Salvador Rodriguez, Luis Santoyo join the 2026 race for Kane County sheriff
Earlier this month, Kane County Undersheriff Amy Johnson announced her intention to run for sheriff — with Hain's support.
So far, she faces two opponents, including a primary challenger.
Salvador Rodriguez of Sugar Grove, who previously worked in the Kane County Sheriff's Office, has announced he is running for sheriff as a Democrat against Johnson.
Luis Santoyo, a current Elburn village trustee, has announced he is running as a Republican for sheriff in the 2026 election.
Rodriguez retired from the Kane County Sheriff's Office, where he said he worked for nearly 30 years and held a number of different positions — such as a patrol deputy, field training officer, K-9 handler, a sergeant in the Office of Professional Standards and a public safety police lieutenant, according to his campaign website.
He said he was involved with the office's Explorer Post Program and also helped develop the office's Cadet Program, which gives individuals ages 17-20 insights into how the department operates and provides entry-level deputy sheriff training.
Rodriguez said he has been planning to run for sheriff since last spring. He filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections in October, and has begun to accept campaign contributions, according to records from the state Board of Elections.
His top goal is to provide leadership 'rooted in real community involvement,' he said on Monday, like facilitating talks with the community and partnering with local police departments.
'Everything from coffee with a cop to putting on programs where we come together with the youth,' he said.
He said forming relationships with local communities could increase the likelihood that community members will call law enforcement when problems arise.
'Especially over on the East Side of Aurora, where it's low-income housing, where we're the busiest … one of the events that I want to do is to get some of us in uniform, go out there, knock on their doors and talk to them — and not in our (squad cars) where they're going to be intimidated, but us on foot in the neighborhood talking to everybody.'
If elected sheriff, Rodriguez also plans to respond to what he called in a press release announcing his bid for sheriff 'the national disregard for the rule of law.'
'I think, nationally, there's just this whirlwind of uncertainty and things that aren't being enforced and are being enforced,' he said. 'I will not waver under any type of pressure from the federal government, federal police or just in general.'
Rodriguez is also a Democratic precinct committeeman for Sugar Grove Township and a member of the Western Kane Democrats, according to Monday's press release. He's worked as an adjunct professor at Aurora University, he said, and attended schools in Aurora and Naperville as well as Aurora University.
Also in the race is Luis Santoyo of Elburn, who's running as a Republican per the Illinois State Board of Elections. He filed his statement of organization on April 16.
According to Santoyo's campaign website, he was born in Mexico and grew up in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. He previously worked as a detective in the Cook County Sheriff's Department, having investigated crimes like child exploitation and gang violence and serving as a forensic artist, hostage negotiator and dignitary protection specialist. He has also worked with immigrant and underserved communities, his website says.
In 2023, he was elected an Elburn village trustee.
The mid-term elections will take place on Nov. 3, 2026, with the primary election next April.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
20 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Japan's Ishiba says he will decide on resignation over election loss after studying US tariff deal
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he will make a decision on resigning over a historic defeat of his ruling party in a weekend election after closely studying the tariff deal just struck with the United States. Ishiba has been under growing pressure to step down as his ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majority in the 248-member upper house, the smaller and less powerful of Japan's two-chamber parliament on Sunday, shaking his grip on power and Japan's political stability. The loss means Ishiba's ruling coalition, which also lost a majority in the more powerful lower house in October, now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament, making it even more difficult for his government to achieve any policy goals and worsening Japan's political instability. Ishiba had announced his intention Monday to stay on to tackle pressing challenges, including tariff talks with the U.S., without creating a political vacuum, sparking calls from inside and outside his own party for a quick resignation to respond to the election results. With the tariff deal with the U.S. paving the way for his possible departure, Japanese media said he is expected to soon announce plans to step down in August. Ishiba welcomed the trade agreement Wednesday, which places a 15% tax on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the U.S. from Japan, down from the initial 25%, saying it was a product of tough negotiations to protect the national interest and that it would help benefit both sides as they work together to create more jobs and investment. But Ishiba declined to comment on his possible move and only told reporters that he has to closely examine the trade deal first. In Sunday's election, voters frustrated with price increases exceeding the pace of wage hikes, especially younger people who have long felt ignored by the ruling government's focus on senior voters, rapidly turned to emerging conservative and rightwing populist parties, like the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito. None of the opposition parties have shown interest in forming a full-fledged alliance with the governing coalition but they have said they are open to cooperating on policy.
