Dozens of Nobel Prize winners. A 34 percent high school dropout rate. Shady streets lined with million- dollar mansions. Blocks of empty lots. Summer breezes on the lakefront with a breathtaking view of the Loop skyline. Winter winds blowing through public housing with frozen pipes.
These extreme contrasts are all part of Chicago's 1 st Congressional District, a predominantly African-American area with a tradition of solid political leadership. And while it would be nearly impossible for any elected official to represent all of these disparate interests, three strong candidates are running for the U.S. House from this district in the March Democratic primary. Each reflects the forces at work in the black community.
One, the incumbent Rep. Bobby Rush, is best known for his radical past and his support of the disenfranchised. The second, state Sen. Barack Obama, is a comparative political newcomer with a pedigree education who speaks eloquently for coalition building among government, business and community groups. The third is state Sen. Donne Trotter, a low-key veteran of a powerful black organization.
Two long-shot Democrats, George Roby and Alien Smith, filed to run. And one perennial Republican candidate, Raymond Wardingley, threw his hat into the ring.
But this is Rush's race to lose. He's well known and will probably receive more campaign contributions. Anything could happen, though. After all, one of these candidates could win with as little as 34 percent of the vote.
While it would he nearly impossible for any elected official to represent all of the disparate interests, there are three strong candidates.
If Rush does lose, it would signal a stylistic shift in the black struggle to gain political power in that city. The district has always been influential. But the choice in this primary will reflect approach, not viewpoint. What does the district prefer — a populist incumbent who often tilts at windmills, or a negotiator who looks for compromise?
There is one given. The winner will be a virtual shoo-in during next November's general election. President Bill Clinton received more than 80 percent of the district's vote in both of his presidential campaigns.
In 1990, the district was 70 percent black, 26 percent white and 4 percent Asian and Hispanic, according to the Almanac of American Politics. But that's not the whole story. The district, which stretches from Chicago's lakefront to the southwest suburbs, encompasses Hyde
Park, home to the University of Chicago, with a median income of $39, 000
and an unemployment rate around 4
percent, and Englewood, where the
median income is $16, 410 and 13 percent of the residents are unemployed.
"We have a variety. Hyde Park is a
bastion of intelligentsia. Beverly and
Chatham are upper middle class," says
Trotter. "There is also Englewood,
which has been at the bottom of the
totem pole for many years because of
government neglect."
Mostly, though, the district has
reflected black political aspirations over
the last 80 years. In 1928, Oscar
DePriest became the first African American in the 20th century elected to
Congress in the North. From 1942 until
1970, the legendary William Dawson
represented the district and became the
first black to chair a standing congressional committee. In Chicago, the one-
legged Dawson's legacy is that of a
power broker who turned out the votes
for the Democratic machine. Another
legend, Harold Washington, the first
black mayor of the city, represented the
district in Congress from 1981 to 1983.
He and Carol Moseley-Braun, the
country's first black female U.S. senator,
had represented parts of the district in
the Illinois General Assembly.
And what of the current crop of
candidates? A review of the stands taken
by Rush, Obama and Trotter shows the
three share much the same liberal voting
record. And their financial backers are
similar: labor, trial lawyers, such major
businesses as Ameritech and health care
interests.
For this campaign, the candidates cite
the same major issues: crime, economic
development, universal health care and
promotion of skills-based education
programs. In interviews, all say economic growth elsewhere in the country is not
being felt throughout the district, and
that more emphasis must be put on job
training, especially computer education
at the grammar school level.
But there are subtexts to this campaign, too. The campaign turned tragic
in October when Rush's son, Huey Rich,
was killed by two gunmen. The Chicago
Police Department claimed the killing
was drug related. Some believe Rush will
receive a sympathy vote. Meanwhile,
Obama may be hurt because he didn't
6 / February 2000 Illinois Issues
show for a final vote during a special
legislative session Gov. George Ryan
called last December to re-enact a bill
that toughened the penalty for illegal possession of a firearm. The Ryan measure
didn't pass and Obama took some public
heat, though he said he had to attend to a
family emergency. It isn't clear whether
this will be an issue in March.
Trotter and Obama argue Rush
ill-serves the district, saying he hasn't
gotten significant legislation passed during his eight years in office. They argue he
fails to lead and he spends too much time
focusing on local events instead of
negotiating solutions at the federal level.
"Bobby Rush engages in divisive
politics that promotes his name but [then]
doesn't deliver the goods," says Obama.
"The question here is not policy disagreements, but who can create coalitions."
Rush counters that he's done an
excellent job. In fact, he worked to win
the $100 million federal Empowerment
Zone for the city, kept an Amtrak
reservations center with 400 jobs in the
district and brought $100 million to
the university. He stresses that he's just
beginning to gain influence.
"Seniority is the most important
currency in Congress," says Rush. "I'm
poised to be a subcommittee chair. This
will greatly enhance my constituency."
