Boosted by overwhelming margins Downstate and helped by powerful friends in Chicago, U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard of Marion won the Democratic nomination for governor on Tuesday and will face Republican George Ryan in November.
Poshard’s victory in the four-way Democratic primary sets up a fall campaign pitting a veteran southern Illinois politician whose homespun demeanor belies his organizational skills against Ryan, the secretary of state who has spent 26 years in state government, often crossing party lines to build consensus.
But the race will not be a conflict of ideologies. Both nominees have traditionally held conservative viewpoints. Their contest will mark the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a woman’s right to an abortion in 1973 that both major-party candidates for governor are opposed to the procedure.
Poshard’s victory marks the first time in 46 years that Democrats nominated a southern Illinoisan for governor. He will try to end 22 years of Republican control of the Executive Mansion.
His running mate is still uncertain. The Democratic primary for lieutenant governor between Kane County Coroner Mary Lou Kearns and former state Treasurer Pat Quinn remained too close to call early Wednesday.
Unofficial totals with all but 2 percent of the state’s precincts counted showed Poshard with 38 percent of the vote, former Comptroller and Atty. Gen. Roland Burris with 30 percent, former Justice Department official John Schmidt with 25 percent and former U.S. Atty. Jim Burns with 6 percent.
“I am ready for the battle. I am ready to begin and we are going to win this race,” Poshard said from his election-night headquarters at the International Union of Operating Engineers Hall in Marion.
Ryan declared victory over his Republican primary opponent, Chad Koppie, soon after the polls closed.
Poshard, 52, racked up overwhelming margins throughout his Downstate congressional district and led in all 96 counties outside the Chicago metropolitan area.
An example of Poshard’s Downstate strength was in his home county of Williamson. Unofficial returns there showed Poshard with 11,886 votes compared with 202 for Schmidt, 173 for Burris and 88 for Burns.
At the same time, Poshard was the beneficiary of a Chicago voter turnout that was the lowest in at least 40 years.
Though Poshard finished third in Chicago, he built up strong leads in critical wards where he was backed by the local Democratic organization, a reflection of the alliances he forged with U.S. Rep. William Lipinski and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan on the Southwest Side and in the south suburbs.
In Madigan’s 13th Ward and Lipinski’s 23rd Ward, Poshard posted 4-1 ratios over Schmidt.
Meanwhile, the sizable margins that Schmidt expected on the lakefront and in the collar counties never materialized. Only in the 33rd Ward of Ald. Richard Mell did Schmidt perform as well as he had hoped, defeating Poshard by a 6-1 ratio.
Despite the support of Mayor Richard Daley’s allies, Schmidt lost the 11th Ward on the South Side by about 1,400 votes to Poshard.
Elsewhere on the ballot, Cook County Recorder of Deeds Jesse White defeated Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy in the Democratic contest for secretary of state.
Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin defeated Calumet City Mayor Jerry Genova for the Democratic nomination for state treasurer.
On the Republican ballot for secretary of state, former state Rep. Al Salvi claimed victory over state Rep. Robert Churchill, while state Sen. Chris Lauzen claimed victory over Harry Seigle in the comptroller’s race.
Poshard who has served five terms in Congress, was initially regarded as a long shot because his political career had been limited to southern Illinois.
But he made significant inroads in the Chicago metropolitan area thanks to the support of Lipinski and Madigan, who control potent armies on the Southwest Side and in the south suburbs.
Madigan also used his power as speaker to help swing the endorsement of the state AFL-CIO to the congressman.
Poshard was the only candidate to place a limit on campaign donations and said he would not take contributions from corporations or special interests. But Madigan persuaded his House members to donate money and organized labor used its own money to help Poshard.
In the upcoming campaign, Poshard will have to defend his votes against gun control during a decade in Congress, a stance he began to modify after deciding to run for governor. As lieutenant governor, Ryan backed an unsuccessful push in the General Assembly to ban some semiautomatic weapons.
Ryan also is likely to build upon the issue of taxes and Poshard’s co-sponsorship of legislation a decade ago that would have boosted the state income tax by 80 percent in exchange for the complete elimination of local property taxes as a source for funding local schools.
But Poshard is expected to continue his push for reform of the state’s campaign finance system and will attack Ryan’s industrial-strength fundraising apparatus.
Poshard was the first of the Democratic contenders to announce for governor, just over a year ago.
When Republican Gov. Jim Edgar announced that he would not seek re-election, the field quickly opened up and marked the beginning of a furious battle for name recognition among Democratic voters.
Burris was the early front-runner even though he had not held statewide public office in four years.
Severely underfunded compared with his competitors, Burris nevertheless believed his chances were good in a four-way race for governor. He campaigned heavily in the African-American community and devoted most of his money to advertising on black-oriented radio stations.
But Burris’ campaign suffered a setback when he was caught on videotape telling a predominantly black audience of union members that his opponents were “nonqualified white boys” who should get out of the race.
Burris apologized for the remark, saying it was an emotional response to calls from some Democrats and media to drop out of the contest. But his campaign had difficulty recovering and finished second, even though it was the most poorly funded of the four contenders.
Schmidt, 54, a wealthy corporate attorney and Daley’s first chief of staff, launched his campaign last July at Navy Pier.
Within a month he was on the airwaves and missed few chances to buy TV time, pushing positions in support of abortion rights,
gun control and environmental regulation.
But his biggest efforts to lure voters came in proposals that would eventually turn the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority system into expressways and grant a state-subsidized scholarship to high school graduates and college students who have and maintain a B average.
Burns, 52, was the last entrant of the four major contenders and had difficulty lining up support and contributions. The former U.S. attorney had been Madigan’s early favorite but as Burns’ campaign failed to generate momentum, Madigan switched alliances to Poshard.
