Ernest Fenton
Ernest Fenton is a former 2013 Democratic candidate seeking election to the U.S. House in the special election for the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois.
Biography
Following Fenton's service in the United States Army he attended Chicago State University, where he graduated in 1994. He went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1997. He practices law in Chicago, owning his own law firm.[1]
Campaign themes
2013
Fenton's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[2]
- Housing Policy
- Excerpt: "Crime, Jobs, Economic Development, Family, and Education Advancement are directly linked to the stability of a community. The housing issue and the foreclosure crisis must be resolved in order to adequately address the other issues."
- Senior Policy
- Excerpt: "We have a social and moral obligation to provide safety nets and care for our seniors. Social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security represent the return on the investment that seniors have made in us. We must by all means meet this moral obligation."
- Education Policy
- Excerpt: "We must give every person the tools they desperately need and deserve to survive. It is necessary in today’s economy to compete globally and keep up with the advances in technology."
- Crime Policy Safety and Crime Policy
- Excerpt: "Many of the issues related to crime are associated with young men of color. Over the last several years, fatalities resulting from gun violence in the City of Chicago were greater than the number of American soldiers killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Security and safety of everyone, especially young men of color, is an essential catalyst for our economic advancement and progress."
Elections
2013
Fenton ran in the 2013 special election for the U.S. House, representing Illinois' 2nd District. The election was held to replace Jesse Jackson, Jr. Fenton lost in the Democratic primary to Robin Kelly.[3]
Democratic Primary
U.S. House, Illinois District 2 Special Democratic Primary, 2013 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
![]() |
53.3% | 31,079 | ||
Debbie Halvorson | 25.1% | 14,650 | ||
Anthony Beale | 11.1% | 6,457 | ||
Joyce Washington | 4.4% | 2,563 | ||
Ernest Fenton | 2.6% | 1,545 | ||
Anthony Williams | 1.1% | 641 | ||
Mel Reynolds | 0.8% | 459 | ||
Clifford Eagleton | 0.4% | 207 | ||
Fatimah Muhammad | 0.3% | 194 | ||
Gregory Haynes | 0.2% | 144 | ||
Larry Pickens | 0.2% | 127 | ||
John Blyth | 0.2% | 104 | ||
Victor Jonathan | 0.2% | 91 | ||
Charles Rayburn | 0.1% | 74 | ||
Denise Anita Hill | 0% | 4 | ||
Total Votes | 58,339 | |||
Source: Results via Illinois State Board of Elections |
Polls
2013
Illinois' 3rd Congressional District, Democratic primary | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Poll | Debbie Halvorson | Toi Hutchinson | Robin Kelly | Napoleon Harris | Mel Reynolds | Anthony Beale | Other | Undecided | Margin of Error | Sample Size | |||||||||
Normington-Petts (January 8-10) | 16% | 12% | 8% | 7% | 7% | 5% | 5% | 40% | +/-4.9 | 400 | |||||||||
GBA Strategies (January 3-7) | 25% | 16% | 15% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 2% | 15% | +/-4.4 | 500 | |||||||||
Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org |
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Ernest + Fenton + Illinois + House"
Footnotes