If track records are any gauge, the 11th Congressional District’s field of Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s primary election did not exactly summon up comparisons to Alydar versus Affirmed, horse racing’s classic thoroughbred duel.
Beecher resident Steve Barach, a former steelworker turned toy manufacturer, never previously has run for public office.
Joliet attorney Franklin Burkey has run for public office only once before–nearly a quarter-century ago when he lost.
And Chicago’s Clem Balanoff, a real estate agent, political veteran and former state representative, has lost his past two races. He was edged in a 1994 congressional primary and got his clock cleaned in a bid for election as 10th Ward alderman last year.
Voters in the 11th District, which includes parts of Cook, Will, Kankakee, Grundy and LaSalle Counties, went to the polls Tuesday to decide which of those three will take on U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, a Republican from Morris, in November’s general election.
According to unofficial early returns from 23 percent of the precincts in the district, Balanoff had 52 percent of the vote, Barach had 25 percent and Burkey trailed with 23 percent.
Among other congressional races, one of the liveliest was in the 7th District that stretches from Chicago’s lakefront to the western suburbs and where 10 Democrats were vying for nomination to run for the seat being vacated by retiring veteran Cardiss Collins.
Those seeking the nomination included Ald. Percy Giles (37th), whose campaign was tainted by reported links to the Operation Silver Shovel corruption probe by the federal government; Ald. Ed Smith (28th) and Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd), who are considered allies of Mayor Richard M. Daley; and Cook County Commissioner Danny Davis, who has been attacked by the other candidates for accepting the endorsement of Wallace “Gator” Bradley, spokesman for imprisoned Gangster Disciple leader Larry Hoover.
A win by any of them virtually guarantees election in the fall in what has been a solidly Democratic district.
Another closely watched race was in the 5th District once represented by Dan Rostenkowski that stretches from the North Side of Chicago to the northwest suburbs. Nancy Kaszak, Ray Romero and Rod Blagojevich, son-in-law of 33rd Ward Ald. Richard Mell, were battling on the Democratic side. Incumbent Republican Michael Flanagan, who stunned incumbent Democrat Rostenkowski two years ago, was expected to be an easy victor in that party’s primary over three challengers.
Chicago incumbent Democrat William Lipinski was unopposed in the 3rd District, while three candidates were vying for the GOP nomination for the uphill battle against him in November.
The 11th Congressional District is considered one of the country’s swing districts, a 95-mile stretch with urban, rural and suburban pockets that neither political party has dominated.
In 1994, Weller’s handy victory over Democrat Frank Giglio was interpreted, in part, as repudiation of President Clinton and his economic and health-care programs. Two years later, the fall campaign there will be something of an evaluation of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the 1994 GOP freshman class to which Weller belongs.
George Sangmeister, a Mokena Democrat, held the 11th District congressional seat for three terms before deciding not to run for re-election in 1994, and Weller’s victory made it one of two districts that Illinois Democrats lost two years ago.
Burkey and Barach live in Will County.
Burkey, a former aide to the late U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas and an unsuccessful candidate for Will County state’s attorney in 1972, relied partly on support from political notables he has befriended through the years. Barach, a political newcomer, pinned his hopes on a corps of campaign volunteers that he says is 600 strong.
Balanoff, with endorsements from such groups as the Illinois AFL-CIO, hoped his name recognition in politics would attract support from across the district. Balanoff served in the Illinois General Assembly from 1989 to 1995.
