Three prominent Will County Board members face unique challenges in the primary election on Tuesday.

Jacqueline Traynere, Judy Ogalla and Steve Balich are three of the most outspoken members of a county board that typically has a lot to say on issues that frequently break down on party lines.

The political makeup of the county board, now evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, will be decided in November. But on Tuesday, when primary elections will determine who represents the party in the general election, the fate of three leaders of their parties is up for grabs.

They all face stiff challenges in an election in which primary challenges for county board positions are relatively rare.

“I don’t know how it will go,” Balich, R-Homer Glen, said of the Tuesday primary. “I know there are a lot of people who want to shut me up.”

Balich is an anti-tax Republican who takes positions that lean hard to the right of the political spectrum.

He is often at odds with Traynere, a Democrat from Bolingbrook who may lean as far to the left. She faces her own challenges in this election.

Traynere was convicted last week on misdemeanor charges of computer tampering.

Her primary opponents have been making the most of her legal troubles, she said.

“They have done a mailer that shows me in a jumpsuit behind bars,” Traynere said.

Her conviction is unlikely to lead to jail time.

Ironically, all three of the contested incumbents have a connection to the Traynere case.

Traynere was convicted of illegally gaining access to Ogalla’s email. Ogalla, a Republican from Monee, often has been at odds with Traynere on county board issues.

Balich, in 2024, held a press conference calling for an investigation into the situation before authorities took up the case.

“It’s all connected,” Balich said of the 2024 press conference, the Traynere conviction and the challenges in the Tuesday election.

But it’s not clear how.

Ogalla’s election challenge has nothing directly to do with Traynere.

She faces a stiff primary challenge from Neil “Muggsy” Gallagher, a candidate that Republicans have attempted to brand as a Democrat intruding on their primary.

“I absolutely consider him to be a Democrat running as a Republican,” Ogalla said.

She and others have pointed to Gallagher’s voting record. Since 2008, he has voted in six Democratic primaries and took one Republican ballot in 2016.

Gallagher survived 17 challenges to his candidacy in November to stay on the ballot.

Gallagher, a farmer, did not return phone calls for an interview this week, saying he was busy on the farm. Instead, he sent statements by email saying allegations that he actually is a Democrat are a “made-up attack” by Ogalla and describing himself as “a strong conservative Republican for 40 years.”

Ogalla said Gallagher’s candidacy is an attempt by Democrats, including County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, to “get me off the board.”

A former county board Republican leader, Ogalla has frequently faced off with Bertino-Tarrant on issues that divided the board.

The county board is made up of 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans, leaving Bertino-Tarrant as the tie-breaker on controversial issues that at times split the board evenly.

Eight county board districts are on the ballot in the primary and again in November, which creates an opportunity to change the board’s party makeup.

In the primary election, however, there are challenges in only the three districts that Ogalla, Traynere and Balich represent.

Each county board district is represented by two members. Typically, two or fewer candidates run in each party’s primary and then face off with the opposing party in the general election for the two board spots.

On Tuesday, there will be only one candidate in party primaries in six county board districts.

The only competition is in the Republican primary for District 2, the Republican primary for District 4, and the Democratic Primary for District 11 – all involving Ogalla, Balich and Traynere.

One exception could be the Democratic primary in District 4, where Kevin Koukol is trying to mount a write-in bid against the two candidates on the ballot, William Pratt and Sherri Boniecki-Cooling.

It’s a Republican-leaning district, however, and Balich, along with incumbent James Richmond, R-Mokena, are on the Republican ballot along with Michael Lepore and Pawel Tyrala.

Lepore is a village trustee in Homer Glen, where elected village officials mounted a successful campaign last year to remove Balich as Homer Township supervisor.

In District 2, Ogalla and incumbent Frankie Pretzel, R-New Lenox, are on the Republican ballot with Gallagher.

The contest, however, appears to be between Ogalla and Gallagher.

“The only person he (Gallagher) is attacking is me,” Ogalla said.

Gallagher, in his emailed statements on the campaign, described Ogalla as “my opponent,” accused her of being “a typical career politician,” and did not refer to Pretzel.

In Bolingbrook, Traynere is one of four candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Others are Sheldon Watts, Tyler Giacalone and Barbara Ann Parker.