- Credibility:
WEST LOOP — Longtime Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. was reelected Tuesday night, landing a seventh term as 27th Ward alderman.
With 96 of the precincts reporting, Burnett landed 69.8 percent of the vote to challenger Cynthia Bednarz’s 30.1 percent, according to the Chicago Board of Elections.
Leaving his mother’s house late Tuesday night, Burnett, a veteran alderman, said he’s going to have his hands full in his next term as he learns to work with a new mayor and a slew of new aldermen.
“I think my ward is going to become even more important for the future of the city,” the 55-year-old said.
With Toni Preckwinkle and Lightfoot making the mayoral runoff, he’s not yet ready to say who he and ally Secretary of State Jesse White will endorse for mayor.
“Regardless of [whoever] wins, it’s going to be a great thing for women and African-Americans,” Burnett said. “But whoever wins is going to have some hard work ahead of them.”
Ahead of the election, East Garfield Park resident and realtor Bednarz criticized Burnett for neglecting the western portions of his ward and for voting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel 100 percent of the time.
But Burnett defended his record: “People didn’t elect me to protest. …They elected me to get resources for my ward.”
Burnett, who lives on the Near West Side, was overwhelmingly re-elected as 27th Ward alderman in 2015. He was first elected to the seat in 1995.
The 27th Ward includes parts of the West Loop, Greektown, Garfield Park, the Near North Side, Old Town, West Humboldt Park, West Town, the Medical District and Goose Island neighborhoods.
Check out our full election guide at Chi.Vote.
