Sharon Waller

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Sharon Waller

Democratic Party

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago

Tenure

2024 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

0

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Evanston Township High School

Graduate

Purdue University, 2004

Ph.D

Northwestern University, 2010

Personal

Birthplace

Chicago, Ill.

Religion

Christian: Presbyterian

Profession

Environmental Engineer

Contact

Campaign website

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Sharon Waller (Democratic Party) is a member of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago in Illinois. She assumed office on December 3, 2024. Her current term ends on December 5, 2028.

Waller (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago in Illinois. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Waller completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Sharon Waller was born in Chicago, Illinois. She earned a high school diploma from Evanston Township High School. Waller earned a graduate degree from Purdue University in 2004 and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2010. Her career experience includes working as an environmental engineer. She has been affiliated with the Water Environment Federation, the American Water Works Association, the WateReuse Association, Chicago Presbytery, and the Chicago Park District.

Elections

2024

See also: Municipal elections in Cook County, Illinois (2024)

General election

General election for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Kari Steele (D)	24.6	1,147,395
✔		Marcelino Garcia (D)	22.6	1,053,366
✔		Sharon Waller (D)	22.3	1,038,968
	Submit photo	Claire Connelly (R)	9.7	450,926
	Submit photo	Richard Dale (R)	9.1	424,890
	Submit photo	Brendan Ehlers (R)	7.9	366,856
		Toneal Jackson (G)	4.0	185,130

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 4,667,531
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (3 seats)

Incumbent Kari Steele, incumbent Marcelino Garcia, and Sharon Waller defeated incumbent Daniel Pogorzelski in the Democratic primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on March 19, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Kari Steele	31.1	366,070
✔		Marcelino Garcia	27.3	320,883
✔		Sharon Waller	21.2	249,745
		Daniel Pogorzelski	20.3	238,575

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,175,273
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Eddie Ngozi Nwosu (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (3 seats)

Claire Connelly, Richard Dale, and Brendan Ehlers defeated George Blakemore in the Republican primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on March 19, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Claire Connelly	35.6	65,116
✔	Submit photo	Richard Dale	34.0	62,073
✔	Submit photo	Brendan Ehlers	30.4	55,497
	Submit photo	George Blakemore (Write-in)	0.0	32

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 182,718
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Waller in this election.

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Cook County, Illinois (2022)

General election

General election for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (3 seats)

Incumbent Mariyana Spyropoulos, Patricia Theresa Flynn, and Yumeka Brown defeated R. Cary Capparelli and Mark Buettner in the general election for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Mariyana Spyropoulos (D)	29.6	865,103
✔	Submit photo	Patricia Theresa Flynn (D)	26.2	766,291
✔		Yumeka Brown (D)	24.3	710,037
		R. Cary Capparelli (R)	12.5	365,671
		Mark Buettner (G)	7.5	219,711

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,926,813
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Mariyana Spyropoulos	22.2	257,580
✔	Submit photo	Patricia Theresa Flynn	17.4	201,003
✔		Yumeka Brown	16.0	185,222
		Sharon Waller	12.9	149,165
		Precious Brady-Davis	10.9	126,672
	Submit photo	Frank Avila	8.6	99,815
	Submit photo	Rick Garcia	6.6	76,019
	Submit photo	Cristina Nonato	5.4	62,738
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	5

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 1,158,219
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (3 seats)

R. Cary Capparelli advanced from the Republican primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		R. Cary Capparelli	100.0	100,427

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 100,427
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: Municipal elections in Cook County, Illinois (2018)

General election

Special general election for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago

Cam Davis defeated Geoffrey Cubbage in the special general election for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cam Davis (D)	79.0	1,189,922
	Submit photo	Geoffrey Cubbage (G)	21.0	317,149

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 1,507,071
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago

The following candidates ran in the special Democratic primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cam Davis (Write-in)	90.7	28,505
	Submit photo	Simon Gordon (Write-in)	5.3	1,681
	Submit photo	Frank Avila Jr. (Write-in)	1.6	515
	Submit photo	Karen Bond (Write-in)	1.0	316
		Sharon Waller (Write-in)	0.7	214
	Submit photo	Joe Cook (Write-in)	0.6	198
	Submit photo	Sergio Bocanegra (Write-in)	0.0	14

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 31,443
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Green primary election

Special Green primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago

Geoffrey Cubbage advanced from the special Green primary for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Geoffrey Cubbage (Write-in)	100.0	76

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 76
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2024

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released December 13, 2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Sharon Waller completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Waller's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a licensed Professional Environmental Engineer and small business owner with 30 years experience in the water industry. I serve my community as the President of River Park Advisory Council and as a volunteer with several environmental organizations and as a parent volunteer in our local schools.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• How we adapt to climate change will be the foremost social justice issue of our time, and water districts will be important.
• Climate change is real, and science has become political. It's time to elect engineers and scientists. If elected, I'll be first-ever water engineer on the water rec board. I'm endorsed by 314Action.org which is dedicated to electing STEM candidates to all levels of government.
• Some voters don’t believe that politics and government can help the issues they face. I can refute that because since I ran in 2022, we made real progress with three bills in the Illinois legislature, two task forces formed, and a state water plan with recommendations for reuse. That’s more progress than I’ve seen in 30 years as an Environmental Engineer, and it’s proof that engineers are useful.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Groundwater depletion, combined sewer overflow, harmful algal blooms, PFAS "forever chemicals" in our drinking water and food chain are real problems that need real solutions. Climate change is real and science has become political. It's time to elect engineers and scientists. On March 19, VOTE #81 for clean water, the FIRST MWRD candidate for the FIRST-EVER water engineer on the water reclamation board in Cook County.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

