1979 Chicago mayoral election

none January 2025 September 2023 1979 Chicago mayoral election Chicago presidential no 1977 Chicago mayoral special election 1977 (special) 1983 Chicago mayoral election 1983 April 3, 1979 61%Denvir Daniel Voter Turnout in U.S. Mayoral Elections Is Pathetic, But It Wasn't Always This Way Bloomberg.com https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/05/mayoral-election-voting-turnout/393737/ City Lab (The Atlantic) 11 December 2018 May 22, 2015 21 pp JaneByrne1985 (3x4).jpg Jane Byrne Democratic Party (United States) 700,874 82.1% File:3x4.svg Wallace D. Johnson Republican Party (United States) 137,664 16.1% Mayor Michael A. Bilandic Democratic Party (United States) Jane Byrne Democratic Party (United States) The 1979 Chicago mayoral election was first the primary on February 27, 1979, which was followed by the general on April 3, 1979. The election saw the election of Chicago, Illinois' first female mayor, and the first female mayor of any major American city, Jane M. Byrne. Byrne defeated Republican Wallace Johnson by a landslide 66 percent margin of victory, winning more than 82 percent of the vote. Byrne's 82% of the vote is the most any candidate has received in a Chicago mayoral election. Byrne had won the Democratic Party's nomination by narrowly defeating incumbent mayor Michael A. Bilandic in the party's primary election. Primaries and nominations 60.5% of registered voters participated in the primary elections.Franklin Tim Voter turnout of 80 percent dwarfs record https://www.newspapers.com/image/387728419 subscription Newspapers.com Chicago Tribune 3 April 2023 en February 23, 1983 Democratic primary The Cook County Democratic Party organization (run by the city Democratic political machine) had fully supported incumbent mayor Michael A. Bilandic's bid for renomination for election to a full term as mayor. Byrne, whom Bilandic had previously fired from the post of the city's Commissioner of Consumer Sales in 1977,https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19771219&id=P5AzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HeEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=923,6168601 Kentucky New Era - Google News Archive Search had launched an underdog challenge to Bilandic. In what was regarded to be a major upset to the Chicago Democratic machine, Jane Byrne succeeded in pulling off an insurgent challenge to Bilandic.Kneeland Douglas A. Jane Byrne's Defeat of Mayor Shatters Image of Democratic Machine in Chicago https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/01/archives/jane-byrnes-defeat-of-mayor-shatters-image-of-democratic-machine-in.html The New York Times March 1, 1979 Turnout in the primary was among the greatest in Chicago mayoral history. By some reports, turnout was 839,443, which was 58.97% of Chicago's 1,423,476 voters. Turnout exceeded the average mayoral primary election turnout in the years since 1955 by more than 10 percentage points. Byrne was a first-time candidate for elected office.Mouat Lucia Jane Byrne: off and running for reelection in Chicago https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0823/082307.html Christian Science Monitor 6 June 2020 23 August 1982 She campaigned as a progressive reformer. Her campaign manager was Don Rose, who had previously served as the Chicago press secretary for Martin Luther King Jr. She attacked alderman such as Edward M. Burke and Ed Vrdolyak as an "evil cabal" who ran the city's government. Her candidacy was seen as a longshot.Hautzinger Daniel Chicago's First (And Only) Female Mayor https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2019/03/12/jane-byrne WTTW Chicago 6 June 2020 12 March 2019 Byrne also pledged that as mayor her cabinet would differ from Bilandic's. Byrne was endorsed by Jesse Jackson.https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/November-2014/Remembering-Jane-Byrne/ Remembering Jane Byrne Felsenthal Carol 14 November 2014 www.chicagomag.com