Updated March 27, 12:45 p.m.
A pair of reform candidates running for state representative in two districts representing parts of Riverside and Brookfield fell short in their attempts to defeat a couple of well-funded candidates favored by the Cook County Democratic establishment in the March 20 Democratic primary election.
In the 21st District, drawn by state Democrats in 2011 without an incumbent candidate, Silvana Tabares rode to victory over Rudy Lozano Jr. by winning 52 percent of the vote with all 70 precincts reporting.
The new 21st District includes Riverside south of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad tracks.
Tabares, a political newcomer who ran a quiet campaign and generally avoided the press, raised more than $130,000 in the final two months leading up to the election, in addition to the $35,000 she raised by the end of 2011.
Her main contributors in 2012 included the political action committee, Stand for Children Illinois, which funneled $50,000 into her campaign. She also received another $10,000 in the final days of the campaign from the Crown family, a large contributor to Stand for Illinois.
The PAC, which has supported Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s education reform plan, is a proponent of charter schools. Tabares also received more than $15,000 in funding from construction firms, including ones who have benefited from the proliferation of charter schools in Chicago.
Tabares also received $32,000 from state Sen. Martin Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat who ran unopposed in the primary for the new 11th Senate District, and another $22,000 from political committees for the Chicagoland and Illinois chambers of commerce.
Lozano, the son of legendary labor activist Rudy Lozano Sr., had the backing of labor unions, in particular teachers who see many of Emanuel’s reforms as a threat.
While Tabares’ campaign also won the funding war in the race, Lozano collected more than $60,000 in contributions from labor groups.
The new 21st District includes Riverside south of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad tracks.
Hernandez wins in the 24th District
Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, a three term incumbent Democrat from Cicero, held off newcomer Robert Reyes, a resident of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, in the 24th District primary.
Reyes outperformed Hernandez in the city of Chicago, but he couldn’t match the incumbent’s appeal in suburban precincts. When the smoke cleared, Hernandez had taken home 63 percent of the vote to Reyes’ 32 percent.
Hernandez raised nearly $70,000 in the final month and a half of the campaign, including almost $30,000 from Democratic Majority, the political campaign fund controlled by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Reyes, meanwhile, raised roughly $15,000 total since he created his campaign fund in September 2011.
A third candidate, Neftalie Gonzaelz, who ran a ghost campaign, received 5 percent.
The 24th District includes a small band of Riverside north of the tracks (including Burlington Street, the south side of Herrick Road and the area west of Longcommon between the tracks and Park Place; the Hollywood section of Brookfield south of Washington Avenue; and part of Brookfield between roughly Grant and Shields avenues, west to Madison Avenue.
Suburbs strong for Landek
If incumbent Democrat Steve Landek had any doubts about his ability to fend off a Latino candidate in the now heavily Hispanic 12th State Senate District, those doubts were washed away early, when suburban vote totals started rolling in.
While challenger Raul Montes Jr. bested Landek in the city of Chicago by a wide margin, city voters represented just 10 percent of the total casting ballots in the district. Landek trounced Montes in the suburban precincts.
With all 125 precincts reporting, Landek had received 66.5 percent of the vote compared to Montes’ 33.5 percent.
The 12th District includes Riverside north of the tracks and a C-shaped section of Brookfield, which wraps around the portion of Brookfield that’s part of the 24th State House District.
