UPTOWN — Ald. James Cappleman appears headed for a runoff in the 46th Ward.
The sitting alderman didn’t appear to get more than 50 percent of the vote, meaning he’ll need to face the second place finisher in the April 2 runoff.
With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Cappleman had 44 percent of the vote.
If the numbers hold when all votes are counted, his runoff opponent would be Marianne Lalonde, a 32-year-old scientific research consultant who has lived in the 46th Ward for three years. She got 18.38 percent of the vote to come in a distance second.
One of the third- and fourth-place finishers — Erika Wozniak Francis (16.5 percent) and Angela Clay (16 percent) — would need to storm back in the final counts, including mail-in ballots.
The lakefront 46th Ward represents a neighborhood long known for its ample amount of affordable housing, a key issue among voters.
Cappleman’s challengers differed slightly in their plans to preserve the neighborhood as a haven for working families but stood united against what they saw as Cappleman’s failure to demand that new developments have affordable units that fit the neighborhood’s needs.
Now seeking his third term, Cappleman, 66, acknowledged that although some new buildings in Uptown may not include many affordable housing units, developers for those projects set aside money aimed at helping even more vulnerable city residents.
Cappleman took office in 2011 and succeeded longtime alderman Helen Shiller, who was a vocal affordable housing advocate for a ward that also includes parts of Lakeview. Cappleman insists his dedication to affordable housing is unrivaled by his colleagues in the City Council.
“We are way, way, way, above all the community areas in providing affordable housing and I am still asking for more,” Cappleman said.