There are still around fifty precincts still waiting to report around the city, but races around Chicago are yet to be determined. And many incumbent aldermen will be facing heated competition in those races six weeks from now.
Ald. Freddrenna Lyle in the 6th Ward will be facing off with Roderick T. Sawyer, son of former mayor Eugene Sawyer. In the 50th, Bernie Stone, the council’s oldest alderman, won only 37 percent of the vote in his five-person race, and will have to take on feisty challenger Debra L. Silverstein, who came in second with 33 percent.
A couple of very crowded races will be significantly narrowed down. The race to replace Helen Shiller in the 46th had eleven candidates on the ballot — James Cappleman and Molly Phelan both won just shy of twenty percent, and will compete for the sixty percent of the vote their nine other candidates split in today’s vote. And in the 24th Ward, incumbent Sharon Denise Dixon and challenger Michael D. Chandler emerged from a field of 18 candidates, the least among whom won only 37 votes.
And as mentioned earlier in the night, Che “Rhymefest” Smith is headed for a runoff with incumbent Willie Cochran in the 20th. Rey Colon narrowly avoided a runoff in the 35th Ward, and Ameya Pawar pulled off the upset win in the 47th, beating Tom O’Donnell without requiring a runoff.
The Chicago News Cooperative reported just how surprising Pawar's win was:
So stunning was the victory that Pawar’s campaign had not scheduled the customary election-night gathering. As returns came in showing that Pawar was winning, his campaign hastily organized a victory gathering at the Timber Lanes bowling alley on West Irving Park Road. Pawar himself hurried in from the suburbs, where he had been watching the returns with his parents.
“I’m surprised,” Pawar said when he finally arrived. “Very surprised.”
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“We raised about $10,000,” he said, in response to a reporter’s question. “$100 at a time.”
“We were blown away by what happened,” said Pawar’s campaign manager, Sam Yanover. Ward residents “want something new, something fresh, and they were upset that O’Donnell was anointed to be the successor.”
chicago election results 2011 |Update 9:10 pm ET
Posted in category: Uncategorized at: February 23, 2011 by harischicago election results 2011: Emanuel needed more than 50 percent of the vote to win. The other major candidates – former Chicago schools president Gery Chico, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and City Clerk Miguel del Valle – had hoped to force a runoff but were no match for Emanuel.
Update 9:10 pm ET – CHICAGO (AP) – Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel elected Chicago mayor
Chico had 24 percent of the vote compared to 9 percent for both del Valle and Braun. HuffPost Chicago will be live blogging about the Chicago elections now until the results come in Tuesday night. Stay tuned.
Former White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel appears to have a new title: Chicago’s mayor-elect.
With 84 percent of the precincts counted, Emanuel has 55 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s mayoral election.
If those numbers hold, Emanuel would win the race outright, avoiding another six weeks in a runoff. CNN was projecting him to do so.
Emanuel appears to be riding a $12 million media blitz, a near endorsement from President Obama and the full endorsement of former President Bill Clinton to a one-and-done victory over three major rivals.
In second place was former school board chief Gery Chico, with 24 percent. Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and City Clerk Miguel del Valle each had 9 percent.
With Braun coming in behind del Valle, Emanuel was poised to capture a big enough chunk of the black vote to close out Chicago’s first wide-open mayor’s race in 64 years.
“It looks like this thing is all over,” said Ald. Pat O‚Connor (40th), whose North Side ward delivered a 65 percent vote for Emanuel.
via Rahm Emanuel builds commanding lead in mayor’s race – Chicago Sun-Times.
Board of Election Commissioners for the City of Chicago Feb. 22, 2011 City of Chicago Municipal General Election
Mayor
| Candidate | Votes | Pct. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emanuel | 295,818 | 54.9% | |
| Chico | 131,421 | 24.4% | |
| del Valle | 50,593 | 9.4% | |
| Moseley Braun | 47,225 | 8.8% | |
| Van Pelt Watkins | 8,664 | 1.6% | |
| Walls | 4,768 | 0.9% |