Cook County is the second largest county in the USA, a major contributor to nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin, and a custodian of the Lake Michigan/Great Lakes freshwater supply. The office of MWRD Commissioner is uniquely positioned to work with our state legislature on water policy for our region.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I’m fascinated but people who speak out for justice when it does not benefit them. Some people with nothing to loose, but others speak out against to prevailing narrative at great personal cost. Some examples include Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Galileo Galilei, Harvey Milk, Martin Luther King Jr, Erin Brockovich, and Greta Thunberg to name a few.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The following articles are essential reading to understand increased flooding (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/climate/chicago-river-lake-michigan.html; https://evanstonroundtable.com/2021/09/24/opinion-sewer-overflows-climate-change/) and how we can reduce combined sewer overflow with decentralized water reclamation and reuse following New York City (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/business/drought-water-reuse-development.html). Our watershed is over-paved, and we must slow water down with green infrastructure, wetlands, and agricultural buffer strips (https://ensia.com/features/what-a-project-in-wisconsin-can-teach-others-about-working-with-farmers-to-reduce-phosphorus-runoff/) to flooding, reduce nutrient pollution, and harmful algal blooms. We continue to add “forever chemicals” to our environment as the same time we are spending tax payer dollars to find ways to remove them from our drinking water supply when we could instead follow source control legislation from Maine (https://www.maine.gov/dep/spills/topics/pfas/PFAS-products/). Technology exists but lack of policy is a barrier. Since 2022, I have worked with our state legislature and my professional organizations, and together we’ve made real progress with three bills in the Illinois legislature, two task forces formed, and a state water plan with recommendations for reuse. But much more is needed to adapt to climate change.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Transparency, accountability, and effective communication are paramount characteristics of an effective elected official. Elected officials must work with other elected officials and across jurisdictional boundaries to serve their constituents needs.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I can bring together many groups to address our water issues including my three professional water associations and environmental groups. This has been the basis of success in advancing three bills in the IL House, forming two task forces, and placing reuse recommendations in our IL State Water Plan since 2022.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The job of MWRD Commissioner is to vote on contracts required to complete the MWRD mission (public health and safety, water quality protection, and flood management), work with the inspector general to root out corruption and promote good governance, and to provide representation for taxation. Beyond these duties, the office of MWRD Commissioner is uniquely positioned to work with our state legislature on water policy that will help our region adapt to climate change.

What legacy would you like to leave?

My motto is from Girl Scouts. Leave the palace better than you found it.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I recall being aware that Jimmy Carter was running for President because a kindergarten friend wore a peanut shaped necklace pendent to show her support.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I started babysitting at age 12YO. My first W2 job at age 15-17 was cleaning kennels at an animal hospital because I thought I wanted to be a vet like my big sister. I had part-time jobs all through high school and college to help pay my way.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience by Hopkins (2014)

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Aquaman

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

“I Got You Babe” by Sony and Cher in the the movie Ground Hog Day

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I didn’t read a book until 6th grade, probably due to undiagnosed dyslexia. I learned to hide my challenge and set work-arounds. This taught me to approach barrier as water flows around rocks, and water always wins. See the Grand Canyon for evidence.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

MWRD’s mission is to protect public health and safety, protect the quality of the water supply source (Lake Michigan), improve the quality of surface water, protect businesses and homes form flood damage, and manage water as a vital resource for its service area (https://mwrd.org/what-we-do). No other elected position in Cook County has an equivalent focus on public health and environmental stewardship, and no other agency has the equivalent potential to impact the social justice of who floods and who has access to affordable clean water.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

I do not believe political experience is necesary for MWRD where commissioners have largely been elected due to there political connections. If political connections was all that was required, we would have less combined sewer overflow and flooding. Yet, Illinois is the only state in the USA were water reuse is illegal which is ridiculous because water reuse is the natural water cycle that we teach to our 3rd graders. We should view all our water issues in context of the global water cycle to find more sustainable solutions. Other seated commissioners will tell you have reducing combined sewer overflow is impossible, but I think it’s disgraceful to say that New York can do it but Chicago can’t.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

In order to advance the MWRD mission to protect businesses and homes from flood damage, MWRD will have to work with municipalities (when invited) to secure funding and procure projects to improve local sewers which are currently the bottleneck for floodwaters to reach the stormwater tunnels and reservoirs. Municipalities with old unimproved sewers experienced catastrophic flooding in July 2023 (Cicero) while others that have increased their sewer capacity did not experience significant flooding (Evanston). MWRD has had the opportunity to learn from failed stormwater projects where trust was lacking (Robbins) and can apply these lessons to better prepare for collaborative projects that require transparency and accountability for the best interest of taxpayers.

Tell us your favorite joke.

Why are some fish at the bottom of the ocean? They dropped out of school!

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Cook County Farm Bureau, 314Action, and Northside Democracy for America. See www.waller4water.com for update.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Transparency, accountability, and effective communication are paramount characteristics of an effective elected official. I am committed to ensuring transparency in the operations of Water Reclamation District. Citizens have the right to know how their water resources are managed and how their hard-earned money is being utilized. I will work diligently to maintain accountability and openness in all our endeavors. As your representative in the Water Reclamation District, I pledge to be a tireless advocate for these principles.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2022

Sharon Waller did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

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