Washington Wins 2nd Mayoral Term by Wide Margin

Mayor Harold Washington won reelection convincingly Tuesday but still failed to mend the racial rifts that have plagued this city and its government as whites in large numbers rejected the black incumbent at the polls.

And it was uncertain whether Washington would retain his tenuous control of the 50-member City Council, threatening his bid to assume the late Richard J. Daley’s mantle as the unchallenged political boss of the nation’s third largest city.

Despite those doubts, Washington was beaming when he appeared before cheering campaign workers to declare victory and immediately broke into song. “I saw a man he danced with his wife, Chicago, Chicago, my home town,” Washington belted out.

As supporters shrieked his name, Washington declared his victory a “mandate for a movement” and offered an olive branch to his political enemies. “I believe we have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start,” he said, ignoring reports that he was plotting to dump opponents from key council positions.

Only two hours after the polls closed, Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak, a bitter Democratic rival who became a third-party candidate, conceded defeat in a telephone call to the mayor’s South Side home. Republican Donald Haider made a similar concession call minutes later.

Extends Congratulations

“I’d like to congratulate Mayor Harold Washington on winning this election,” Vrdolyak told supporters later in the evening as they vocally booed the outcome. “I wish him the best of health and success for the next four years and I wish our city the best of health and success for the next four years.”

With 93% of the precincts reporting, Washington held 53% of the vote, Vrdolyak had 43% and Haider only 4%. While blacks, as they have in previous elections, voted overwhelmingly for Washington, whites in large numbers gave their votes to Vrdolyak or Haider or just stayed home.

Washington, 64, became the first incumbent mayor to last more than one term since Daley, who was elected five times before he died in office in 1976.

Campaign aides sought to downplay the large anti-Washington vote among whites and the lingering uncertainty over the City Council. The victory margin was sufficient to “allow (Washington) to govern and usher in a new era of cooperation,” proclaimed David Axelrod, the media director of Washington’s campaign. “ . . . The mayor doesn’t demand lockstep fidelity. He’s more amenable to compromise.”

May Have Missed Goal

Despite that contention, preliminary results indicated Washington may have missed his goal of cementing control over both the council and the Democratic Party apparatus. During his first four years, both organizations were riddled by dissension and racially tinged infighting.

Turnout at the polls was relatively light and trouble free despite the sudden, last-minute decision Sunday by Cook County Assessor Thomas C. Hynes, another white contender who switched from the Democratic Party to oppose Washington, to quit the race and narrow the field.

Both Vrdolyak and Republican Haider had predicted that Hynes’ withdrawal would revitalize voter interest in their flagging campaigns.

However, election officials projected that only about 72% of the city’s 1.2 million voters had cast ballots, far below the record 82% turnout in the 1983 mayoral election, when Washington narrowly beat Republican Bernard Epton in another battle marred by racial overtones.

Both media and private campaign polls conducted before Hynes pulled out had suggested that Washington, aided by virtually monolithic support from the city’s black voters, could out-poll all his challengers combined. Black and white voting strength in the nation’s third largest city is about equal.

Council Rebelled

During Washington’s first term, the council, led by Vrdolyak, rebelled and blocked his appointments and programs. Only in the last year was the mayor able to get a tenuous one-vote grip on power in the council, after court-ordered special aldermanic elections trimmed the size of the Vrdolyak bloc.

A handful of longtime opponents of Washington on the council defected to his camp in the waning days of the campaign as prospects for unseating him appeared to dim. However, some pro-Washington council incumbents were locked in tough reelection fights, including Aldermen Clifford Kelley and Wallace Davis, both indicted on federal fraud and racketeering charges for allegedly taking money to influence city contracts.

Kelley was free on bond, but Davis, who has a long history of scrapes with the law, has been in jail for the last month after he allegedly pistol-whipped his former secretary. Since his incarceration he has attended one council meeting, accompanied by four U.S. marshalls.

Davis failed to vote Tuesday, opting not to apply for an absentee ballot beforehand because he thought he would be free by election day. And in a bizarre twist for an elected lawmaker, Davis was forced to monitor election results from a pay telephone inside the federal lockup in Chicago’s Loop.

“This may be the first (time) in history that any elected official, particularly in the state of Illinois, has ever been elected from a federal prison,” Davis told WMAQ-TV from the same telephone as fellow inmates could be heard in the background shouting encouragements. He thanked his supporters and “Mama Bell” for helping him out.

Called Clean Election

Outside of jail, election and law enforcement officials proclaimed it one of the cleanest and most incident-free in Chicago history. That was in marked contrast to what happened at the polls only last February when Washington beat former Mayor Jane Byrne by a 53% to 47% margin in the Democratic mayoral primary.

Then, complaints poured into election and law enforcement agencies when election judges in many pivotal wards handed thousands of voters party ballots different from the ones they had requested.

Tuesday, Tom Leach, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, said the board logged fewer than 400 election-related complaints during the day, squeaky clean by the standards of most elections in a city renowned for election day shenanigans.

“It’s been amazingly quiet,” Leach said. “A real pleasant surprise.”

Kept on Stumping

Election day saw no letup in campaigning. Washington cruised the city in a large bus, stumping for votes to the end. Meanwhile, many blacks, bouyant over Washington’s victory prospects, wore the stubs of their ballots like badges of honor after the mayor called on supporters to pin the receipts to their lapels as a show of support.

Both Haider and Vrdolyak showed up at Wrigley Field, hoping to capitalize on enthusiasm for the hometown Cubs, who opened the season against the St. Louis Cardinals. As he shook hands with fans, Vrdolyak compared himself to boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, who upset heavily favored Marvin Hagler in their match Monday night for the world middleweight title. “You know what Sugar Ray did yesterday?,” Vrdolyak asked supporters rhetorically as he walked into the ball park. “Well, pay attention fellas. It’s going to happen again.”

The Cubs lost 9 to 3.

Staff writer Larry Green and researcher Wendy Leopold contributed to this story.