Ed Burke rival in 14th Ward Committeeperson race edges ahead

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Ald. Edward M. Burke, the long-time 14th Ward Democratic Committeeperson, was in a close race to retain the seat against freshman state Rep. Aaron Ortiz, but his chief rival’s lead was growing.

Ortiz — who ousted Burke’s brother, state Rep. Dan Burke, just over a year ago — is leading with 40% of the vote to Burke’s 33%, with 94% of precincts reporting. Alicia Elena Martinez trails with 27% of the vote.

The too-close-to-call race — for now — leaves Burke’s seat, which he has held since 1968, up for grabs.

For months, Ortiz has campaigned against Burke as the anti-corruption candidate while the incumbent faces federal racketeering and bribery charges.

“We’re focused on building an inclusive Democratic Party,” Ortiz said Tuesday evening. “I want to bring people in, especially first-generation people and young people.”

The democratic ward committeeperson is responsible for slating political candidates, getting people registered to vote and drawing support to those slated candidates. The position remains sought after by incumbent aldermen to assure the Cook County Democratic Party doesn’t endorse anyone running against them.

It is one of more than a dozen committeeperson seats that were being contested Tuesday.

Challenger Maggie O’Keefe surged ahead of Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) to replace Patrick O’Connor for 40th Ward Democratic Committeeperson, with O’Keefe having 52% of votes to Vasquez’s nearly 48%, and 95% of precincts reporting.

O’Keefe, who also ran against Vasquez for alderman, said her goal has been to keep these two roles occupied by two different people.

“Patrick O’Connor had been the committeeperson for 35 years,” O’Keefe said. “Our message was always about separating these two positions [alderperson and committeeperson] for the first time in 35 years.”

Vasquez said he was largely concerned Tuesday night with preventing the spread of COVID-19 at polling locations.

“I myself put blue painters tape on the ground at polling places to make sure people knew how far apart to stand from each other,” Vasquez said. “I put a piece of tape down, walked back six feet, put another piece down, six feet, put another piece.”

He said the pandemic calls into question the legitimacy of the elections and suspects “there will be legal challenges all around.”

“We’ll all head home and work remotely. It’s not going to be very celebratory one way or the other.”

Results show state Sen. Iris Martinez with 62% of votes while incumbent Aaron Goldstein had 38%, with 89% of precincts reporting.

The race for 12th Ward Committeeperson was also close, with incumbent state Sen. Antonio Munoz’s at 51% of votes to Ald. George Cardenas’ (12th) 49%, with 91% of precincts reported.

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) was facing a challenge for his 26th Ward Committeeperson seat by Angee Gonzalez Rodriguez late Tuesday. Gonzalez Rodriguez held a solid lead with 53% of votes to Maldonado’s 47%, with 96% of precincts reported.