- Credibility:
SOUTH SHORE — An eleven-candidate crowd in the race to replace Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) has been whittled down to two, as Desmon Yancy and Martina “Tina” Hone came out on top in Tuesday’s election and advanced to a runoff in April.
With 24 of 25 precincts reporting Tuesday night, Yancy held 26 percent of the vote to Hone’s 18 percent. The 5th Ward includes parts of Hyde Park, Woodlawn and South Shore.
Yancy and Hone will face off in April to determine who takes over for Hairston, the incumbent of 24 years. Hairston announced in August she would not seek reelection and later endorsed Yancy, who also picked up endorsements from the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU Local 73.
Yancy has called for a $5 hike in the minimum wage and expanded universal basic income programs while voicing full support for the community benefits agreement written by the Obama CBA Coalition during the campaign. He’s a community organizer with the Inter-City Muslim Action Network.
He organized with the Grassroots Association for Police Accountability, a key group behind the successful push to create a civilian board to oversee the Police Department.
“In the coming weeks, I will make the case that this means a new emphasis on housing affordability; new expectations that the fruits of development be shared by all; a new approach to policing anchored in safety and accountability; [and] a new way to improve city services and enhance emergency services,” Yancy said in a statement.
Hone’s campaign platform has centered public safety concerns, as the city must both “figure out to improve law enforcement” and “get to the bottom of the root causes of violence,” she told Block Club Tuesday night.
She would also advocate for policies that help renters into homeownership and encourage economic growth on 71st Street if elected, she said prior to the election.
Hone was the city’s chief engagement officer under Mayor Lori Lightfoot from 2020 until September, when she stepped down to run for the 5th Ward seat. That professional experience can help her overcome Yancy’s fundraising and endorsement advantages, she said.
“I am more confident in the runoff that I was in the race with 10 other candidates,” Hone said. “… I know both the struggles and the opportunities of this ward, and I have a love for this ward in its entirety that I don’t think Desmon can match.”
Voters will choose between the two candidates to decide who will represent an area that’s a hotbed of economic and political attention as the Obama Presidential Center is built within the ward in Jackson Park. New alderpeople will make an annual salary of $142,772.
Candidates Renita Ward, Wallace E. Goode and Jocelyn Hare were in third with 12 percent of the votes, fourth with 11 percent and fifth with 7.5 percent, respectively.
Rounding out the crowded race were Joshua Gray, Kris Levy, Dialika “Dee” Perkins, Marlene Fisher, Gabriel Piemonte and Robert Palmer.
Several candidates united to raise concerns with Yancy’s residency within the ward in recent weeks, alleging he lives in South Holland.
Yancy provided a slew of personal documents dating back several years to the Hyde Park Herald indicating he lives in South Shore, though he confirmed to the Herald he has been a registered 5th Ward voter for less than a year.
The 5th Ward race featured as many as 12 candidates before Adrienne Irmer was disqualified in January. Chicago Board of Elections officials determined she lives in the 8th Ward.
Despite her disqualification, the elections board mailed nearly 4,000 ballots earlier this month which incorrectly listed Irmer as a candidate.
Ballots with Irmer’s name on it will be counted unless the voter submits a second, correctly printed ballot, officials said. In that case, only the second ballot will be counted.
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