The Deep Dish: February 27, 2019

February 27, 2019

Here's your slice of Chicago's 2019 elections    Welcome to The Deep Dish—Ballotpedia’s in-depth look at Chicago’s 2019 city elections. This week, we're serving up results from Tuesday's elections.         Voters went to the polls Feb. 26 to select a new mayor and decide all 50 city council seats as well as choosing a treasurer and city clerk. For all offices on the ballot, runoff elections will be held April 2 for races in which no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. All offices are nonpartisan and come with four-year terms. Mayoral race: And then there were two It's Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle in the April 2 runoff. The two received the most votes of 14 candidates Tuesday night. The 14-candidate field was the largest in the city's history for mayoral elections. This was the fourth open mayoral race Chicago has had in 100 years.   It was a three-way race from early Tuesday night. With around 90 percent of precincts reporting at 9:40 p.m. CST Tuesday, Bill Daley conceded the race. The above numbers will change a bit as final precincts report and as mail-in ballots are counted. The Chicago elections board plans to continue counting mail-in ballots through March 12, so long as they were postmarked on or before election day. The number of outstanding mail-in ballots isn’t known. As of Monday, 31,000 mail-in ballots given to voters had yet to be returned. Mail-in ballots are not expected to change the election results. Candidate backgrounds Lightfoot was appointed president of the Chicago Police Board by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, holding the position from 2015 to 2018. Lightfoot chaired the Police Accountability Task Force and worked in the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the city Department of Procurement Services. Lightfoot also served as an assistant U.S. attorney.   Preckwinkle is president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, winning her first term in 2010. Preckwinkle also chairs the Cook County Democratic Party. She was 4th Ward alderman from 1991 to 2010. Before entering politics, Preckwinkle taught high school history for 10 years.   Messaging (so far) Messaging will likely be fine-tuned now that the race is down to two candidates—and the candidates know exactly who they're running against. Here's a look at what the campaigns have been focused on up to this point: Lightfoot said she was the only credible candidate in the race independent of the political machine. She's been critical of Preckwinkle—as well as former challengers Daley, Gery Chico, and Susana Mendoza—associating them with the status quo and corrupt politics. She's emphasized her experience dealing with matters of police misconduct and her government ethics reform plan. Preckwinkle has campaigned on her record as both an alderman and as Cook County board president. She says she's expanded access to health care, advanced criminal justice reforms, and supported affordable housing and living wage ordinances. Preckwinkle said she was the most progressive candidate in the race. Endorsements Here's who endorsed each candidate ahead of Tuesday's election. Lightfoot: U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) Former Ald. Dick Simpson (44th Ward) Former Cook County Clerk David Orr Illinois Education Association Region 67 Victory Fund LPAC Equality Illinois PAC Chicago Sun-Times editorial board Preckwinkle: Ken Bennett, former aide to Mayor Rahm Emanuel Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama (D) Former White House aide/Time's Up movement leader Tina Tchen U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D) State Rep. Will Guzzardi (D) State Rep. Marcus Evans (D) State Rep. Delia Ramirez (D) State Sen. Robert Peters (D) State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D) Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward) Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th Ward) Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards Chicago Teachers Union Former Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 SEIU Local 73 SEIU Healthcare Illinois National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter Indo-American Democratic Organization Campaign finances As of Monday, Preckwinkle reported raising $4.6 million. Lightfoot reported $1.6 million. Of the 14 candidates in Tuesday's race, Preckwinkle was second in fundraising and Lightfoot sixth. History will be made Whether Lightfoot or Preckwinkle wins April 2, the winner will be the first black female mayor and the second elected black