Tuesday was a good day to be an incumbent Chicago City Council member.
Voters heavily backed their current aldermen in Tuesday’s municipal election, with incumbents winning 31 of the 50 races outright.
However, not all those races were easily won. In 22 contested races, incumbent aldermen faced challengers hoping to unseat them, but ultimately, the sitting aldermen were able to protect their places at City Hall with over 50% of the vote in their wards.
In only one race — in the 12th Ward — the incumbent lost. In that ward, community activist Julia Ramirez beat newly appointed Ald. Anabel Abarca with 56.5% of the vote, according to unofficial totals.
[ View all 2023 Chicago election results here. ]
But in four other wards, come May there will be a new alderman. In the 14th, 26th, 34th and 44th wards, candidates Jeylú Gutiérrez, Jessica “Jessie” Fuentes, Bill Conway and Bennett Lawson won after longtime incumbents announced they would not run for reelection.
In total, there were 12 seats up for grabs where the incumbent council member chose not to seek another term. Because of this, a further City Council shakeup isn’t out of the question.
Fourteen races are yet to be decided, as no one candidate has received a majority of the vote in those wards. At least eight of those 14 races are guaranteed to be won by a new candidate, after the sitting alderman decided to retire or seek higher office. In the remaining six, incumbent aldermen seem poised to secure a victory, as they all came out as the top vote-getters in their wards, according to unofficial results.
The winners of those 14 undecided races will be determined by a runoff election on April 4.
[ What is a runoff election and why does Chicago have one? ]
Search by ward to see the winner of each City Council race. Click “More about this race” in the pop-up box for more detailed results on that contest.
