutor found that there was no outside influence, there was no criminal behavior, and that I, in fact, had no role in the final decision making," Foxx responded.

The race could come down to what voters want to see out of Cook County's top law enforcement officer, and with the top two contenders seeing an influx of donations recently, they will be flooding the airwaves with commercials from now until Election Day.