Cook County Sheriff’s Deputy Ty Backlund announced on January 23, 2026, that he is running for election to Sheriff in November. Current Sheriff Pat Eliasen is retiring at the end of 2026 after 31 years in law enforcement. Backlund has been a deputy with the department since 2023 after a two-year stint as a local probation officer.
Backlund describes his leadership style as participative and learning-agile, rejecting the ‘be-all, end-all’ management model in favor of a servant-leadership approach that prioritizes community input. With experience in the military, big-city police work, probation enforcement, and three years as a deputy, he expects his biggest challenge, if elected, will be learning the ins and outs of the administrative side of the job.
He has explicitly stated he models his deputy role after the “smalltown peacekeeper” style, focusing on visibility rather than just reacting to crises. He takes inspiration from the relationship that long-time Sheriff John Lyght had with the public. Lyght, the first African American Sheriff in Minnesota, served Cook County from 1972 to 1994.
“The person you arrest today could be your neighbor,” Backlund said.
Backlund said he has not yet discussed his interest in being Sheriff with his fellow deputies. But since his announcement last month, he has run into several of his former probation clients, each of whom expressed strong support for his candidacy. That surprisinglygood will is not lost on Backlund. “Hard not to be inspired by that, when it was my job to hold them accountable in difficult circumstances,” he said.
Backlund graduated from Cook County High School in 2009 and joined the Army as a junior, beginning a path of public service before graduation.
“I am passionate about national service,” he said.
Like many rural high school students, Backlund said, “I grew up feeling stifled in Cook County.” He was curious to get out and see the world.
In 2011, the Army assigned him to a Civil Affairs position as a liaison between the military and local authorities in Afghanistan. He spent an entire year building relationships with local Afghans at a remote Combat Outpost in Paktia Province, where, among other duties, he assisted the military, NGOs, and local medical personnel in containing a massive cholera outbreak.
After that one-year assignment, Backlund was able to spend some leave time touring Europe and Asia to see people and places he hadn’t seen before. On one of those trips in 2013, he met the woman who is now his wife, Irene, in her home country of Belarus. They married in 2017 and are the proud parents of Vera, 5, and Sophie, who is just 6 months old.
After leaving the military, Backlund became a police officer in Mesa, AZ, a city of more than half a million people in the greater Phoenix area. Comparing big city policing to the reality of a remote county, Backlund said that here, the level of trust between citizens and law enforcement goes both ways.
Ty and Irene moved back to Cook County in 2021. Upon their return, he took a probation officer position to broaden his law enforcement experience. When an opening occurred in the sheriff’s office, he made the move to Deputy in 2023.
Backlund’s roots, like current Sheriff Eliasen’s, go back a long way. His great-great-grandfather, Hans Engelsen, along with his brothers-in-law, John and Andrew Tofte, founded the community that is Tofte. He was an influential political figure in the county’s early history, elected Cook County Commissioner in 1895, eventually serving 14 terms.
Backlund’s grandfather, Sid Backlund, served two decades as a Cook County Commissioner. His father, Terry, and his uncle, Sid Jr., opened Sven and Ole’s Pizza in downtown Grand Marais in 1982. Known for its signature yellow “Uff Da” bumper stickers and Swedish-themed humor, the pizzeria became one of the most famous tourist stops on the North Shore.
Currently, Backlund is the only announced candidate looking to replace Eliasen in November. Official candidate filing opens Tuesday, May 19, 2026, and closes at 5 p.m. on June 2. If more than two candidates file for the seat, a Primary Election will be held on August 11, 2026, to narrow the field. The General Election will follow on November 3, 2026.
