Jewish Vote in Chicago Helped Unseat Black Incumbent in Mayoral Primary

Chicago’s Jewish community, whose votes were instrumental in electing the city’s first black mayor, played an important role Tuesday in helping make Chicago the first city to unseat a sitting black mayor with a white challenger.

Richard Daley, son and namesake of the late political boss, received more than 83 percent of the Jewish vote in the Democratic primary, according to exit polls, allowing him to easily defeat Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer.

It was the Jewish vote that had been the margin of victory for Harold Washington in 1983, when he became Chicago’s first black mayor.

This time again, Chicagoans voted mostly along racial lines, the major differences contributing to Sawyer’s defeat being a lower turnout in the black community and a defection of Jewish votes away from the black candidate.

It was Daley who received strong political and financial support from the Jewish community this time around. In the heavily Jewish 50th ward on the city’s north side, Daley received 16,000 votes to Sawyer’s 2,000.

Daley also did unusually well among the so-called “lakefront liberals,” a pivotal white voting bloc with a good share of Jewish votes and money. Daley received 75 percent of that vote.

A number of prominent Jews supported Daley and contributed large amounts to his campaign, including Philip Klutznick, former president of B’nai B’rith International and the World Jewish Congress. He endorsed Daley early in the race and contributed $25,000 to his campaign.

DISPLEASURE OVER ‘COKELY AFFAIR’

The strong support shown Daley by Chicago’s Jewish community was to a great extent a sign of displeasure over Sawyer’s handling of the “Cokely affair.”

Last May, tapes surfaced in which Steve Cokely, an aide to Sawyer, outlined his anti-Semitic views, including the assertion that Jewish doctors in Chicago were injecting black babies with the virus that causes AIDS.

An uproar ensued. But six days went by before Sawyer finally moved to fire Cokely. Few black politicians or clergy stepped forward to denounce Cokely, and indeed, many rose to support him.

Weeks later at a student art exhibit, black aldermen stormed into Chicago’s Art Institute and ripped down a satirical painting of the late Mayor Washington, dressed only in women’s lingerie. A black alderman claimed a Jew had painted it, which was not true.

For many Jews, who were among the first whites to support Washington’s mayoral bid and three times more likely to vote for him than other whites, the two incidents caused pain and outrage. They left Jews with a new awareness of anti-Semitic elements within the black community.

The Jewish vote, however, was not all negative. Jews, Hispanics and former Washington allies in white wards saw in Daley a viable alternative. Daley reached out to the Jewish community and demonstrated a willingness to address Jewish concerns.

As Cook County state attorney, his office had aggressively pursued anti-Semitic crimes, including the attacks on Jewish shops on the 49th anniversary of Kristallnacht in November 1987.

For a time, the Democratic mayoral race had a Jewish candidate, Alderman Lawrence Bloom. But lacking money and a base of support, he dropped out this month, backing Sawyer.

The Democratic primary victory for Daley does not, however, ensure a victory in the April 4 general election.

He now faces a tough challenge from black Alderman Timothy Evans, who skipped the primary in favor of an independent bid on the Harold Washington party ticket in the general election. Evans was blamed by the Sawyer camp for the low voter turnout in some black wards.

To further complicate the matter, in the Republican mayoral primary, a write-in candidacy by Edward Vrdolyak may block the nomination of the party-endorsed candidate, Dr. Herbert Sohn, a Jewish physician and lawyer.

With his impressive showing Tuesday, Daley is the early favorite to win in April. But the “anything can happen” nature of Chicago politics is in full gear, as the primary raised as many questions as it answered.