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* Bob Skolnik at the Riverside Brookfield Landmark…
In his nearly 14 years as a state legislator State Rep Mike Zalewski (D-Riverside) built an excellent reputation in Springfield. He was liked and respected by his colleagues regardless of party and ideological disposition. He was an active legislator who studied issues and liked to talk about policy.
He was more accessible to the news media than most state legislators and he chaired the House Revenue and Finance Committee and was close to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
But all of that didn’t translate into enough votes for Zalewski in last month’s primary election as the seven-term incumbent was defeated in the Democratic primary in the 21st District by challenger Abdelnasser Rashid, who won just over 52 percent of the vote in an extremely low-turnout election.
Zalewski was beaten badly on his home turf in Riverside, where he has lived for the past 12 years. He only received 40.2 percent of the vote in the Riverside portion of his district, which includes all of Riverside north of the BNSF railroad tracks. Zalewski didn’t even win the Riverside Township’s 10th Precinct, where he lives, getting only 42 percent of the vote.
Whew.
I checked and Reps. Denyse Wang Stoneback (D-Skokie) and Kathy Willis (D-Addison) both won their home precincts.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:28 pm
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His dad’s unfortunate baggage due to his indictment, plus being associated with Madigan’s machine in 2022 does not bode well.
Hey, props to Mr. Rashid, he worked his tail off and connected with the residents.
When you can’t even win your own precinct it says a lot. Obviously, on the contrary, had MJM still been speaker and party chair, then there wouldn’t be a race or a Mr. Rashid going to Springfield.
Comment by Pizza Man Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:36 pm
=== had MJM still been speaker and party chair===
Yeah? The man is currently under federal indictment.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:38 pm
His vote against PNA repeal was probably fatal even pre-Dobbs, but definitely so once the draft opinion leaked. It should be a warning to any other Illinois Dems thinking of compromising on abortion rights.
Comment by Quibbler Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:38 pm
You can’t win an election when your precinct captains are working 4 hours and spending weekends with their families. That’s just a reality.
Comment by ;) Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:42 pm
=== had MJM still been speaker and party chair===
Is that why Dan Burke never got a primary? /s
Comment by vern Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:43 pm
Zalewski pulled a reverse Madigan. Beloved outside the district, lost the magic in district.
Comment by twowaystreet Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:45 pm
All politics is local.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:47 pm
Maybe it is a different Riverside than in the past. It was the place your grandparents go to retire and pay less property taxes when I was growing up.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:53 pm
Over 227 registered dem voters in the 7 Chicago pcts took Repub ballots .. those were Z voters who left the D party
Comment by NotRich Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:53 pm
===registered dem===
Illinois doesn’t have party registration
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:54 pm
O W. Meant “previously “ people who had taken D ballots the last 4 primaries
Comment by NotRich Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:56 pm
=== Over 227 registered dem voters in the 7 Chicago pcts took Repub ballots .. those were Z voters who left the D party===
There was more cookin’ in the statewide primary on the GOP side.
The argument might be that the Z campaign didn’t make it more compelling to vote in the Dem primary for him than to vote in the statewide competitive GOP primary?
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 3:57 pm
=== Over 227 registered dem voters ===
So, in the 9 (not 7) Chicago precincts, there were 233 total Republican voters. Are you saying that they all went 4/4 D before 2022? That seems pretty unlikely.
Comment by vern Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:03 pm
In addition to his Madigan problem, he lead the charge to take away local control of police pensions and police remembered not only his vote, but his attitude after his leadership on that issue.
Most of the police pension funds in his district have still not turned over their funds to Springfield control.
Comment by Back to the Future Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:04 pm
===he lead the charge to take away local control of police pensions and police remembered not only his vote, but his attitude after his leadership on that issue.
Most of the police pension funds in his district have still not turned over their funds to Springfield control.===
That’s how he lost his home precinct?
To the post,
I personally like Z. I really do. Tough to find folks that don’t like him. The difference is politics, campaigns, and field ops… I’m so far as doing the things necessary that the candidate can carry their own precinct at at 80% clip… like good campaigns strive to do.
Precinct captains can stop “leakage”…. “I need you to stay in the Dem primary, just for Z, you’ll get your chance with the GOP in the fall”
Then there’s the 8-13 precincts you can rout… 200, 250 vote pluralities… a base.
I dunno exactly how this all went down, but losing your own precinct isn’t helpful in a ground game / phone bank / mail part of a GOTV overview.