But the Empowerment Zone, which
targets federal dollars for job training and
business development, may be just the
example Rush shouldn't tout. Heralded
as a coup in 1994, the program disintegrated into a battle between community
groups and the administration of Mayor
Richard Daley, which has tenaciously
held on to the purse strings. Much of the
promised money hasn't been delivered
and few well-paying, long-term jobs have
been created.
Rush's background is a confounding
mixture of radicalism and conventionality. His mother was a Republican precinct
captain on the city's North and West
sides. Rush served in the U.S. Army for
five years, yet was a co-founder in the
1960s of the Illinois Black Panthers, a
grass-roots organization that worked
outside the political system to empower
blacks. It was a time when blacks were
urged to carry guns to protect themselves
against the police. Despite the anti-establishment rhetoric, Rush earned his name
for developing the first national sickle cell
anemia testing program.
Rush served as alderman of the South
Side 2nd Ward and was a loyal Washington backer. In 1992, he made the move to
Congress by winning 42 percent of the
vote in a three-way race. He is a member
of the powerful Commerce Committee.
He has two master's degrees, one in political science and the other in theology
Obama was born in Hawaii, the son of
a Kenyan father and Midwestern mother.
He was a community activist in New
York's Harlem and on Chicago's South
Side, working in public housing and on
school reform. He earned a law degree
from Harvard and became the first
African-American president of the
Harvard Law Review. Obama moved to
Hyde Park, and in 1995 published his
memoir, Dreams from My Father: A
Story of Race and Inheritance. He teaches
constitutional law at the University of
Chicago, and has held the 13th Senate
District seat since 1997. Supporters
include former gubernatorial candidate
John Schmidt, Democratic power
brokers William Singer and Newton
Minow, former Illinois Senate President
Philip Rock and Peter C. B. Bynoe, chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission.
That Obama earns this support is
telling. His campaign aides say he's about
halfway to his goal of raising more than
$500, 000. He'll need that money to
spread his name. A November poll for
Rush found that only 22 percent of the
district's likely voters knew of Obama.
And Obama's background hurts him
with some. Lu Palmer, a longtime activist
respected for his work on the Washington
mayoral campaign, suspects Obama's
supporters. "I don't like Obama. He has
large Hyde Park liberal backing. He's
barely been in the state Senate. Let him
get his feet wet."
But Obama's energy is just what the
district needs, say others. Alderman Toni
Preckwinkle represents Hyde Park in the
Chicago City Council. Her political
career has coincided with Rush's but she
is supporting Obama. "In 1992, he was
involved in voter registration in the
presidential campaign. He's smart and
talented," she says.
Trotter, a lifelong resident of the
district, earned a degree from Chicago
State University. He has been in the
General Assembly since 1988, replacing
Moseley-Braun. He became a state
senator in 1993. He is chairman of the
Legislative Black Caucus and is minority
spokesperson for the Approp-riations
Committee. Trotter worked his way
up in the organization of powerhouse
Cook County Board President John H.
Stroger Jr.
Being a senior administrator for
several health systems gives him an
advantage in a district with a number of
large hospitals, including Michael Reese,
St. Bernard, Christ, Provident and the
university's medical center. He also has a
master's degree in health and policy
jurisprudence from Loyola University.
But Trotter has been lagging in the
hunt for money, having collected only
about $80, 000 by the middle of January.
And he was especially damaged when
Stroger, a Daley ally in the black wards,
decided to throw his support to Rush.
Despite the qualifications of Trotter
and Obama, there might not have been a
race here if it weren't for Rush's bumbling
Chicago mayoral campaign early in 1999.
He lost badly to Daley by a better
than 2-to-l margin citywide and was
embarrassed by losing his own ward. He
focused on cuts in public transportation
and police brutality, but that didn't
generate strong support beyond his core
consitituency.
In fairness, Rush entered a nearly
impossible race. The economy has been
good. And Daley has spent the last
decade avidly courting the Hispanic
community and the white swing voters
who used to be known as Lakefront
Liberals. Daley also has made inroads
in the black community, receiving the
support of religious leaders and business
interests.
Still, Rush is given credit for accepting
the responsibility of challenging the
mayor. "[Rush] is not known for having a
good organization. But he took on Daley
when no one else would. I think his
constituents respect him more for that,"
says Laura Washington, publisher of The
Chicago Reporter, an investigative
monthly that covers race issues. "This
built his reputation for speaking up for
the low-income and repressed people of
Chicago."
No doubt that's a noble quest. But the
1 st District has been a leader in the
advance of the black middle class. And
there are some who believe its residents
deserve more than speeches.
Illinois Issues February 2000 / 7
Sam S. Manivong, Illinois Periodicals Online Coordinator Illinois Periodicals Online (IPO) is a digital imaging project at the Northern Illinois University Libraries funded by the Illinois State Library |