The five Chicago wards where incumbents who could not muster more than 50% of the vote Feb. 25 face a run-off April 1.
In addition, an openly gay man, Ray Johnson, is running for Oak Park Trustee. He is among the slate endorsed by the clout-heavy Village Management Association, and he is a former co-chair of the Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association.
In a surprise move, 12th Ward Ald. Rafael Frias, who was facing run-off against second-place George Cardenas, who had just slightly more votes than the incumbent in the Feb. 25 election, has dropped out of the April 1 run-off.
Now Cardenas will face third-place Jose 'Chavelo' Rodriguez, who had just 420 votes. Ray Frias had gotten 50 fewer votes than Cardenas, who had 2,173.
In the 1st Ward incumbent Ald. Jesse Granato received a 14 of 16 WCT rating. He said he backs stronger penalties for hate crimes, and increased funding to fight AIDS.
1st Ward challenger Manuel Flores answered WCT in depth, and received a perfect 16 score. His record on gay issues includes when he was a law student at George Washington University Law School, where he successfully represented two indigent gay men (one from Mexico, the other from El Salvador) with their political asylum claims. The grounds were that they were persecuted in their native countries on the basis of being gay. 'The successful outcome of these cases helped establish a legal precedent for persecuted gay and lesbian individuals seeking political asylum in the U.S.,' he said.
No candidates in the 6th or 15th wards responded to WCT for the Feb. 25 or April 1 elections.
In the 21st Ward, incumbent Ald. Rev. Leonard DeVille was the only candidate responding to WCT. While he received only a 9 of 16 rating, he explained that in part this is because of his religious views. He had a mixed rating because while he supports civil rights for all, he allows that his religion does get in the way in several key areas.
Scroll to bottom of page for election chart.