On Tuesday, February 26, students shared Circle Drive with aldermanic volunteers peddling signs and brochures and talking to 43rd Ward constituents. As results from Parker’s polling station and spots around the ward ran in, volunteers and constituents alike found out that incumbent alderman Michelle Smith received 38.7% of votes, with aldermanic challenger Derek Lindblom taking second place with 27.8% of votes.

On April 2nd, the two will compete again in a runoff election since neither candidate received 50% of votes. A crowded field of six candidates, ranging from Parker PM Leader Steven McClellan to Lincoln Park High School parent Leslie Fox, split the vote so that no one candidate could get a 50% majority.  Over 60% of voters voted against the incumbent.

Though Smith herself was not available for an interview, Field Director Jesse Brookes, who manages voter outreach like door-knocking, believed the crowded field does not reflect on Michele. “There were lots of highly qualified candidates who ran. Very few other wards has as many serious challenges as Michelle did and I certainly see that as a function of the ward as opposed to a function of her,” Brookes noted.

Lindblom, however, tied it back to a need for change in the ward. “There’s a real feeling in this community that there’s time for a change,” Lindblom said.

This community, according to the ward’s official website, the 43rd ward includes 46 election precincts and eight neighborhood associations, such as Gold Coast Neighbors, the Old Town Triangle Association, and the Mid North Association, which represents Parker.

Smith has been representing these neighborhoods since 2011, and is now in her second term as alderman. On her campaign website, Smith highlights her priorities of constitution services, like filling residential service requests, her investment in public safety resources, emphasis women’s health and history of ethics reform.

“She’s a real reformer,” Brookes said. The Smith campaign earned the endorsement of Lori Lightfoot, in addition to Bill Singer and Marty Oberman, former aldermen of the 43rd ward who Brookes called “reform-minded alderman.”

“The level of integrity and real care that she brings to serving the district and representing the constituents of the Ward are the important things that drew me to Michele,” Brookes said.

Lindblom, however, believed the ward needed a change and launched his campaign against Smith early last summer. “The current alderman pledged in 2015 that she wasn’t going to vote for an increase in the property tax and then promptly turned around and voted for the largest property tax increase in city history,” Lindblom said. “There’s a lot of families in this ward, specifically young families and seniors, who are getting shoved out of the community because they can’t afford to pay their taxes.”

“One of the things that happens when alderman lack the creativity to come up with other options besides the property taxes is you see folks start to get forced from their homes,” Lindblom added. Lindblom cited legalizing and taxing cannabis, consolidating managerial layers of government, and looking at underlying problems like pensions and debt as the solutions he would bring to the office, problems Lindblom believes Michele hasn’t fixed in her eight years.
Smith’s office would disagree. “She’s been a fighter on ethics and reform. She’s got the bruises to prove it,” Brookes said. “It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and throw bombs but once you get into the arena, you really get to see what an elected official is all about.”

“Even in a time when people want a new way of doing business, you still want to keep people who have sort of demonstrated integrity,” Brookes said.

That doesn’t stop Lindblom from having plans and priorities for office, some related to Parker. Lindblom cited the increase in crime, with a 73% increase in assault, a 50% increase in sex offenses, and a 66% increase in motor vehicle theft since the last election, as concerns for Parker students and parents. “These are real scary numbers that affect the ability of Parker student and parents to feel safe in our community.”

Besides dealing with crime by investing in detectives and police training, Lindblom suggested looking at root causes. “I’m running against someone who voted to close half of our mental health clinics. I’m running against someone who voted against the minimum wage.”

“Crime comes up a lot,” Brookes said, when talking about issues that matter to voters. “[Smith]’s added about a 100 new police officers over her time.”

According to Smith’s website, to address carjacking in Chicago, “she advocated for changes in state law which provide prosecutors with more tools to accurately and effectively prosecute those crimes.” Smith cited her experience as a prosecutor to her understanding of “balancing accountability with rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system,” and her website supports reforms to give young people more opportunities within Chicago neighborhoods.

Outside of the larger ward issues that hit Parker, Lindblom believes thee school needs an advocate. “I think Parker, when they’re working with the community, needs someone who’s going to be an active mediator, someone who’s going to help Parker and the community work together for the benefit of both groups, and that’s not always easy,” Lindblom said.

“Having someone who’s not only going to be a partner on the tough issues, but also do things like come to the school for a Morning Ex, that’s great,” Lindblom added.

Brookes noted that issues relevant to Parker were out of his area of expertise. Smith’s website emphasizes her support of ward education since she came into office, focusing on her renovations to Lincoln Park High school, her effort to create a new annex for Lincoln Elementary to prevent crowding, as well as securing dunfields for playgrounds and repair drainage in local parks.

“She has a really great record of pursuing and winning additional resources for our fantastic local public schools,” Brookes said.

Lindblom’s campaign has seen student support as well. About 15-20 Parker students volunteer, with Lindblom estimating the number over 20 if you count alumni. Currently, James Hulsizer ‘17, is the campaign’s Field Organizer.

“I reached out to Derek and somehow I went canvassing with them once. I was terrible at that. I just kind of stood there and watched Emily talk,” freshman and frequent Derek volunteer Alex Carlin said. “But I’ve been a lot of weekends in the aspt three months and I think Derek should go be alderman.

“I’ve had some very nice conversations with people who I would never have talked to before,” Carlin said. “Having the conversation just energizes me and gives me hope for our future, especially as a country right now.”

“Often, young people don’t realize local politics affects their lives more than national politics and one of the neat things about Parker is that they seem to get that,” Lindblom said.

“What happens in the rest of the city still plays a major role in the way people perceive politics around here,” Brookes said. “Ed Burke is not our alderman, but plenty of people want to talk about Ed Burke at the doors.” Brooks added that Michele’s independent record helps Michele win voters who are frustrated with Chicago politics.

“There are challenges you have to face at a city wide level, be it our financial crisis, be it our safety crisis,” Lindblom said. “You have to solve them overall.”
“One of the really cool parts about our community is that the 43rd ward will support that person who’s willing to take political risks, who’s willing to be a reformer,” Lindblom said. “This is a place that’s always supported real reformers and I think it’s time to bring that back.”

The campaign strategies for both candidates remains local. Though this article will be published after election day, campaigning leading up to this has looked similar for both candidates as it has throughout their whole campaigns.

“The biggest priority for us is the same as it was then,” Lindblom said. “One of the biggest things this campaign has said is we need to listen more. We haven’t always done a great job as a ward and an alderman’s office at listening.”

“When we first started, we were this less well known campaign challenging an incumbent and now it’s very clear we’re in a very close runoff and we’re a campaign to be taken seriously,” Lindblom said.

“In person-to-person voter contacts, things are pretty simple. You make phone calls, you knock on doors, and you make your case to voters. It doesn’t matter who your opponent is,” Brookes said.

“From my perspective, it’s what we’re doing before, it’s just more,” Brookes said. “More doorknocking, more phone calling. We just have to make sure that all of our voters vote.”