Replacing Rahm: And Then There Were Three
After a campaign of weird ads, big money and the revelation that Mike Quigley and Sarah Feigenholtz have a deeper kind of local political connection, voters turned out to cast their ballots in yesterday's primary to select candidates to replace former Congressman Rahm Emanuel.
Quigley While not in droves, some 50,000 voters still turned out for the special primary election to fill the Fifth Congressional District seat. That vacancy was created when Emanuel accepted a post as President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. With 99 percent of the precincts in, Mike Quigley was the clear winner in the Democratic primary last night, beating State Reps John Fritchey and Sarah Feigenholtz by well over 2,000 votes each. Both Fritchey and Feigenholtz were largely seen as the front runners, and most pundits (myself included, if you can call me a pundit) believed that Fiegenholtz was sure to win.
The GOP found its candidate in Rosanna Pulido, who beat Tom Hanson in the GOP primary by over 130 votes. Meanwhile, the Green primary was still too close to officially call as Mathew Reichel leads Deb Gordils by only 11 votes.
Pulido Fritchey, who had the backing of substantial ward organizations in the district, was expected to do well, but it was Feigenholtz, with the backing of the local Service Employees International Union and largest campaign fund, who was expected to win. Quigley had the endorsements of both major dailies in the city, and that, coupled with a tenacious GOTV strategy, won the day for him. With the primary behind the Fifth District, the remaining candidates will now turn their attention to the special general election in April, and the three candidates have one month to convince a largely apathetic electorate that they are the best pick to represent them in Washington. Pulido, who is running on the issues of abortion, immigration and gun ownership faces an uphill battle against Quigley and his reputation as a reformer.
Reichel Reichel (assuming he wins) is new to the local political scene and faces an even steeper climb: with no significant party structure behind him and meager campaign funds, the Green Party candidate will have to demonstrate that he best represents reform, both locally and in Washington. No small task, with a wildly popular Chicago Democrat-cum-President that has staked his legacy on change and reform.
In the end, as CBS2's Mike Flannery wryly observed, "unless under indictment, the winning Democrat usually goes on to win the seat in the 5th district," we may be asking ourselves in April who will replace Mike Quigley on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. With his two daughters still in college, it's unlikely that he'll be able to bequeath his seat to them.