City Council Races to Watch

Eight incumbent aldermen lost in the last election four years ago, leading to the biggest turnover on the City Council in 20 years. The recent rush of aldermen who have put in for their pensions already means that more new faces will appear in the council, whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s voting.

The first election since Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his retirement features 43 contested races. Voters in 36 of those wards will have more than two council candidates on their ballots, so there could be as many or more run-off races than in 2007, when 12 wards required another round of voting.

Here is a rundown of some of the contests that we will be tracking closely on Tuesday evening, with links to the Chicago News Cooperative’s campaign coverage of key developments in the campaigns:

2nd Ward: Ald. Robert Fioretti was part of the council’s Class of 2007. His opponents in his quest for a second term include lawyer Genita Robinson, who once worked for the Chicago Public Schools.

3rd: Ald. Pat Dowell will try to win a second term despite a challenge from Ebony Tillman, whose mother Dorothy Tillman was unseated by Dowell in 2007.

4th: Democratic State Rep. Will Burns is vying for the seat that Toni Preckwinckle gave up when she became Cook County Board president.

6th: The re-election foes for Ald. Freddrenna Lyle include Roderick Sawyer, son of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer.

7th: Darcel Beavers is looking for vengeance after she lost her father’s old council seat to Ald. Sandi Jackson, wife of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., four years ago.

12th: Ald. George Cardenas is up against one foe backed by organized labor and another who is getting help from an erstwhile Cardenas ally, State Sen. Antonio “Tony” Munoz.

15th: Another union-backed freshman alderman, Toni Foulkes, must overcome challengers who bemoan the ward’s perpetual economic struggles.

19th: Obstetrician-gynecologist Anne Schaible is trying to interrupt the handover of power from retiring veteran Virginia “Ginger” Rugai to her aide Matt O’Shea, the Democratic committeeman of the clout-heavy ward.

20th: Grammy Award-winning rapper Che “Rhymefest” Smith is challenging first-term Ald. Willie Cochran in a race that has attracted national media attention.

24th: No incumbent has more re-election opponents than Sharon Denise Dixon, who has lost the support of longtime local power broker Richard Barnett.

25th: Ald. Daniel Solis barely avoided a run-off four years ago and is opposed by Ambrosio “Ambi” Medrano Jr., son of Solis’ corrupt predecessor.

29th: Daley appointed state legislator Deborah Graham to replace his corrupt ally, Isaac “Ike” Carothers, but she does not enjoy the backing of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis.

32nd: Freshman Ald. Scott Waguespack’s challengers include one rival with ties to 33rd Ward Ald. Richard Mell and another who used to work for Democratic committeeman and county commissioner John Fritchey.

36th: Challengers, including a firefighter and an elementary school teacher, note that Ald. John Rice was the driver for powerful Ald. William J.P. Banks until Banks retired and Daley appointed Rice to fill the vacancy in 2009.

37th: Ald. Emma Mitts is the proud representative of a ward that includes Chicago’s first Wal-Mart, but she downplays her ties to Carothers.

38th: Newly appointed Ald. Timothy Cullerton wants to solidify his spot in the long line of Cullertons in Chicago politics. Rivals include real estate agent Tom Caravette.

41st: The retirement of the council’s sole Republican, Brian Doherty, spawned a wide field of would-be successors, including the administrative assistant in his ward office.

43rd: Another open contest will take place in the city’s richest ward. Ald. Vi Daley declined to seek another term, and the loser in the 2007 run-off, Michele Smith, is running again.

45th: Veteran Ald. Patrick Levar is also not running for re-election, and his hand-picked successor, Marina Faz-Huppert, is one of several well-organized candidates.

48th: Democratic State Rep. Harry Osterman is the ward Democrats’ choice to succeed retiring Ald. Mary Ann Smith.

50th: Four years after he narrowly won another term, the council’s oldest member, Bernard Stone, in another hotly fought race and could be outspent by Debra Silverstein, a first-time candidate backed by her husband, State Sen. Ira Silverstein.