A Naperville Central social studies teacher was elected as an Elk Grove Township Trustee in the April 1 consolidated election.
Robert Lugiai was elected as part of a Democratic slate that swept the four seats of the Elk Grove Township board, taking control from the Republican Party which has held power since the township was established in the mid-1800s, according to Journal & Topics Media Group.
“I absolutely believe that local government affects so many more people than national government,” Lugiai said. “And so this was a very big moment just for me because I’ve always wanted to get involved in politics, but it always seemed like it was unattainable.”
The Democratic slate of candidates were elected with each candidate sharing around 15% of the votes, compared to the four incumbent Republican candidates who each garnered around 10% of the ballots.
“We had an incredible slate of people,” Lugiai said. “We had two social workers, a union veteran who’s a carpenter and then me a social studies teacher. I was able to get in front of people and talk not just about the history of our country and why it’s important for people in rooms to stand up and defend themselves. This is in order to try and create change… as whenever we try to change society, it usually involves a very small group of people that begins a much larger movement.”
The slate was chosen through a caucus instead of a primary, as there were four interested democratic candidates running for four spots on the ballot.
“We didn’t know how it was going to go, but there were a lot of people that thought like us and that believe in the institutions that we believe in,” Lugiai said. “It was just very affirming to know I chose a community that represents me, that supports me and supports my values.”
Lugiai is a Central Graduate from the Class of 2007 and first started working at Central in 2016. He now teaches U.S. history classes and has previously taught government as well as a capstone class.
“We’ve reshaped our government and U.S. history classes to be much more locally based,” Lugiai said. “Taking the experience of this is what the local government does now that I’m responsible for it and showing and teaching students that the decisions made here in Naperville, Lisle and Bolingbrook affect us so much more than laws that are being passed in Washington.”
Non-republican candidates have only run for the township board three times since the mid-1800s, and Lugiai is the first LGBTQ+ elected trustee in Elk Grove township’s history.
“[Lugiai] is just a great communicator, both when he’s speaking and just talking one on one with someone,” said Ted Mason, Elk Grove Township Democrats Committeeperson. “I think that’s how he really got to know a lot of people and engage with them.”
Lugiai started his candidacy process in January, and estimates that he and his fellow candidates on the slate knocked on over 7000 doors of registered voters during the campaign. His campaign also included a fundraiser, phone banking as well as sending out mailers to voters.
“I was driving to the restaurant with my husband and we were getting early returns from polling locations and I was in fifth place,” Lugiai said. “The top four people get voted in. I was getting really nervous as I was driving to the election night party. Then all of a sudden mail-in-ballots dropped and our vote share went through the roof overall. That wave of ‘oh my gosh, I’m happy because my three other slate members got elected, but I didn’t’ quickly turned into elation.”
The role of a township includes maintaining roads and bridges, assessing property and providing assistance to the community. A trustee is a member of the governing board that decides actions taken by the township.
“We had four main components we wanted to talk about,” Lugiai said. “First was social services. We wanted to increase mental health awareness as well as hire more social workers. We wanted to increase transparency for our community so that we knew where our tax dollars were going and we also wanted to increase outreach.”
Lugiai will be sworn in along with the other new trustees on May 18 and will immediately proceed that night into his first meeting as a trustee.
“I just think it’s really important that no matter what, you get involved in some way in local politics, if that’s voting, if that’s canvassing, if that’s phone banking, even if just staying on top of minutes,” Lugiai said. “Knowing what is happening around you is your civic responsibility as not just Americans, but also people living in this community.”
