Bridget Gainer

Bio

Bridget Gainer (born 1968/1969) is a Democrat who has served as Cook County Commissioner for the 10th District since April 2009, seeking her fourth full term in March 2026. She was born and raised in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's south side. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990 with a BA in English and Political Science, and later earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. After college she worked as a community organizer with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in New York City. She returned to Chicago in 1994, working as a budget analyst in Mayor Richard M. Daley's City Hall, then as Director of Lakefront Parks for the Chicago Park District. She subsequently joined Aon, the global risk management firm, where she currently serves as Global Head of Public Affairs & Policy. She was appointed to the County Board in April 2009 to replace Mike Quigley, who won the special election for the congressional seat vacated by Rahm Emanuel. Gainer's signature legislative achievements include founding and chairing the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA) — the largest geographic land bank in the country — and co-sponsoring the Cook County Earned Sick Time Ordinance in 2016. She chairs the Pension and Business and Economic Development committees and co-chairs Workforce, Housing and Community Development. She was the first woman to chair the Cook County Health and Hospitals board. She is the founder of 'Cause the Effect Chicago' (originally 'Off the Sidelines Chicago'), a women's civic impact organization she co-founded with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2015 and which grew to over 3,000 members. Her 2026 challenger Drake Warren has raised the issue of her dual employment at Aon and her attendance record: a March 2026 Chicago Sun-Times analysis found she missed approximately 23% of County Board meetings, the second-worst record among incumbents.

Prior office: Cook County Commissioner District 10 (first appointed April 2009; won 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 full terms)

Key Votes

• lead sponsorCook County Earned Sick Time Ordinance, 2016

  Gainer and Commissioner Jesus Garcia (7th) were lead sponsors of the Cook County Earned Sick Time Ordinance, approved by the County Board on October 5, 2016. The ordinance provided up to 5 paid sick days/year (1 hour per 40 worked) for workers in suburban Cook County, covering an estimated 441,000 workers. It made Cook County the largest county in the U.S. with paid sick leave legislation, mirroring Chicago's ordinance. Effective July 1, 2017.

• lead author/founderCook County Land Bank Authority Ordinance (founding ordinance)

  Gainer founded and authored the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA) ordinance, creating what became the largest geographic land bank in the country. The CCLBA addresses the county's approximately 55,000 vacant residential, industrial and commercial properties. As of the ordinance's implementation, over 400 homes had been purchased and rehabbed through the program. Gainer has chaired the CCLBA board since its founding.

• lead championCook County Pension Reform (collaborative working group bill)

  Gainer created the Cook County Board's first Pension Committee and chaired it. She launched the OpenPensions.org website for public transparency and led a labor-government working group that drafted one of Illinois's first collaborative pension reform bills. The resulting bill became a model for county-level pension reform efforts.

• lead championCook County Criminal Justice Reforms — shackling ban and new mothers' separation policy

  Gainer led the effort to ban shackling of pregnant detainees during delivery at Cook County Jail and eliminate the practice of separating new mothers awaiting trial from their newborns. She also created the first citizen advisory board for the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.