With thousands of mail-in ballots still uncounted, five heated aldermanic races in Black wards remain undecided, according to the latest data from the Chicago Board of Elections.
As of press time Wednesday morning, March 1, a total of 25,669 ballots from 17 Black wards had not been counted. However, in the Black wards, 12 incumbent aldermen have been re-elected. Monique Scott (24th) is the only alderman whose race has not been called because there are still mail-in votes left to count.
Races in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 21st Wards also remain undecided. They are seats that came up for grabs when Alderman Sophia King (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Roderick Sawyer (6th) and Howard Brookins (21st) stepped down from their jobs for various reasons. These races will produce new aldermen who will help shape the City Council and the Black Caucus.
As election officials continue to count mail-in ballots, in the 4th Ward, State Representative Lamont Robinson led Prentice Butler, King’s Chief of Staff, with 42 percent of the vote. Robinson has been endorsed by Governor JB Pritzker.
As a candidate for the 4th Ward, Robinson said he will take strong action to address gun violence in the ward by supporting the creation of a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention on the City Council. Robinson said he will implement, on the local level, an anti-assault weapon and anti-ghost gun legislation similar to the one he recently helped pass in Springfield. Robinson will work to target and disrupt the flow of illegal guns into 4th Ward neighborhoods.
Butler is aimed at attracting quality commercial and residential development, improving neighborhood public schools, enhancing public safety, and increasing transparency, efficiency and accountability in Chicago.
While working for Alderman King, he has demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of city government, social media, and community engagement, which has expanded the outreach of the Alderman’s agenda and accomplishments.
In the 5th Ward, Desmond Yancy led Martina Hone with 46.2 percent to her 17.6 percent. Yancy is the Senior Director of Organizing and Advocacy for the Inner-City Muslim Action Network. Yancy’s residency in South Shore has been questioned by his opponents.
A son of a Chicago police officer, Yancy served as co-founder and spokesperson for the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) and the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Coalitions, which successfully pushed the city of Chicago to create the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability.
Yancy supports a $5 minimum wage hike and favors expanded universal basic income programs. Yancy supports the community benefits agreement written by the Obama CBA Coalition during the campaign. He’s a community organizer with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network.
Born in Hyde Park and raised in Roseland, Hone is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkley, where she received her law degree. She has served as Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chief Engagement Officer since 2020.
Hone said as alderman she plans to create a community council made up of representatives of all 5th Ward community areas of Hyde Park, South Shore, Woodlawn and Greater Grand Crossing.
Hone believes 71st Street in South Shore needs more support so it can be as vibrant as 53rd Street. She said she will work with affordable housing advocates to support housing stability within the community. However, she said we also must recognize the importance of building communities that have a balance of incomes and housing options.
In the 6th Ward, a runoff race is likely between Pastor William Hall and Richard Wooten. As of press time Wednesday for the Crusader’s print edition, Hall led Wooten in a razor-thin race with 24.1 percent of the vote to Wooten’s 22.9 percent.
William Emmanuel Hall serves as the Lead Pastor of St. James Church in Chicago. Hall has lived in Chatham for 38 years. He’s been a senior pastor at St. James Community Church for nearly a decade.
Hall serves as the director of faith and community partnerships for the child welfare advocacy group at UCAN Chicago, and is a field director for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition under Reverend Jesse Jackson.
As alderman, Hall said he would work with city and state leaders to improve infrastructure in the 6th Ward, including repairing street lights and cleaning up the streets. Hall said he would advocate for investments in local mental health centers and violence prevention groups to curb crime.
Wooten is the pastor at Gather Point Universal Ministries in Brainerd and president of the Greater Chatham Alliance. He ran for alderman in 2015 and 2019.
A former police officer who lives in Chatham, Wooten’s agenda includes improving education and reducing crime. He plans to build relationships with the commanders of the police district and support legislation that cracks down on repeat gun offenders. Wooten also aims to bring trade programs back to local schools, and support grants for social-emotional learning in the classroom,
In the 21st Ward, Ronnie Mosley leads his opponents with 24.7 percent of the vote. Cornell Dantzler was second with 22.09 percent. Preston Brown was third with 18.46 percent.
A resident in Washington Heights, Mosley’s agenda includes prioritizing public safety, economic development, supporting local businesses and creating local resources for youth and older people if he were elected.
A Morgan Park/West Pullman resident, Dantzler’s top priorities will be public safety, infrastructure improvement, economic opportunity service enhancement and trade development. Dantzler also believes in remodeling neighborhood parks and providing basic clean-up services.
A graduate of Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago, Brown attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.
An attorney in private practice, Brown believes in empowering the community by creating new small businesses and new jobs that provide competitive wages, developing skilled job training opportunities. He also believes in increasing the quality of education and focusing on building skills-based vocational training in our neighborhood schools.
In the 24th Ward, Alderman Monique Scott, whom Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed last year to replace her brother Michael Scott, leads Creative Scott with 45.4 percent of the vote.
As a native of North Lawndale, Alderman Scott served as a park supervisor for the Chicago Park District, where she improved public facilities and managed a team of employees dedicated to putting community residents first. During her time at the Chicago Park District, she engaged residents and created community-building programming.
No relation to Monique, Creative Scott owns Creative Salon and Start to Finish. He operates a young barbers’ program for kids and teens, ages 5 to 15, out of his salon. The program helps youth learn the history and business of barbering.
