It’s widely known that Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign has been heavily funded by labor unions that he holds influence over, a legal but ethically questionable practice.
One of Johnson’s political mentors, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, has been doing the same — accepting millions of dollars in campaign contributions from labor groups that her administration negotiates collective bargaining agreements with, records show.
But a Chicago Sun-Times review found Preckwinkle at times has taken this a step further — accepting contributions while union negotiations are pending with county agencies she helps oversee.
Recent examples involve Teamsters Local 700, which represents about 10,000 public sector employees. Among them: more than 200 maintenance and other workers with the Cook County Forest Preserve District who went on strike in August and reached an agreement earlier this month that ended the walk out.
Contract talks between Local 700 and the Forest Preserve District began in May 2025, according to the agency, whose oversight board is composed of Cook County Board members and headed by Preckwinkle.
Local 700’s political action committee gave $10,000 to the Preckwinkle for President campaign fund in a contribution dated March 17, 2026, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
That was the date of the primary election that saw Preckwinkle face a well-funded opponent in Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), though she ended up winning handily and is now moving to the Nov. 3 general election in which there’s a Libertarian opponent, Michael Murphy, but no Republican.
The Local 700 contribution appears to be the largest given by the group to the Preckwinkle fund in a decade. It’s unclear whether the money was solicited by the Preckwinkle campaign.
But the union has given previously — more than $100,000 in total since 2010, when Preckwinkle first won the County Board president position, records show.
One of the other donations — for $2,500 — was given to Preckwinkle’s campaign in a contribution dated October 2025, records show. Another, for $5,000, was given in a donation dated May 29, 2025.
That was not only around the time talks started between Local 700 and Forest Preserve officials, but also just before other talks commenced between the union and Preckwinkle’s administration over contract extensions covering county employees represented by the same Teamsters unit.
The first of those bargaining sessions was June 17, 2025, and contract extensions were finalized and approved by the County Board in late November, with Preckwinkle not voting but signing the collective bargaining agreements, officials said.
The county employees covered by them range from administrative assistants and correctional officers to equipment operators and clerks.
Teamsters officials couldn’t be reached for comment about the contributions and their timing.
A Preckwinkle spokeswoman said, “Madam President is not at the bargaining table” and all county contracts “are ratified by the unions and submitted to the Board of Commissioners for approval.”
Preckwinkle “has consistently balanced the county budget and made tough fiscal calls, including ones labor unions didn’t like, because her decisions are guided by what’s best for Cook County residents and taxpayers,” the spokeswoman said. “Labor’s support of her is a reflection of shared values, not a quid pro quo. Cook County residents can trust that decisions are made in full compliance with the law and in full public view.”
Cook County’s ethics rules do not bar such campaign contributions.
Unionized county employees either report up to Preckwinkle or to other elected county officials, such as the sheriff. Regardless, Preckwinkle’s office generally takes the lead in contract talks, officials said.
Teamsters groups have contributed more than $300,000 to Preckwinkle for President in total since 2010, about half of that coming from Teamsters’ Volunteers in Politics, records show.
Funded by dues from Local 700 and sister groups, the political action committee gave Preckwinkle for President $5,000 in a contribution dated in September 2025 and $7,500 in a contribution dated in January 2026.
Representing employees at the county-run Provident Hospital, Teamsters Local 743 also pays into Teamsters’ Volunteers in Politics, records show. Local 743 has also given several donations totaling $1,200 to Preckwinkle for President since 2010.
In 2019, when Preckwinkle ran unsuccessfully for Chicago mayor, Teamsters’ Volunteers in Politics gave a different Preckwinkle campaign fund, Toni for Chicago, $25,000, records show.
Since 2018, Preckwinkle has also been in charge of the Cook County Democratic Party, whose campaign fund has since accepted more than $50,000 in contributions from Teamsters groups, including Teamsters’ Volunteers in Politics, Local 743 and Local 700, records show.
Other unions with county contracts that have donated substantially to Preckwinkle’s campaigns include the Service Employees International Union, which has given roughly $5 million since she first ran for County Board president, though a significant amount of that went for her mayoral run.
Operating Engineers Local 399, which has a county labor contract, gave Preckwinkle for President $25,000 earlier this year.