Dr. Ron Sable paved the way, as did the successful campaigns of state Rep. Larry McKeon and judges Tom Chiola and Sebastion Patti.
On Feb. 25, Chicagoans elected the first openly gay alderman to serve in the City Council, and Tom Tunney did not forget his roots when he thanked hundreds of supporters gathered at the Vic Theater election night. He told everyone to remember the work that Sable did in running twice for 44th Ward alderman—more than 15 years later, Tunney made history.
'This is not about the last three months of rhetoric,' Tunney said, 'it was about the last 20 years of work.'
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In the 44th, openly gay attorney Rick Ingram had 23% of the vote (2,280 votes to Tunney's 6,013, or 59% of the vote). Attorney Dean Maragos was third with 13% (1,343), followed by Karen Kennedy at 3% (296) and Matthew Fordham at 2% (193).
This means that 82% of the voters in a ward with an estimated 20% gay population voted for openly gay men.
The day after, as the news settled in that Tunney avoided a run-off by winning 59% of the vote, Tunney said he will be '100% committed' to all parts of the community.
'It is important for our community, to have a leader who is openly gay. But it is important to be a leader for everybody,' Tunney said. 'It's made me a better restaurateur, being openly gay. In fact, it doesn't make you work less, it makes you work harder. This campaign was really about a lot of people working really hard.'
Tunney raised $400,000, but said there is almost $200,000 remaining. They did about seven mailing to voters, and on election day called 9,000 people to get out the vote.
'I am so happy, Tom has really been there for everyone,' said activist Vernita Gray.
'I think the right person won,' said 44th Ward resident and longtime lesbian activist Renae Ogletree. 'I am hopeful all the folks who worked on Rick's campaign will now work on community issues. Tom can only move the agenda as much as those of us who live here support him.'
Ogletree added that while openly gay candidate Michael Harrington lost his bid in the 49th Ward against Joe Moore, 'he made a good showing. The good news is our community has decided to integrate our politics, and not just do gay and lesbian politics.'
Harrington got just under 27% of the vote, incumbent Joe Moore got 55% of the vote.
Ogletree added that she is also glad Helen Shiller won her bid to keep the 46th Ward post, and that incumbent city Treasurer Judy Rice won a full term in her uncontested race.
'Tunney's candidacy showed that a gay man can unite various constituencies, gay and straight, young and old, working people and business people, Regular Democrats and Independents,' said Tunney's chief fundraiser, Michael Bauer. 'Tom's win actually is a result of a long legacy starting with Dr. Ron Sable in 1987, Tom Chiola in 1994, Sebastian Patti and Larry McKeon in 1996.'
'The campaign raised slightly under $400,000—much of it was not gay money, but from various concerned citizens from all over Chicago who are thrilled and delighted to have someone as bright, talented and compassionate as Tom is,' Bauer said.
As for the divisions caused by the 44th Ward campaign, Bauer said he encouraged Tunney to reach out to Ingram.
'Some of Ingram's close supporters are friends of mine,' Bauer said. 'It is a judgement call and you can't question that. I do question some of the straight people outside of the ward who chose neither to back Tom or Rick, but Maragos. They did not understand how important this was to elect a gay candidate. ... But how wonderful it is that we have gotten to the maturity where we have more than one gay person in a race.'
While Tunney and Ingram both received backing from the national Gay & lesbian Victory Fund, the largest gay political group in Illinois threw their support behind Ingram—it was the only local race in which the Equality Illinois PAC endorsed. In fact, EI Political Director Rick Garcia was very public in his support for Ingram, and called Tunney an 'Uncle Tom' during the campaign. Asked if he regretted the comments, Garcia said no.
'I am ecstatic with Tom's win, I think he will be a fine alderman,' Garcia said. 'We're committed to working together with him. I have no regrets ... I still think he was being used largely by Regular Democrats, and I am an Independent Dem. I have a high regard for Tom, but I felt he was being used. What I liked about it, was when I saw him after those quotes, we hugged and kissed and laughed, saying it was only politics. In the heat of a campaign, you say things. But he recognizes it's politics, don't take it personally, don't hate each other.'
'Despite all of the rancor and divisiveness over the recent 44th Ward aldermanic election, we as a community have much to be proud of,' said Ingram backer Lee Neubecker. 'For the first time ever in Chicago politics, being a gay candidate was not an issue hampering ones electability to public office. In the 44th Ward the voters clearly expressed their desire to elect the candidate they thought was best suited to represent the interests of our neighborhood without regard to sexual orientation. More than 8,239 votes out of 10,125 were cast collectively for Tom Tunney and Rick Ingram, the only openly gay candidates in the race out of five candidates running.
'The voters of the 44th Ward deserve congratulations for proving the pundits wrong about there only being room for one gay candidate in the race. Voters don't care,' Neubecker said. 'What they do care about are the issues. Because we had so many quality candidates in the race, the residents of the ward received the best deal possible. The numerous debates and exchange of ideas brought democracy back to our ward.'
'Times have changed in Chicago,' said Victory Fund Political Director Bob Kearney. 'Chicago was the largest city in America to have never elected a gay person to its Council. 44th Ward voters said resoundingly that Tom Tunney is their choice for the job. They also expressed confidence in gay office seekers by choosing the two gay candidates as the No. 1 and No. 2 finishers.'
In one of the only real shockers Feb. 25, incumbent 35th Ward Ald. Vilma Colom lost her rematch against Rey Colon, and it wasn't even close. Colon had 4,444 (58%) to Colom's 3,212 (42%).
Colon had many GLBT supporters who helped put him over the top.
Some incumbents will face a runoff April 1, including Ted Thomas in the 15th, against challenger Bob Love, a former Bulls basketball star. Freddrenna Lyle faces a runoff in the 6th, and 1st Ward Ald. Jesse Granato will go head-to-head with Manny Flores, who was just slightly ahead.
[See links for more election results]
