Waukegan voters go to the polls less than a month from now to decide if Mayor Ann Taylor deserves another term or if they want to, once again, head in a different direction. It will be an interesting four-way contest.
Besides Taylor, running as an independent as she did four years ago, also on the April 1 ballot are fellow independent, 6th Ward Ald. Keith Turner; former Mayor Sam Cunningham, whom Taylor defeated in 2021; and former 4th Ward. Ald. Harold Beadling. Cunningham is running as a Democrat; Beadling, a Republican.
There aren’t many registered Republicans in Waukegan and there was a dismal Democratic primary turnout on Feb. 25 in which Cunningham defeated Miguel Rivera for the second time in four years by a margin of 1,695 (74.7%) to 573 (25.6%) votes out of 2,268 cast. The Democratic primary turnout between Waukegan and North Chicago was 3,309 votes cast out of a registered voter base of 50,059 or 6.6%, according to the Lake County Clerk’s Office.
A low turnout on Election Day next month could aid any of the candidates in the four-way contest which currently is up for grabs. Taylor and Cunningham both have citywide name recognition. Turner, normally a Democrat, opted for an independent candidacy.
Candidates will be working from now until April 1 — the date of April Fool’s Day hasn’t been lost on some — to identify their supporters and get them to the polls on time. With a small turnout, every vote will count.
Early voting begins Friday at the clerk’s office in downtown Waukegan. Countywide early voting kicks off March 17 at various voting sites across the county.
Campaign signs are dotting Waukegan lawns and lots as the runup to the election draws near. Cunningham’s campaign signs exhort voters to “re-elect” him to office, as do Taylor’s.
City voters haven’t re-elected a Waukegan mayor to two consecutive terms since Richard Hyde, who became mayor in 2002 following the sudden death of Mayor Dan Drew. Hyde won a special election in 2003 to complete Drew’s term.
In 2005, Hyde, a former 8th Ward alderman, won election to a full four-year term, first defeating a field of Democrats that included Cunningham, then a 1st Ward alderman. Hyde went on to beat then 6th Ward Ald. Larry TenPas in the general election.
The last Waukegan election which had a four-candidate mayoral field was in 2001, and it was also one of the city’s closest. Six votes separated winner Drew, who was then city treasurer, from challenger Newton Finn, a political activist. Also trailing on the ballot were Jack Potter and political gadfly Margaret Carrasco.
With the rare vocation of attorney and ordained Baptist minister, Finn founded TOWN (Taskforce On Waukegan Neighborhoods) warning the city was turning into a “Pottersville.” That is the community run by a villainous real estate magnate which Bedford Falls reverts to in the imagination of protagonist George Bailey in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
It was the second time Finn had run for mayor, and the second time he was defeated by a small number of votes, with nearly 10,500 cast. In 1997, Finn lost to incumbent Mayor Bill Durkin, who served as the city’s chief executive from 1993 to 2001, by 36 votes.
With four candidates, April’s contest, too, could have a nail-biting outcome in this political hardball event. Even before campaigning began in earnest, there were residency challenges to Taylor’s candidacy, dismissed by the city’s Electoral Board.
The political fireworks ramped up recently with allegations by Taylor accusing Cunningham of distorting her fiscal record the past four years. A campaign piece mailed to Waukeganites alleges Taylor has created a budget deficit during her term in office.
In truth, four budgets under the mayor’s administration have been balanced while increasing the city’s cash reserves to nearly $55 million, without tax increases, and shoring up the city’s credit rating. Waukegan’s balanced budget for the current fiscal year, which ends April 30, is $245 million.
I’m not sure how much the next fiscal year budget might increase with the addition of legal counsel for members of the City Council. Alders last month overrode Taylor’s veto by a 6-2 vote of an ordinance, first proposed by mayoral candidate Turner, which now provides for council members to retain their own lawyer or lawyers, separate from what Waukegan taxpayers currently spend on the city’s corporate council.
Surely, aldermanic legal expenses in this tight mayoral race will become a campaign issue sooner rather than later. If not, certainly in 2027 when council members face the voters.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
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