an hour ago
Texas lawmakers begin review of catastrophic floods that killed at least 135
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas lawmakers on Wednesday were set to begin reviewing the July 4 floods that killed at least 135 people, a disaster that put local officials under scrutiny over why residents along the Guadalupe River did not receive more warnings. The catastrophic floods in the Texas Hill Country and a partisan redrawing of U.S. House maps, aimed at giving Republicans more winnable seats in the 2026 elections, are two major issues in a 30-day special session that is already off to a combative start. Democrats want to address flood relief and new flood warning systems before taking votes on new congressional maps sought by President Donald Trump. They have not ruled out a walkout in a bid to derail the redistricting, which they have slammed as a partisan power grab. State and county emergency response officials are scheduled to testify on Wednesday, but no officials from Kerr County, the area most hard-hit by the floods, are expected to appear. Lawmakers have filed bills to improve early warning systems and emergency communications and to provide relief funding. Kerr County, where 27 campers and counselors, most of them children, were killed at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp, does not have a warning system along the river after several missed opportunities by state and local agencies to finance one. Three people remain missing. At one point, county officials said more than 170 people were unaccounted for. Lawmakers are scheduled to visit Kerrville on July 31 to hear from residents. Democrats have left open the possibility of filibusters or walking out in the coming weeks to block the proposed congressional map redraw. On Monday, most of the party's members in the House signed a letter to the speaker stating that they would not engage in any work before addressing flood relief. But Democrats have few paths to resistance as the minority party in both chambers. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has threatened to arrest those who attempt to walk out on top of the $500 a day fines lawmakers face for breaking a quorum. ___
an hour ago
Trump rehashes years-old grievances on Russia investigation after new intelligence report
WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump rehashed longstanding grievances over the Russia investigation that shadowed much of his first term, lashing out Tuesday following a new report from his intelligence director aimed at casting doubt on long-established findings about Moscow's interference in the 2016 election. 'It's time to go after people,' Trump said from the Oval Office as he repeated a baseless claim that former President Barack Obama and other officials had engaged in treason. Trump was not making his claims for the first time, but he delivered them when administration officials are harnessing the machinery of the federal government to investigate the targets of Trump's derision, including key officials responsible for scrutinizing Russia's attempts to intervene on Trump's behalf in 2016. The backward-looking inquiries are taking place even as the Republican administration's national security agencies are confronting global threats. But they have served as a rallying cry for Trump, who is trying to unify a political base at odds over the Jeffrey Epstein case, with some allies pressing to disclose more information despite the president's push to turn the page. Trump's attack prompted a rare response from Obama's post-presidential office. 'Our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,' said Patrick Rodenbush, an Obama spokesman. 'But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.' Trump's tirade, a detour from his official business as he hosted the leader of the Philippines, unfolded against the backdrop of a new report from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that represented his administration's latest attempt to rewrite the history of the Russia investigation, which has infuriated him for years. The report, released Friday, downplayed the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 election by highlighting Obama administration emails showing officials had concluded before and after the presidential race that Moscow had not hacked state election systems to manipulate votes in Trump's favor. But Obama's Democratic administration never suggested otherwise, even as it exposed other means by which Russia interfered in the election, including through a massive hack-and-leak operation of Democratic emails by intelligence operatives working with WikiLeaks, as well as a covert influence campaign aimed at swaying public opinion and sowing discord through fake social media posts. Gabbard's report appears to suggest the absence of manipulation of state election systems is a basis to call into question more general Russian interference. By issuing it, she appeared to recover her standing in Trump's orbit, which just one month ago had seemed uncertain after Trump said she was 'wrong' when she previously said she believed Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon. 'She's the hottest one in the room right now,' Trump said Tuesday night. 'Tulsi, great job — and I know you have a lot more coming.' Democrats, for their part, swiftly decried the report as factually flawed and politically motivated. 'It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president's election conspiracy theories,' Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on X. Russia's broad interference in 2016 has been established through a series of investigations, including special counsel Robert Mueller's report, which concluded that the Trump campaign welcomed the Kremlin's help but also found insufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy. A House Intelligence Committee report also documented Russia's meddling, as did the Senate Intelligence Committee, which concluded its work in 2020 at a time when the panel was led by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who's now Trump's secretary of state. A different special counsel appointed by the Trump Justice Department to hunt for problems in the origins of the Russia investigation, John Durham, did find flaws, but not related to what Gabbard sought to highlight in her report. 'Few episodes in our nation's history have been investigated as thoroughly as the Intelligence Community's warning in 2016 that Russia was interfering in the election,' said Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He added that every legitimate investigation, including the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee probe, 'found no evidence of politicization and endorsed the findings' of an intelligence committee assessment on Russian interference made public in 2017. Gabbard's document was released weeks after a CIA report that reexamined that earlier intelligence community assessment. That new review, ordered by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, did not dispute Russia had interfered but suggested officials were rushed in the assessment they reached. Ratcliffe has since referred former CIA Director John Brennan to the Justice Department for investigation, a person familiar with the matter has said. The department earlier this month appeared to acknowledge an open investigation into Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey in an unusual statement, but the status and contours of the inquiries are unclear. Besides Obama, Trump on Tuesday rattled off a list of people he accused of acting criminally 'at the highest level,' including Comey, his 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and former national intelligence director James Clapper. He accused Obama, without evidence, of being the 'ringleader' of a conspiracy to get him. Obama has never been accused of any wrongdoing as part of the Russia investigation, and, in any event, a landmark Supreme Court opinion from last year shields former presidents from prosecution for official acts conducted in office. Trump launched his tirade when asked about the Justice Department's effort to speak with Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Epstein, who was convicted of helping the financier sexually abuse underage girls. 'I don't really follow that too much,' he said. 'It's sort of a witch hunt, a continuation of the witch hunt.' Trump is under pressure release more about the Epstein case. Democrats say Trump is resisting because of his past association with Epstein. Trump has denied knowledge of or involvement with Epstein's crimes and said he ended their friendship years ago.