Chicago magazine 6 June 2020 Byrne had lambasted Bilandic's government's slow response to the 1979 Chicago blizzard, criticism which was greatly credited with fueling her upset victory.https://interactive.wttw.com/remembering-chicago/mayor-jane-byrne-1979-1983 Mayor Jane Byrne (1979-1983) 13 November 2012https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zAM1AAAAIBAJ&dq=bilandic%20blizzard&pg=6311%2C1192586 Bangor Daily News April 4, 1979 Chicago elects Byrne June 17, 2012 Bangor, Me. 1 Google News Archive Polls, up to the election day, had shown Bilandic in the lead. After the result, The New York Times reported, [Bilandic's] surprising defeat by an underfinanced newcomer to elective politics inevitably raised questions about the effectiveness and the future of what is perhaps the last of the old‐time, big‐city Democratic machines. However, The New York Times also noted that, despite running against the Democratic political machine's mayoral candidate, Byrne had expressed "little appetite for dismantling the organization." Democratic primary results |- ! colspan="5" rowspan="1" align="center" |Chicago Democratic Party Mayoral Primary, 1979http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=8134 Our Campaigns - Chicago Mayor - D Primary Race - Feb 27, 1979http://chicagodemocracy.org/ElectionResults.jsp?election=crdd_primary%2Ccrdd_1979_primary_election%2Cil_chi_mayor Election Results 2018-11-30 2018-11-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20181130113035/http://chicagodemocracy.org/ElectionResults.jsp?election=crdd_primary%2Ccrdd_1979_primary_election%2Cil_chi_mayor dead |- ! colspan="2" rowspan="1" align="left" | Candidate ! width="75" | Votes ! width="30" | % |- | style="color:inherit;background:#3333FF" | | align="left" | Jane Byrne | | |- | style="color:inherit;background:#3333FF" | | align="left" | Michael A. Bilandic (incumbent) | | |- | colspan="2" align="left" | Majority | | |- | colspan="2" align="left" | Total | || |- |} Democratic primary results by ward Byrne won a majority of the vote in 29 of the city's 50 wards, with Bilandic winning a majority in the remaining 21 wards. She swept the city's African-American wards, winning more than 2/3 of votes from them. Results by wardWard Jane Byrne Michael Bilandic Total Votes % Votes % Votes 1 4,049 32.7% 8,338 67.3% 12,387 2 6,247 51.6% 5,858 48.4% 12,105 3 5,716 55.3% 4,628 44.7% 10,344 4 6,402 57.7% 4,701 42.3% 11,103 5 10,304 73.8% 3,654 26.2% 13,958 5 10,168 68.6% 4,645 31.4% 14,813 7 7,865 65.5% 4,149 34.5% 12,014 8 12,327 70.7% 5,116 29.3% 17,443 9 9,286 67.2% 4,542 32.8% 13,828 10 8,580 38.7% 13,592 61.3% 22,172 11 3,526 13.8% 22,117 86.2% 25,643 12 8,838 43.9% 11,317 56.1% 20,155 13 10,451 38.2% 16,938 61.8% 27,389 14 6,048 34.8% 11,334 65.2% 17,382 15 7,865 47.8% 8,579 52.2% 16,444 16 5,803 53.0% 5,139 47.0% 10,942 17 8,024 68.9% 3,619 31.1% 11,643 18 10,903 50.6% 10,659 49.4% 21,562 19 10,395 44.0% 13,223 56.0% 23,618 20 6,221 58.0% 4,514 42.0% 10,735 21 13,516 71.4% 5,405 28.6% 18,921 22 5,179 48.9% 5,422 51.1% 10,601 23 10,814 43.6% 14,003 56.4% 24,817 24 4,446 49.9% 4,458 50.1% 8,904 25 3,365 31.1% 7,455 68.9% 10,820 26 4,632 35.1% 8,572 64.9% 13,204 27 3,564 32.4% 7,450 67.6% 11,014 28 4,588 54.3% 3,860 45.7% 8,448 29 5,059 55.8% 4,004 44.2% 9,063 30 7,957 52.4% 7,229 47.6% 15,186 31 5,452 40.3% 8,086 59.7% 13,538 32 6,000 45.8% 7,099 54.2% 13,099 33 6,779 46.2% 7,899 53.8% 14,678 34 9,414 56.6% 7,233 43.4% 16,647 35 10,973 63.4% 6,329 36.6% 17,302 36 10,788 44.9% 13,265 55.1% 24,053 37 7,177 55.4% 5,774 44.6% 12,951 38 11,920 55.1% 9,723 44.9% 21,643 39 8,864 49.5% 9,053 50.5% 17,917 40 9,386 56.4% 7,268 43.6% 16,654 41 14,847 58.2% 10,649 41.8% 25,496 42 7,943 49.6% 8,085 50.4% 16,028 43 11,915 61.4% 7,499 38.6% 19,414 44 9,448 61.1% 6,027 38.9% 15,475 45 12,843 54.6% 10,690 45.4% 23,533 46 8,825 60.8% 5,698 39.2% 14,523 47 8,020 43.2% 10,542 56.8% 18,562 48 7,970 57.6% 5,855 42.4% 13,825 49 10,376 59.0% 7,214 41.0% 17,590 50 11,875 59.6% 8,039 