Critiques of incumbent Ald. Jim Gardiner’s first term on the Chicago City Council went beyond the usual complaints about crime, business development and potholes.
He was dogged by controversies ranging from a reported federal investigation into whether he sought to withhold services in the 45th Ward from residents who opposed his agenda to leaked profane texts about political colleagues and alleged remarks likening detractors to “rats.” Gardiner denied targeting “any person for being critical of my representation of them in office” and apologized for those texts.
Despite those controversies, Gardiner won reelection, with runoff challenger Megan Mathias conceding two hours after polls closed Tuesday evening.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Gardiner had 55% of the vote to Mathias’ 45%, according to unofficial returns.
Mathias, an attorney, small business owner and chair of the Local School Council at Belding Elementary, had hoped the 52% of ward residents who voted for someone other than the incumbent in February represented a bloc of voters tired of Gardiner.
But she accepted defeat and, in a release, said she hoped Gardiner “appreciates that thousands of people expressed a desire for transparency, integrity, and a voice. We concede Alderman Gardiner won today, but we are so grateful for our team’s tireless efforts and our community’s involvement in this campaign.”
She had argued during the campaign that in addition to fostering a contentious atmosphere in the ward, Gardiner needed to answer for an increase in crime and a failure to engage with residents who want to weigh in on that issue and others.
Gardiner benefited from the fresh ward map that he and fellow Northwest Side aldermen supported along with the council’s Black Caucus. Passed last May over the objections of several Latino aldermen, the redrawn 45th Ward lost parts of the Old Irving Park and Independence Park neighborhoods, and took in the Far Northwest Side Wildwood and Edgebrook neighborhoods that have leaned more conservative in recent elections.
It also left Mathias’ home just outside ward boundaries. If she had won, she would have been required to move into the ward.