1995 Chicago mayoral election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1995 resulted in the re-election of Democratic Party nominee incumbent Richard M. Daley over independent candidate Roland Burris, with 359,466 votes to Burris's 217,024. Daley won 60.1% of the total vote, winning by a landslide 24-point margin. The Republican candidate, Raymond Wardingley, fared poorly with only 2.8% of the vote. A fourth-place candidate, Harold Washington Party nominee Lawrence Redmond, won 0.9% of the votes.[2]

1995 Chicago mayoral election

← 1991 April 4, 1995 1999 →
Turnout42.25%[1] Decrease 2.75 pp
 
Candidate Richard M. Daley Roland Burris
Party Democratic Independent
Popular vote 359,466 217,024
Percentage 60.09% 36.28%

Results by ward

Mayor before election

Richard M. Daley
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Richard M. Daley
Democratic

This was the last election for Mayor of Chicago where candidates ran under party labels, as a state law was enacted later in 1995 making all municipal offices in the state non-partisan.[3]

The Democratic Party, Republican Party, and the Harold Washington Party all held primary elections for their nominations. However, only the Democratic Party's primary saw a sizeable number of voters participate. Daley easily defeated Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Commissioner Joseph E. Gardiner by a margin of more that 30 points. Wardingley, a perennial candidate and clown, very narrowly won the Republican nomination among a weak field of contenders. Redmond was unopposed for the Harold Washington Party primary.

Nominations

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Democratic primary

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Daley easily defeated two challengers in the primary.

Daley's primary challenge came from Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Commissioner Joseph E. Gardner. Gardner had been a high-ranking member of Harold Washington's mayoral administration and an executive at PUSH.[4] By 1995, Sheila A. Jones had become a perennial competitor in the Democratic mayoral primary.

As was the case in all of his reelection campaigns, Daley did not attend any debates.[5]

Daley vastly out-raised his opponents in campaign funds.[6]

Endorsements

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Richard M. Daley

Officeholders

Individuals

Results

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Map of the Democratic primary by ward
Democratic primary results[7]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Richard M. Daley (incumbent) 348,153 65.79
Democratic Joseph E. Gardner 174,943 33.06
Democratic Sheila A. Jones 6,067 1.15
Total votes 529,163

Daley won a majority of the vote in 31 wards.[7] Gardner won a majority of the vote in the remaining 19 wards.[7]

Results by ward[7]

Republican primary

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Raymond Wardingley narrowly won the Republican nomination.

The Republican field was regarded as weak.[8] Wardingly had worked as a clown under the name "Spanky the Clown".[8] He had thrice before run for mayor.[9]

Candidates Themis Anagost[10] (an attorney),[11] Leon Beard,[12] and Raymond Lear[13][14] had been denied inclusion on the ballot due to issues with their petitions.

Results

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Republican primary results[15][16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Raymond Wardingley 2,438 28.2
Republican Larry P. Horist 2,354 27.2
Republican Saturnino Noriega 1,995 23.1
Republican William J. Grutzmacher 1,579 18.2
Republican Kimball Ladien 288 3.3
Total votes 8,654

Results by ward[15]

Harold Washington Party primary

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Lawrence C. Redmond went unopposed in the Harold Washington Party primary.

Candidates Phillip Morris[17] and Ilene Smith[18] had been denied inclusion on the ballot due to issues regarding their petitions.

Results

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Harold Washington Party primary results[19]
Party Candidate Votes %
Harold Washington Lawrence C. Redmond 1,383 100
Total votes 1,383

Results by ward[19]

Independent candidates

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Roland Burris ran as an independent.[20]

When first approached by black activists about running for mayor, Burris had declined. He ultimately ran, proclaiming to have been drafted by “the people”.[21] By the time he decided to run, Joseph Gardner had already challenged Daley in the Democratic primary. Not wanting to run against Gardner and split the black vote in the primary, Burris decided he would run in the general election as an independent candidate.[21]

General election

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Daley did not attend any debates.[5] Burris complained of a lack of media coverage on his candidacy.[21] Late into the campaign, Burris issued demands for Daley to address corruption and misconduct by aviation employees, especially Dominic Longo, the manager of vehicle operations at O’Hare. The airport had recently suffered a number of accidents caused by inexperienced runway crew leadership. Burris also alleged that Longo has coerced airport employees into making donations to the Daley campaign in order to keep their jobs.[22] Daley's campaign spent $3 million in the election. Burris spent $250,000.[23]

