Chicago votes: What do you have to lose?
Election Day is March 17. And powerful interests are watching.
Chicago Ald. Mathias “Paddy” Bauler was holding court at his ward headquarters in Old Town.
It was election night, 1964.
Precinct captains queued up to deliver their reports to the boss. A tally board loomed over them, displaying precincts won and lost.
One captain who failed to carry his precinct stood before Bauler, awaiting his fate.
“What kind of a job are you going to look for now?” asked the alderman. The precinct captain slunk away, dejected.
The next captain approached the big board.
“Your brother didn’t vote,” said Bauler.
“My brother didn’t vote!” shouted the captain. “I’ll kill him!”
“Okay,” Bauler said, “bring in the evidence, and you’ll keep your job.”
The Cook County Democratic machine, as described in that story from Milton Rakove’s masterwork “Don’t Make No Waves…Don’t Back No Losers,” no longer exists.
But an underlying truth remains.
With Illinois’ primary elections set for Tuesday, March 17, powerful interests are already tallying your vote. And they have a lot to lose.1
Illinoisans must choose a party ballot when voting in the primary elections:2
Democrats have a cornucopia of competitive races. I recommend the voting guide from Conor Durkin and Richard Day over at A City That Works.
Republicans have a meaningful choice in the primary for governor. This piece in the Chicago Contrarian explains why those interested in mounting credible opposition to Gov. JB Pritzker should vote for Ted Dabrowski.
Chicagoans can choose from 51 early voting centers open now through Election Day. You can vote at any one of them. For early vote hours and locations outside of Chicago, click here.
Vote like your brother’s life—or his patronage job—depends on it.
Voter turnout is expected to be in the 30% range for the primary election, a far cry from the era of the Daley machine. This means the value of your vote is tripled.
These recommendations reflect my personal views.
The City That Works” — an unintentionally funny oxymoron — notes that there are “realistically no competitive races in the Republican, Libertarian, or Green Party primaries, and that winners of Democratic primaries here are almost certain to win the general election in November.”
Which raises the obvious question: why even bother?
I live in the suburbs of Chicago, not in the city, but I did live in New York City, where the city’s trajectory only changed after voters finally elected a Republican mayor.
For Chicago to truly “work,” something similarly disruptive to the political status quo would have to occur — which, given the current climate, seems highly unlikely.
This is a great post but we think Conor Durkin and Richard Day are 100% wrong about Donna Miller. Powerful interests ARE watching, and she's accepting money from shadowy foreign SuperPACs. Jan withdrew her endorsement.
Are you open to sharing our point of view? You seem to share our values, we'd love your help spreading the world. You can read out research at https://substack.com/@impactchi