The results of the legislative primary races in the south and southwest suburbs on Tuesday were a mixed bag of upsets, close calls and thorough trouncings.
Perhaps the biggest upset occurred in the Democratic primary in the newly drawn 38th House District, where Robin Kelly, the community relations officer for the Village of Matteson, upended state Rep. Harold Murphy (D-Markham). Kelly, who is expected to run unopposed in the general election in November, captured 55 percent of the vote in the district.
“I’m truly elated and proud,” Kelly said on Wednesday. She attributed her victory to the “grass-roots support I received throughout the district.”
Other legislators who were ousted in the primaries included state Rep. Bob Ryan (D-Lansing) and state Sen. William Mahar (R-Orland Park). Their defeat, however, cannot exactly be described as an upset, because both were running against fellow incumbents as a result of redistricting after the 2000 census.
Ryan, a one-term legislator, was defeated in the redrawn 29th House District primary by state Rep. David Miller (D-Calumet City). Ironically, Ryan, who mustered only 24 percent of the vote, proved the lesser of Miller’s problems on Election Day. Challenger Sheryl Tillman, a Calumet City school board member, garnered 37 percent of the vote to Miller’s 39 percent.
Tillman was supported in the race by state Sen. William Shaw (D-Dolton), the south suburban political power broker who faced recent allegations that he helped put up a candidate against U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) named Jesse L. Jackson in the 2nd Congressional District primary. Miller had the backing of Rep. Jackson.
Mahar, who has served in the state legislature for the last 17 years, failed to survive in the remapped 41st State Senate District primary against state Sen. Christine Radogno (R-La Grange). Radogno captured 52 percent of the vote to Mahar’s 48 percent.
The new district, which includes Orland Park west of La Grange Road and all or parts of New Lenox, Homer Township, Frankfort, Lemont, Darien, Willow Springs, La Grange and Western Springs, includes more of Radogno’s old 24th District than it does Mahar’s old 19th District.
Races that proved closer than expected included the Democratic primaries in the newly redrawn 28th and 30th House Districts and the Democratic primary in the 15th State Senate District.
In the 28th, Robert Rita of Blue Island, the son of Calumet Township Democratic committeeman John Rita, had just a 600-vote lead on Arvin Boddie of Chicago, with votes from one district precinct still to be counted as of Wednesday afternoon.
In the 30th State House District, William Davis of Hazel Crest, a deputy district administrator for Jackson Jr., narrowly defeated Brenda Thompson, Harvey’s planning director, out of a field of six candidates. Davis received 32 percent of the vote to Thompson’s 28 percent.
And in the 15th Senate District Democratic primary, state Sen. Shaw, who also is Dolton’s mayor, barely survived a challenge from his political nemesis, Harvey Mayor Nickolas Graves. Shaw won with a plurality of just over 1,000 votes, with more than 32,000 votes cast in the race.
Candidates facing challenges who had little difficulty winning in the primary included state Rep. Renee Kosel (R-New Lenox) and state Rep. Brent Hassert (R-Romeoville).
Kosel, a state legislator since 1996, soundly defeated political newcomer Jill Stanek of Mokena in the Republican primary for the newly remapped 81st House District. Kosel received 60 percent of the votes in the district, which includes part of southwest suburban Cook County as well as the Mokena-New Lenox-Homer Township area of Will County.
Stanek, a former labor and delivery nurse at Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn, gained attention by protesting abortion procedures at the hospital. Although she took stands on other issues, her views on abortion became the primary focus of her campaign.
Hassert did even better against his opponent, Christian A. Smith of Bolingbrook, in the Republican primary in the new 85th House District. Hassert received 78 percent of the vote to Smith’s 22 percent.
Arsenal project: The developer of an industrial park at the former Joliet Arsenal agreed to lease out 50 acres at the future 2,032-acre facility in Will County.
CenterPoint Properties of Oak Brook said Container-Care International, based near Houston, will lease 50 acres in the Elwood park, where 35 miles of railroad have been installed. Improvements to the Container-Care site will begin this spring and be completed by the fall.
CenterPoint plans to open the park, called CenterPoint Intermodal Center, in August. The park will have a freight transportation hub, to be anchored by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co.
Container-Care, which serves rail container users, will have access to the 621-acre freight yard that Burlington Northern Santa Fe will operate. Container-Care will offer a storage area for rail containers at the park.
CenterPoint has signed deals with two other firms to move into the park, where construction began in mid-2000. During a 12-year build-out, the project could generate 20,000 construction jobs and 8,000 to 12,000 permanent jobs, officials said.