mayor in the city's history. The city’s first black mayor, Harold Washington, was elected in 1983. Eugene Sawyer, the city's second black mayor, was appointed by the city council following Washington's death in 1987. About one-third of the city's population is black. Council races: At least 12 runoffs ahead As of Wednesday morning, 10 council races were either too close to call or did not have enough precincts reporting to make a call. Two of those—the 39th Ward and 46th Ward races—are going to a runoff, but the second top vote-getter has not been determined. Here's what we know about the other 40 races: At least 12 are heading to runoffs, including 8 with incumbents running for re-election. Incumbents made the runoffs in each case. Here are the 2019 runoff wards (so far): 15th Ward 16th 20th (open) 25th (open) 30th 31st 33rd 39th (open) 40th 43rd 46th 47th (open) Fun fact: The 15th, 16th, 20th, 43rd, and 46th Ward races also went to runoffs in both 2015 and 2011. At least 2 incumbents lost outright: 1st Ward: Ald. Joe Moreno lost to Daniel La Spata 49th: Ald. Joe Moore lost to Maria Hadden Some noteworthy results: Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) won outright Tuesday with about 54 percent of the vote, defeating two challengers. He's been on the city council since 1969 and is the longest-serving alderman in the city's history. Burke's last election challenge came in 2007. Before that, it was 1971. Burke was charged with attempted extortion Jan. 2. He denies the charge. The case is ongoing. Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th Ward) is heading to a runoff. First elected in 1983, he's the second longest-serving member on the council. O'Connor ran unopposed from 1995 to 2011. He faced one challenger in 2015, and he won that race outright. This year, he heads to a runoff against André Vasquez. O'Connor received 33 percent of the vote to Vasquez's 20 percent. Treasurer race: Heading to runoff Melissa Conyears-Ervin and Ameya Pawar are headed to a runoff in the city treasurer's race. Conyears-Ervin received 44 percent of the vote to Pawar’s 42 percent with 96 percent of precincts reporting. Peter Gariepy got 14 percent. The current incumbent, Kurt Summers, didn't seek re-election. The city treasurer manages Chicago's cash, investments, four public employee pension funds, and the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund. Clerk race: Incumbent wins (appeals pending) Only votes for incumbent Anna Valencia were counted after her two opponents were disqualified from the race. The elections board disqualified challengers Elizabeth Arias-Ibarra and Patricia Horton Jan. 18. The candidates appealed the decision, and their names were placed on the ballot. An appeals court upheld their disqualification Feb. 20. The candidates appealed again, this time to the state supreme court. If the court approves their appeals, votes cast for them will be counted. Barring that, Valencia will serve her first full four-year term as city clerk after being appointed to the office in December 2016. The clerk is the city's official keeper of records and documents. The clerk's office is where you can go to explore city records, buy a city vehicle sticker, pick up a municipal ID, or register your dog. Voter turnout was low The board reported unofficial turnout of 34 percent of registered voters, including early voters, in-person voters, and mail-in ballots that had been received by 7 p.m. CST Tuesday. We don't have a final voter turnout figure for the election yet, since we don't have final numbers for mail-in or provisional ballots. That 34 percent turnout figure would put the 2019 general election just ahead of 2007, when turnout set a record low at 33 percent. Turnout was at 34 percent in the 2003 and 2015 February elections. Turnout was 43 percent in 2011, the last time the mayor's race was open. The following table shows turnout from 1951 to 2015 in city general elections.     The Deep Dish will be following Chicago's elections through the runoffs, so stay tuned!

Archive

2019

• The Deep Dish: April 3, 2019
• The Deep Dish: March 28, 2019
• The Deep Dish: March 21, 2019
• The Deep Dish: March 14, 2019
• The Deep Dish: March 7, 2019
• The Deep Dish: February 21, 2019
• The Deep Dish: February 14, 2019
• The Deep Dish: February 7, 2019
• The Deep Dish: January 31, 2019
• The Deep Dish: January 24, 2019
• The Deep Dish: January 17, 2019
• The Deep Dish: January 10, 2019
• The Deep Dish: January 3, 2019

2018

• The Deep Dish: December 20, 2018
• The Deep Dish: December 13, 2018
• The Deep Dish: December 6, 2018
• The Deep Dish: November 29, 2018