Mike Quigley has won the Democratic nomination for the Illinois 5th District congressional seat formerly held by Rahm Emanuel:
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley is poised for a promotion to Congress after claiming the Democratic nomination Tuesday in the race to replace Rahm Emanuel, overcoming disadvantages in campaign cash and union support.
The 5th Congressional District’s special primary yielded low voter turnout after a two-month campaign—potentially a plus for Quigley, who started the race as the best-known of the dozen Democrats because of his battles with two Stroger administrations.
With 99 percent of precincts counted, Quigley had 22 percent in the crowded field.
Quigley credited his campaign’s reform message, saying it spoke to the mood of voters in the wake of Illinois political scandals.
“After all the recent embarrassments, this was the first chance that the voters had to voice their desire for change and they spoke loud and clear,” Quigley told the Tribune. “They came through for me, and now I have to come through for them.”
In the precinct in which I worked yesterday (believe me, 15 hours is a long day), O’Connor took 51%, Quigley 25%, and the remainder were divided among the other candidates. I believe that pattern was repeated throughout the district.
Turnout in the precinct in which I worked was 30%, better than the district overall, far below the 90% turnout in the general election in November.
The Democratic political organizations in the various ward offices were divided over whether to support O’Connor, Fritchey, Feigenholtz, or Quigley with each of those candidates getting some ward support. However, Quigley seemed to be at least the second favorite in every ward and that was enough to put him over the top.
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly here, in Chicago the primary is the election for all intents and purposes and Quigley is all but assured of getting the seat. The election is practically a formality. That means that about 22% of 15% of the voters in the district (the district-wide turnout), just a few thousand voters, decided the election.
I voted for Quigley and am gratified with this result. He’s a seasoned pol and I hope he takes budgets as seriously in Congress as he has on the county board.
Glad to hear your man won!
It’s a shame that everyone perpetuates the idea that a Democratic victor is inevitable in this district. One party politics is authoritarian, my friends.
Chicago needs a viable 2nd party to check these criminal Democrats. Quigley may be better than Fritchey or some of the more machine pols out there, but, as a progressive, he doesn’t really please me. I will be voting for the Green candidate, Matt Reichel, if for nothing else, to register a vote against Democratic corruption in Chicago.
In the precinct in which I worked of the roughly 100 votes cast, 2 were cast for Green Party candidates. The election is over and Quigley won.