In a Facebook post, Deb Mell conceded the 33rd Ward aldermanic race to opponent Rossana Rodriguez.
Her open letter to the ward reads as follows:
Dear 33rd Ward,
After 25 days of counting and reviewing, it is clear that with 11,500 ballots cast, I will not have the 14 votes necessary to serve another four year term.
I want to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks to all my wonderful supporters and volunteers for their many months of hard work and dedication. Many of you took time away from your families during the cold winter months to help out the campaign and I'm so sorry we came up short.
Serving the people of the 33rd Ward has been the greatest honor of my life and I have nothing but respect and a deep admiration for all the people I have met along this journey. I want to thank you for entrusting me for these past 5.5 years with such an important responsibility.
On May 20th, I will leave this office feeling proud of all the wonderful things we have accomplished working together.
Make no mistake: The state of the 33rd Ward is stronger than ever before.
The 33rd Ward's neighborhood schools are some of the best Chicago has to offer and today they hold the highest rankings CPS has to offer. We also welcomed the Chicago Jewish Day School to our community.
While so many neighborhoods throughout our city have seen their crime levels rise over the years, our communities have remained some of the safest in Chicago.
Our public spaces have benefited from unprecedented investments and are the pride of the northwest side. From new bikes paths, tennis courts, and ice skating rink to new dog park and a revitalized riverfront, our green spaces are more beautiful than ever before.
After a deep recession, our small businesses are thriving and our Rockwell industrial corridor is one of the biggest success stories on the northwest side.
From roads and bridges to gas lines and water mains, our infrastructure has been torn up and rebuilt to last another one hundred years.
We've also worked hard to preserve and create hundreds of new units of affordable housing throughout our ward at a time when the state and federal government have greatly scaled back their commitments.
In the end we did this together!! I cannot express my gratitude to our community partners, our principals and teachers, business owners, city agencies, our non-profits and all of you who each day work to make our city and ward a better place. You made me a better alderman and A BETTER PERSON.
And finally, I have been extremely fortunate to have an incredible staff working for me. A ward office quickly becomes a family, and we were there for each other. They have worked around the clock to deliver the best city services anywhere in Chicago. They took it personally and cared deeply. Anyone would be extremely lucky to have them on their team.
While the vote totals show a ward that is evenly divided, I believe it is time for us to come together and support our new Alderman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez.
I have reached out and congratulated Rossana and her team, they ran a hell of a race. I wish her the very best as she moves into the position.
I will do what I can to ensure a cooperative transition and my office will provide any assistance she might need to hit the ground running.
All best and thank you!
Sincerely,
Deb