Endorsements

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Richard M. Daley (Democrat)

Officeholders

Polls

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Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
Ronald
Burris
Richard M.
Daley
Raymond
Wardingley
Chicago Tribune[24] March 1995 19% 57% 2%

Results

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Daley won a majority of the vote in 31 of the city's 50 wards. Burris won a majority of the vote in the remaining 19 wards.[2] In response to Wardingley's abysmal showing, the Republican-controlled Illinois General Assembly passed legislation creating a nonpartisan, runoff election system for citywide offices in Chicago. Public Act 89-0095 was signed into law by Governor Jim Edgar and went into effect for the 1999 Chicago mayoral election.[25][26]

Mayor of Chicago 1995[27] (general election)
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Richard M. Daley (incumbent) 359,466 60.09
Independent Roland W. Burris 217,024 36.28
Republican Raymond Wardingley 16,568 2.77
Harold Washington Lawrence C. Redmond 5,160 0.86
Turnout 598,218

Results by ward[2]

References

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  1. ^ Denvir, Daniel (May 22, 2015). "Voter Turnout in U.S. Mayoral Elections Is Pathetic, But It Wasn't Always This Way". Bloomberg. City Lab (The Atlantic). Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Election Results for 1995 General Election, Mayor, Chicago, Illinois". ChicagoDemocracy.org. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  3. ^ "Our Campaigns - Chicago Mayor Race - Apr 04, 1995". www.OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  4. ^ Heard, Jacquelyn; Fegelman, Andrew (May 17, 1996). "Gardner Loses Fight with Cancer". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Rudin, Ken (February 21, 2007). "Chicago's Long-Running Daley Show". NPR. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Johnson, Dirk (February 26, 1995). "Campaign In Chicago Barely Stirs A Breeze". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d "Election Results for 1995 Primary Election, Mayor, Chicago, Illinois (Democratic Party)". ChicagoDemocracy.org. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Benzkofer, Stephan; Jacob, Mark (March 27, 2015). "10 things you might not know about Chicago mayoral elections". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  9. ^ "RETIRED CLOWN IS MAYORAL NOMINEE OF CHICAGO GOP - The Washington Post". The Washington Post.
  10. ^ "State of Illinois, County of Cook, Case No: 95-EB-MUN-006" (PDF). Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. January 17, 1995.
  11. ^ "Themis Anagnost Obituary (2002) Chicago Tribune". Legacy.com.
  12. ^ "State of Illinois, County of Cook, Case No: 95-EB-MUN-007" (PDF). Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. January 23, 1995.
  13. ^ "State of Illinois, County of Cook, Case No: 95-EB-MUN-004" (PDF). Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. January 13, 1995.
  14. ^ "Lord RayEL Raymond Lear Republican Mayor Candidacy FAIL 1995". Wordpress.com. April 5, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  15. ^ a b "Election Results for 1995 Primary Election, Mayor, Chicago, Illinois (Republican Party)". ChicagoDemocracy.org. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  16. ^ "RaceID=388005". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  17. ^ "State of Illinois, County of Cook, Case No: 95-EB-MUN-002" (PDF). Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. January 30, 1995.
  18. ^ "State of Illinois, County of Cook, Case No: 95-EB-MUN-003" (PDF). Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. January 23, 1995.
  19. ^ a b "Election Results for 1995 Primary Election, Mayor, Chicago, Illinois (Harold Washington Party)". ChicagoDemocracy.org. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  20. ^ "State of Illinois, County of Cook, Case No: 95-EB-IND-1" (PDF). Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. February 8, 1995.
  21. ^ a b c "Would You Vote for Roland Burris?". Chicago Reader. January 8, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  22. ^ "Media Burn Archive – [1995 Mayoral Election: Tape 3]". Mediaburn.org. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  23. ^ a b "What Makes Roland Run". www.lib.NIU.edu. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  24. ^ Hardy, Thomas (March 30, 1995). "WARDINGLEY STILL BELIEVES DESPITE STAGGERING ODDS". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  25. ^ Hary, Thomasf (July 7, 1995). "Edgar is Set to End City Partisan Votes". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  26. ^ Kim, Anna (February 25, 2019). "Why is Chicago's mayoral election in February? Reform, spoiled by a clown". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on May 22, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  27. ^ "Board of Election Commissioners For the City of Chicago Mayoral Election Results Since 1900 General Elections Only". Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. July 18, 2004. Archived from the original on July 18, 2004. Retrieved March 26, 2023.