- Credibility:
PULLMAN — Ald. Anthony Beale has kept his 9th Ward aldermanic seat.
Beale received 60 percent of the vote to challengers Cleopatra Draper’s 32 percent and Cameron Barnes 8 percent with all precincts reporting Tuesday night,
The 9th Ward includes parts of Chatham, Roseland, Pullman, Washington Heights, West Pullman and Riverdale.
Beale, first elected in 1999, is one of the city’s longest-serving aldermen.
“I think he’s really looking forward to what has just been preliminarily funded by the state Legislature, which is the Roseland Medical District, which would bring a whole complex of medical services and jobs to that part of the ward and really an important health service …,” said spokeswoman Marilyn Katz.
Beale previously said he hopes in this next term to build upon successes in the ward, saying he’s brought in restaurants and businesses like Amazon, Whole Foods, SC Johnson, Method, Gotham Greens and Lexington Betty Smokehouse. Under his tenure, the ward has also seen the opening of the Pullman Community Center and Pullman National Park.
The ward is also set to see a combination microbrewery, coffee roaster and restaurant; 101-room hotel; grocery store and Invest South/West projects during Beale’s next term.
Beale also said he will focus on the development of the Roseland Medical District, which became part of the 9th Ward after last year’s ward redistricting process.
Barnes is a preacher and the national youth director of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Draper is a radio host for WVON 1690 AM and social activist who ran against Beale in 2019, when she won 25 percent of the vote.
Barnes and Draper hoped to appeal to voters looking for change in the South Side ward by vowing to address public safety concerns and focus more on what they said were neglected parts of the ward. Barnes’s campaign also focused on preventing gentrification and prioritizing on bringing resources to 9th Ward residents.
Draper’s campaign honed in on revitalizing the Roseland business district, bringing better grocery stores to the area, improving housing stability and mental health resources and more.
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