Election Summary for the 49th Ward

The results from the 49th Ward this election were good.  Our organization made 15 endorsements in 16 races.  We made an endorsement of Mike McHale, our neighbor from Edgewater, in an uncontested judge race and we declined to endorse in the contested State Treasurers race.

Overall we made 14 endorsements in contested races. In the judicial races every single candidate we endorsed won the ward with vote totals ranging from 34.79% to 82.39% with the average being approximately 40%.  Two of these races were one on one contests, and five were multiple candidate races with anywhere from 4 to 7 candidates.  Having all of our  candidates get a vote totalof at least 34.79% is a very strong and significant showing for our organization.

In the other races our candidates did very well.  Blagojevich, Marovitz, Dart, Shore and O’Brien all carried the ward convincingly with sizeable victory margins.  Particularly impressive was Debra Shore who out paced every opponent in her race.  She had far more votes than the second closest performer in the ward with something near 65% more votes than Terry O’Brien who finished second.  Finishing third was a former DevCorp North organizer from State Sen. Ricky Hendon’s organization. Patricia Horton had joint posters with Deb Shore in various parts of the county and rode her coattails to a third place finish in the ward and the race overall .  Our third endorsed candidate, Jim Harris, came in fourth place in both the ward and the election as a whole.

In the final race, President of the Cook County Board, we did not carry a majority of the votes for our candidate.  In one of the more racially divisive and polarizing races we have seen in a long time our candidate came in with 42.25% of the votes from the 49th Ward.  While we genuinely hoped to produce a majority for him, his campaign set a goal in the low 30%’s for the 49th Ward.  In looking at every ward and township on the north side the 49th Ward carried Stroger with the 5th highest percentage.  The 26th, 30th   and 31rst Wards,who are  largely Hispanic wards, cast vote totals that were considerably higher than ours with outright majorities for Stroger.  The 36th Ward was able to produce 42.7% for Stroger, edging us out by less than one half of a percentage point.  This was a good showing for our organization especially when one considers that we were 10% above the 48th Ward and more than 22% above Evanston.

In comparison with the Cook County Democratic Party we did very well.  When looking at totals from the 49th Ward we carried 13 of our 15 candidates to victory while the Cook County Dem’s were able to carry only 8 of 15 candidates they endorsed to victory in the 49th Ward.  When looking at the candidates that we supported overall versus the candidates the County Dem’s supported, 9 of 14 candidates we supported won the election while the County Dem’s carried only 8 of 14 candidates they endorsed.  Not only do we know our own back yard far better than the County Dem’s, but we also apparently know the County better than the County Dem’s do.

Overall, we put forth a very successful effort.  By listening to our membership and endorsing from the grass roots we were able to continue to demonstrate good leadership and show considerable strength in our ward and our city.  Our reputation as being the leading progressive Democratic Ward organization remains solidly in tact and it is clear that we are able to accurately listen to our neighbors, develop a solid plan and lead our community in the right direction to achieve electoral victories.

All who volunteered in this effort rightful deserve recognition and thanks which I proudly extend to you.  Thank you for the great job you did.