GRAND BOULEVARD — Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) will likely be reelected for a fifth City Council term after all three candidates vying to replace her were kicked off the ballot.
Don Davis, Al Rasho and Jasmine Roberson were all disqualified from the 3rd Ward race following a Friday hearing before the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
Dowell supporters Laurence Olivier and Robert L. Jackson filed petition challenges against the trio of aldermanic hopefuls in December, contending the three collected signatures from people who weren’t registered voters or were registered at the incorrect address. They also accused the candidates of including forged signatures and duplicate names, among other violations, according to the objection filings.
Elections officials agreed none of the challengers had collected enough signatures to qualify for the race.
The alderwoman decided to run for what she said is her final City Council term failed bids for Secretary of State and Congress. She was the first candidate to announce a run to replace former Rep. Bobby Rush, a seat eventually won by Rep. Jonathan Jackson.
Dowell, a former city planner who worked in the administrations of mayors Harold Washington, Eugene Sawyer and Richard M. Daley, was elected to City Council in 2007 after defeating incumbent Dorothy Tillman in a runoff.
Tillman’s daughter Ebony mounted a campaign of her own against Dowell in 2011 but only garnered 32 percent of the vote.
The University of Rochester alumna beat former Water Reclamation District Commissioner Patricia Horton and community activist Alexandria Willis to win reelection in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
Dowell told the Hyde Park Herald in August she plans on spending her final term focusing on housing and retail development for 43rd Street and incentivizing affordable home ownership.
The 3rd Ward includes parts of Bronzeville, South Loop and Douglas.
The election is Feb. 28.
Dowell joins a slew of colleagues who are running unopposed in their wards.
Alds. Brian Hopkins (2nd), Greg Mitchell (7th), David Moore (17th), Walter Burnett (27th), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Matt Martin (47th) also have no challengers.
Support Local News!
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? Click here to gift a subscription, or you can support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
