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David Orr
David Orr on Live from the Heartland July 23 2012 (1).png
Cook County Clerk
In office
December 11, 1990 – December 10, 2018
Preceded by Stanley Kusper
Succeeded by Karen Yarbrough
52nd Mayor of Chicago
Acting
In office
November 25, 1987 – December 2, 1987
Preceded by Harold Washington
Succeeded by Eugene Sawyer
3rd Vice Mayor of Chicago
In office
April 1987 – May 1988
Mayor Harold Washington
Eugene Sawyer
Preceded by Richard Mell
Succeeded by Terry Gabinski
Member of the Chicago City Council
from the 49th Ward
In office
February 23, 1979 – December 10, 1990
Preceded by Homer Johnson
Succeeded by Robert Clarke
Personal details
Born
David Duvall Orr

(1944-10-04) October 4, 1944 (age 79)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Children 4
Education Simpson College (BA)
Signature

David Duvall Orr (born October 4, 1944) is an American Democratic politician who served as the Cook County Clerk from 1990 to 2018. Orr previously served as alderman for the 49th ward in Chicago City Council from 1979 to 1990. He briefly served as acting Mayor of Chicago from November 25 to December 2, 1987, following the death of Mayor Harold Washington. Orr retired from the office of Cook County Clerk in 2018, opting not to run for an eighth term.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Orr is a graduate of Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He was an instructor at Mundelein College in 1979, when he first decided to run for alderman.

Chicago City Council (1979-90)

Orr entered politics as an "independent Democrat", opposed to the official Democratic Party organization. The party organization was then controlled by the "Machine" created by Mayor Richard J. Daley, who died in December 1976. In February 1979, Orr was elected by a narrow margin of 320 votes alderman from the 49th Ward, which covered most of the Rogers Park neighborhood in the far northeastern corner of Chicago.

Orr was considered a lakefront liberal.

Orr joined with other white "independent" aldermen from the "Lakefront" and black dissident aldermen from the south side and west side in opposing the corruption and racism of the Machine. Orr was re-elected in February 1983 and 1987.

In February 1983, with the Machine divided between supporters of Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley, black independent Harold Washington became Mayor. Washington was opposed by 29 aldermen who tried to paralyze city government for three years in what was dubbed "Council Wars." Orr backed Washington, one of only five white aldermen to do so. After the Washington coalition won the majority in 1986, after special aldermanic elections were held, Orr was elected by the City Council in 1987 to serve as the city's Vice Mayor.

In 1986, Orr, with the assistance of fellow alderman Bernard Stone, successfully pushed an ordinance through City Council that declared Chicago a "nuclear-free zone".

As a city councilman, Orr often prevailed in getting the council to take actions which he fought for. Orr had a reputation of being a "clean" politician, devoid of corruption or negativity. Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko, a cynic towards local politics, stated in 1988, "there are three or four aldermen who are suspected of being honest and [Orr] is one of them."

In May 1988, the City Council voted to oust Orr from his position as Vice Mayor as retribution for his attempts to make reforms that would have held the council's committees more accountable for the budgets they manage.

After Orr resigned from the City Council in 1990 in order to serve as county clerk, then-mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Robert Clarke as his replacement. In the 1991 aldermanic election, Clarke was defeated by Joe Moore, whom Orr had endorsed.

Acting Mayor of Chicago (1987)

When Mayor Washington died of a heart attack on November 25, 1987, Orr, as Vice Mayor, became acting mayor. He took office on November 25 and served for a week until the Council elected a permanent replacement mayor. Orr was suggested as the obvious choice, but as a reformer, he was vehemently opposed by the remaining Machine aldermen, and many black Chicagoans wanted a black replacement for Washington. Alderman Eugene Sawyer, who was black, and before 1983 had been a Machine loyalist, was chosen instead on December 2, 1987. Orr chaired Council meetings as mayor on December 1, a memorial meeting for Washington, and on December 2, when Sawyer was selected as his replacement.

County Clerk (1990-2018)

In 1990, the office of Cook County clerk was vacated by Stanley T. Kusper, Jr. who ran unsuccessfully for president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Orr ran for the office, and won the Democratic primary handily with 56% of the vote against two opponents. He also won easily in the general election, receiving more votes than any other candidate for county office. He was re-elected in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. In 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010, he was unopposed for renomination, and faced only token opposition in the general election.