This one hurts. Gonna miss Z in the GA in January.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:12 pm
I’m sure Z will land on his feet. The question that remains to be answered is what is the GA going to look like in a post-Madigan world. I understand he has been gone for a couple of years now, but this was the first election cycle since his departure. It seems as if the legislative leaders across all four caucuses had less influence than they previously had in the GA.
My interpretation is that, like other parts of the country, Illinois politics is falling into national trends. Weaker political apparatuses will lead to people being influenced more by CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.
In each of the instances in which the leaders’ preferred candidates lost, the more moderate candidate was the one that lost as well.
Just food for thought. Maybe there wasn’t much that Z could have done to reverse that trend unless he was to follow “the program” himself - and maybe that would not have been enough to save him either.
Times are not changing - they have already changed. Let’s see how this plays out in November.
Comment by Hannibal Lecter Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:20 pm
Z had a lot of money, but his opponent worked hard, raised issues where Z was out of touch with his community and deserves credit for standing up and winning against someone with all the advantages that come with representing Madigan and special interest groups in Springfield.
Shows hard work can still win elections.
Comment by back to the Future Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:24 pm
==Maybe it is a different Riverside than in the past. It was the place your grandparents go to retire and pay less property taxes when I was growing up.==
You may be thinking of North Riverside, right next door. No one retires to Riverside.
==You can’t win an election when your precinct captains are working 4 hours and spending weekends with their families. That’s just a reality==
Z had almost zero help from locals, despite being Dem Committeeman.
Comment by Politix Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:32 pm
Some years ago, I organized a meeting w members of my organization who live in Z’s district, and himself. They really wanted to see him regarding an issue of concern for them.
It took weeks - maybe 6 - to get the meeting set up. His staff took a messages and never called back. I would call and leave a message and never get a response. At the time I took all of this in stride, and naïvely just assumed that they were busy.
When we finally scheduled a meeting, Z. arrived in a scruffy shirt and pants. He was polite but not engaging, not demonstrating interest in their visit.
How many of his constituents shared this experience? People - to - people connecting matters. Taking an interest in their issues, their lives, whatever their concerns, is an essential piece of public service. How else to understand the consequences of the policy you - as an elected representative - are crafting?
Comment by Ashland Adam Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:35 pm
I honor your experience Adam - mine was the opposite. He was engaging at meetings, shared useful information and intelligence. Though that was this year so maybe he was doing too little too late to make up for bad impressions built over years.
Comment by Me and Z Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:41 pm
Did Z get help from JB? Or was he too consumed with petty ante state central committee races?
Comment by Surge voter Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:45 pm
===Did Z get help from JB? ===
Yes. Try using the Google before commenting here. Last warning.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 4:47 pm
Taking care of the relationships “in” District always eclipses any and all work in Springfield. True in one’s first term and in one’s tenth.
Everything outside of the local relationships is inside baseball and noise.
Comment by This Just In Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 5:00 pm
I can’t find the demographics for Z’s district but from looking at the map Rashid’s name would definitely resonate with a large portion of part of that district. And the the parts that have mostly white voters also have a good percentage of them pulling a GOP ballot. But losing your home precinct is usually the death nell. Z is a great guy but as noted above I can see some people don’t find him warm and fuzzy. He comes from a world that used absentee ballots like that was the norm to vote way, way before early voting started. Not sure what happened to that base but the old 23rd Ward is history and very little of the current district. And many of those old voters are out in the burbs and have checked out.
Comment by Been There Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 5:36 pm
yeah, too connected to the old/bad ways. he may be nice but that does not cut it now. AR has had his name out there, he’s smart, hard working, professional approach. he will be an asset for the party.
Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 5:46 pm
Rich…. Last warning? Have there been others?
Comment by Surge voter Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 6:31 pm
“All politics is local.”
THIS THIS THIS THIS
Comment by btowntruth from forgottonia Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 7:19 pm
Mike Zalewski was always aiming to become the new White Sox manager …
Comment by low level Tuesday, Jul 12, 22 @ 7:32 pm
“”My interpretation is that, like other parts of the country, Illinois politics is falling into national trends.”"
My sense too.
Comment by walker Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 9:30 am
“Last warning? Have there been others?”
First, last, and only.
Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 1:36 pm
JB kicked in $25k and visited Riverside twice during campaign season.
Comment by Politix Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 2:58 pm