Richard R. Boykin is a former member of the

Cook County Board of Commissioners The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district, and a president who is elected county-wide, all for four-year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the Uni ...

who represented the

1st district The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Inn ...

from December 2014 until December 2018. Boykin was elected in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

to represent the

on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The 1st district covers both Chicago and its suburbs. It includes the Chicago neighborhoods of Garfield Park, and Humboldt Park, and the suburbs of Broadview, Maywood, Bellwood,

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China * Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fo ...

, Oak Park, and Elmwood Park. On the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Boykin opposed the controversial "soda tax". Boykin came into conflict with the County Board President

Toni Preckwinkle Toni Lynn Preckwinkle (née Reed; born March 17, 1947) is an American politician and the current County Board President in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was first elected as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the e ...

on this matter. Boykin took the lead against the tax, and succeeded in getting the Board to repeal it in 2017. On the infrequent votes by the Board that saw division by its members, Boykin was among the Board members who most frequently voted against the positions of County Board President Preckwinkle and her

floor leader In politics, floor leaders, also known as a caucus leader, are leaders of their respective political party in a body of a legislature. Philippines In the Philippines each body of the bicameral Congress has a majority floor leader and a minor ...

, Chuy García. Per a 2018 analysis by the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', Boykin had a high rate of attendance at board meetings, with the analysis finding him to have only missed 2% of meetings during a period from 2014 through 2017. The study found only

John P. Daley John P. Daley (born December 5, 1946) is the 11th Ward Democratic Committeeman in Chicago, Illinois, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners ( 11th district), and the Chair of the Cook County Board Audit and Finance Committee. He has ...

to have a greater rate of attendance. In

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, Boykin narrowly lost reelection in the Democratic primary to Brandon Johnson, who had been endorsed against Boykin by Toni Preckwinkle. In

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, Boykin unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for Clerk of the

Circuit Court of Cook County The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 24 judicial circuits in Illinois as well as one of the largest unified court systems in the United States — second only in size to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County since that court ...

. Boykin unsuccessfully challenged President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Toni Preckwinkle in that office's

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Democratic Party primary.

Electoral history

References

External links

Official Richard R. Boykin website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boykin, Richard Year of birth missing (living people) Living people African-American people in Illinois politics Politicians from Chicago University of Dayton alumni Illinois Democrats Members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners 21st-century African-American people