Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Two incumbent Alderman could go head to head in 2015 elections

Left Ald. Thompson, Right Ald. Foulkes via DNAInfo
 All the rumors I heard before the ward remap was approved by the city council I figured one person who could get hurt was 15th Ward Alderman Toni Foulkes. She seemed to be a not very visible alderman, and especially noted was her unwillingness to debate her 2007 challenger - Raymond Lopez who's now the 15th Ward Democratic Committeeman. Now she's a bit more visible having made some TV appearances, she made some noise about the remap, and she even joined a progress caucus on the city council which is largely opposed to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Today we're hearing that she's making a new move literally. She wants to challenges 16th Ward Alderman JoAnn Thompson for her city council seat. Saw two stories this morning about that from DNA Info and Mark Brown of the Sun-Times. It's interesting that Ald. Foulkes spoke to DNA Info's Wendell Hutson instead of Mark Browk but it is what it is.

All the same, Ald. Foulkes from this in terms of race as she indicated she wanted to run for Alderman of a Black ward as the 16th Ward in Englewood remains. Her 15th Ward where he actually home remains was largely drawn as a Latino majority ward. In fact Brown noted that experts indicated that if Foulkes remained in the ward that elected her she could still win despite the fact that this ward has more Latinos now. In any event in order to run in the 16th Foulkes would literally have to move from the 15th Ward.

Now that it's in the news that Ald. Foulkes wants to challenge Ald. Thompson next year we hear comments from Thompson expressing her disappointment. Foulkes is making inroads to her new electorate while Thompson is surely going to promote her own accoplishments as 16th Ward Alderman since 2007. For example Ald. Thompson is taking credit for the Whole Foods Market coming to 63rd/Halsted.

BTW, Brown noted that there is a decision coming on the ward remap from the federal U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. I wanted to write about that before but never found the time or the reason, but there are certainly some people who are still opposed to the new ward map who want to see it struck down. It came before a court last year and the remap was upheld.

Also while it does seem early to talk about municipal elections next year the time to circulate positions for Alderman, City Treasurer, Clerk, and of course Mayor is in August. It will be an interesting time to watch who will step up to the place for February 2015.

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