After taking office, Orr put in place reforms, including instituting a new ethics guide for employees of the Office of the Cook County Clerk.

In 1994, Orr was considered a potential front-runner if he entered the election for president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, but he ultimately decided to run for reelection as clerk instead of seeking the position.

On June 21, 2017, he announced that he would not run for reelection to an eighth term. Karen Yarbrough, the then-Cook County Recorder of Deeds, succeeded Orr as the Clerk.

Subsequent career and activity

In 2013, Orr was appointed as a Senior Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies in the University of Chicago.

In June 2018, Orr founded a political action committee called Good Government Illinois, with the goal of supporting election reform, campaign finance reform, and candidates with shared goals. He supported several candidates in the 2019 Chicago aldermanic election, including Maria Hadden (who ran for his old 49th ward seat), Michael Rodriguez, Andre Vasquez, Matt Martin, Susan Sadlowski Garza, David Moore, and Scott Waguespack.

Orr considered running for mayor of Chicago in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election after incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel declared in early September 2018 that he would no longer be seeking a third term. However, he ultimately did not run. In the week prior to the first round of the election, Orr publicly endorsed the candidacy of Lori Lightfoot.

In the 2023 Chicago mayoral election, Orr endorsed U.S. Representative Chuy Garcia's candidacy for mayor.

Accolades

In 2012, Orr was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community.

Electoral history

Aldermanic

1979 Chicago 49th Ward aldermanic general election
Candidate Votes  %
David Orr 9,108 52.04
Homer H. Johnson (incumbent) 8,394 47.96
Total votes 17,502 100
1983 Chicago 49th Ward aldermanic general election
Candidate Votes  %
David D. Orr (incumbent) 12,881 60.82
Nancy E. Kelly 7,952 37.55
William Deri-Davis 346 1.63
Total votes 21,179 100
1987 Chicago 49th Ward aldermanic general election
Candidate Votes  %
David D. Orr (incumbent) 9,956 57.16
Jack Flemming 5,841 33.53
Howard E. Spinner 1,052 6.04
Grady A. Humphrey 570 3.27
Total votes 17,419 100

County Clerk

1990
1990 Cook County Clerk Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr 353,772 55.94
Democratic Calvin R. Sutker 144,083 22.78
Democratic Joanne H. Alter 134,560 21.28
Total votes 632,415 100
1990 Cook County Clerk election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr 799,884 63.48
Republican Samuel "Sam" Panayotovich 353,531 28.06
Harold Washington Heldia R. Richardson 106,588 8.46
Total votes 1,260,003 100
1994
1994 Cook County Clerk Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 454,873 78.37
Democratic Patricia Young 140,711 23.83
Total votes 595,584 100
1994 Cook County Clerk election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent)
Republican Edward Howlett
Harold Washington Herman W. Baker, Jr.
Populist Curtis Jones
Total votes 100
1998
1998 Cook County Clerk Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Orr (incumbent) 404,839 100
Total votes 404,839 100
1998 Cook County Clerk election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Orr (incumbent) 988,136 77.30
Republican Judith A. "Judie" Jones 290,256 22.70
Total votes 1,278,392 100
2002
2002 Cook County Clerk Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 603,556 100
Total votes 603,556 100
2002 Cook County Clerk election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 992,441 76.11
Republican Kathleen A. Thomas 311,552 23.89
Total votes 1,303,993 100
2006
2006 Cook County Clerk Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 520,407 100
Total votes 520,407 100
2006 Cook County Clerk election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 1,034,263 80.78
Republican Nancy Carlson 246,044 19.22
Total votes 1,280,307 100
2010
2010 Cook County Clerk Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 502,817 100
Total votes 502,817 100
2010 Cook County Clerk election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 1,047,462 77.77
Republican Angel Garcia 299,449 22.23
Total votes 1,346,911 100
2014
2014 Cook County Clerk Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 241,876 100
Total votes 241,876 100
2014 Cook County Clerk election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David D. Orr (incumbent) 1,061,515 100
Total votes 1,061,515 100
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