40.4% 19,914 Totals 412,953 51.0% 396,547 49.0% 809,500 Republican primary Wallace D. Johnson, an investment banker who was the chairman of the firm Howe, Barnes & Johnson Inc.,Heise Kenan WALLACE JOHNSON, BANKER WHO RAN FOR MAYOR IN '79 https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-12-03-9412030068-story.html chicagotribune.com Chicago Tribune 6 June 2020 3 December 1993 won a landslide victory in the Republican primary over his sole opponent. The total number of votes cast in the Republican primary was 21,144, equal to roughly 2.6% the 809,043 votes cast in the Democratic primary. Johnson had, from 1970 through 1976, been a member of the Chicago Transit Authority board, where he was involved in creating the Super Transfer and Culture Bus, and in 1973 helped to lay the groundwork for the creation of the Regional Transportation Authority. Republican primary results |- ! colspan="5" rowspan="1" align="center" |Chicago Republican Party Mayoral Primary, 1979https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=388002 Our Campaigns - Chicago Mayor-R Primary Race - Feb 27, 1979 www.ourcampaigns.com |- ! colspan="2" rowspan="1" align="left" | Candidate ! width="75" | Votes ! width="30" | % ! width="45" | +/- |- | style="color:inherit;background:#FF3333" | | align="left" | Wallace D. Johnson | | | N/A |- | style="color:inherit;background:#FF3333" | | align="left" | Raymond G. Wardingley | | | N/A |- | colspan="2" align="left" | Majority | | | N/A |- | colspan="2" align="left" | Total | || | N/A |- |} Socialist Workers nomination The Socialist Workers Party nominated Andrew Pulley. Pulley was a steelworker that had been the party's vice presidential nominee in 1972.Martin Waldron The Socialist Campaign: Low Funds, High Hopes https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CckMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zGADAAAAIBAJ&pg=7244,663217 St. Petersburg Times January 2, 1972 9–A July 2026 InternetArchiveBot Jenness Doug Chicago socialist candidate: 'Why workers need a labor party now' https://themilitant.com/1979/4312/MIL4312.pdf 7 June 2020 The Militant 43 12 30 March 1979 General election Democrat Byrne had the support of such trade unions as the Chicago Federation of Labor and United Auto Workers. Republican nominee Johnson failed to attract much support. Socialist Workers Party nominee Pulley sought to convince voters that neither Democrats nor Republicans offered an adequate alternative for workers. He argued that, despite having support of trade unions, Byrne was "an anti-labor, anti-strike candidate". During his campaign, he urged trade union members to organize to form a labor party in Chicago, urging them to run independent labor candidates in the following year's congressional elections. Pulley, himself a member of United Steelworkers 1066 at U.S. Steel's Gary Works, argued, "If we don't act to establish a political party, the unions will be destroyed." Despite being its nominee, Johnson's campaign received little organizational assistance from the Republican Party.Kneeland Douglas Jane Byrne, With Machine Help, Sweeps Mayoral Vote in Chicago https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/04/archives/jane-byrne-with-machine-help-sweeps-mayoral-vote-in-chicago-vote.html TheNew York Times 12 June 2025 April 4, 1979 Some aldermen (including Edward M. Burke and Edward Vrdolyak, both of whom were in 1979 considered to longtime political foes of Byrne) as well as some Democratic committeemen were accused of trying to work against Byrne in order to decrease the level of the vote with which she would win election. Any such would have proved for naught, however, when the results came in. General election results With 82.05% of the vote, Byrne won the largest vote share in the history of Chicago mayoral electionsPeterson Bill Jane Byrne Sweeps to Victory in Chicago's Mayoral Race https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/04/04/jane-byrne-sweeps-to-victory-in-chicagos-mayoral-race/51e89581-3948-46f5-b519-be7ba8d86268/ Washington Post 9 June 2020 4 April 1979 (excluding the invalid April 1876 election). The election of Byrne (a resident of the city's North Side) made her the first mayor since 1933 not to hail from the Bridgeport neighborhood. The previous four mayors (Edward J. Kelly, Martin Kennelly, Richard J. Daley, and Bilandic) all hailed from Bridgeport. Mayor of Chicago 1979http://chicagodemocracy.org/ElectionResults.jsp?election=crdd_general%2Ccrdd_1979_general_election%2Cil_chi_mayor Election Results for 1979 General Election, Mayor, Chicago, ILBoard of Election Commissioners For the City of Chicago Mayoral Election Results Since 1900 General Elections Only http://66.107.4.19/ Chicago Board of Election Commissioners 26 March 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20040718031857/http://66.107.4.19/ 18 July 2004 18 July 2004 dead (general election) Democratic Party (United States) Jane Byrne 700,874 82.05 Republican Party (United States) Wallace D. Johnson 137,663 16.12 Socialist Workers Party (United States) Andrew Pulley 15,625 1.83 854,162 General election results by ward Byrne won a majority of the vote in each of the city's 50 wards. In fact, Byrne won all but two of the city's 3,100 precincts (with the remaining two being carried by Johnson).Heise Kenan Wallace Johnson, Banker Who Ran For Mayor In '79 https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-12-03-9412030068-story.html chicagotribune.com Chicago Tribune 27 November 2020 3 December 1994 Results by wardWard Jane Byrne(Democratic Party) Wallace D. Johnson(Republican Party) Andrew Pulley(Socialist Workers Party) Total Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes 1 10,799 86.4% 1,497 12.0% 197 1.6% 12,493 2 11,273 89.3% 863 6.8% 494 3.9% 12,630 3 9,050 91.2% 603 6.1% 271 2.7% 9,924 4 10,419 87.0% 1,048 8.8% 502 4.2% 11,969 5 11,929 79.8% 2,048 13.7% 971 6.5% 14,948 6 14,026 89.5% 1,005 6.4% 639 4.1% 15,670 7 10,972 81.9% 1,956 14.6% 476 3.6% 13,404 8 15,881 89.3% 1,078 6.1% 823 4.6% 17,782 9 13,441 89.2% 1,078 7.2% 548 3.6% 15,067 10 15,176 76.0% 4,411 22.1% 372 1.9% 19,959 11 22,511 89.6% 2,448 9.7% 160 0.6% 25,119 12 16,583 78.8% 4,325 20.5% 140 0.7% 21,048 13 22,797 78.5% 6,113 21.0% 131 0.5% 29,041 14 13,957 83.7% 2,539 15.2% 185 1.1% 16,681 15 14,228 83.5% 2,498 14.7% 323 1.9% 17,049 16 10,132 92.4% 543 5.0% 289 2.6% 10,964 17 11,961 90.7% 827 6.3% 396 3.0% 13,184 18 18,453 83.5% 3,280 14.8% 374 1.7% 22,107 19 18,441 75.3% 5,815 23.7% 231 0.9% 24,487 20 10,729 90.6% 771 6.5% 344 2.9% 11,844 21 18,497 90.3% 1,139 5.6% 856 4.2% 20,492 22 9,459 85.1% 1,519 13.7% 140 1.3% 11,118 23 20,989 80.5% 4,926 18.9% 155 0.6% 26,070 24 8,389 93.1% 420 4.7% 202 2.2% 9,011 25 10,056 89.2% 1,113 9.9% 102 0.9% 11,271 26 11,392 86.4% 1,664 12.6% 131 1.0% 13,187 27 11,786 94.9% 445 3.6% 191 1.5% 12,422 28 8,338 92.8% 423 4.7% 223 2.5% 8,984 29 8,870 91.3% 577 5.9% 265 2.7% 9,712 30 13,357 81.5% 2,890 17.6% 132 0.8% 16,379 31 12,886 90.0% 1,304 9.1% 129 0.9% 14,319 32 11,282 86.4% 1,642 12.6% 134 1.0% 13,058 33 12,608 83.9% 2,266 15.1% 157 1.0% 15,031 34 15,971 91.7% 786 4.5% 668 3.8% 17,425 35 15,090 75.1% 4,820 24.0% 191 1.0% 20,101 36 20,790 77.6% 5,827 21.7% 189 0.7% 26,806 37 11,492 87.3% 1,347 10.2% 322 2.4% 13,161 38 18,188 74.3% 6,150 25.1% 136 0.6% 24,474 39 14,929 77.2% 4,262 22.0% 147 0.8% 19,338 40 13,063 74.7% 4,229 24.2% 191 1.1% 17,483 41 19,852 70.6% 8,119 28.9% 163 0.6% 28,134 42 13,876 77.1% 3,867 21.5% 260 1.4% 18,003 43 12,944 73.3% 4,294 24.3% 429 2.4% 17,667 44 13,622 77.7% 3,446 19.7% 453 2.6% 17,521 45 19,786 72.7% 7,259 26.7% 183 0.7% 27,228 46 13,133 77.7% 3,271 19.4% 493 2.9% 16,897 47 15,669 79.5% 3,863 19.6% 174 0.9% 19,706 48 11,335 74.5% 3,568 23.4% 317 2.1% 15,220 49 13,419 79.0% 3,167 18.6% 409 2.4% 16,995 50 17,048 79.0% 4,314 20.0% 217 1.0% 21,579 Totals 700,874 82.1% 137,663 16.1% 15,625 1.8% 854,162 References collapsed 1979 Chicago Category:1979 Illinois elections Category:1979 in Chicago