Chicago City Wire

Incumbent Alderman Raymond A. Lopez retained his 15th Ward post on Tuesday night, bringing in 59.22 percent of the votes (2,994) to challenger’s Rafael "Rafa" Yanez's 40.78 percent (2,062) with all 24 precincts reporting, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

This will be Lopez's second term as alderman for the ward. He is the first openly gay Mexican-American to be elected to public office in Illinois.

Yanez is a Chicago police officer who had the backing of U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and public employee unions.

The 15th Ward includes parts of the Back of the Yards, Brighton Park and West Englewood neighborhood.

Voter turnout was extremely light Tuesday with only 495,328 ballots cast overall among 1,592,658 registered voters, according to the election board. 

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Chicago Voter Turnout by Ward 2011 vs. 2015

Ward	2011	2015	% Change
1	10,564	8,566	-18.9%
2	15,241	10,535	-30.9%
3	9,324	10,786	15.7%
4	13,757	12,082	-12.2%
5	12,325	11,682	-5.2%
6	15,353	11,162	-27.3%
7	12,623	10,849	-14.1%
8	16,148	13,820	-14.4%
9	11,346	12,099	6.6%
10	10,848	9,626	-11.3%
11	11,385	9,788	-14.0%
12	4,964	5,052	1.8%
13	12,545	11,316	-9.8%
14	6,590	6,086	-7.6%
15	7,282	4,726	-35.1%
16	6,356	6,231	-2.0%
17	10,279	8,837	-14.0%
18	15,709	12,394	-21.1%
19	24,007	18,348	-23.6%
20	7,775	7,001	-10.0%
21	16,031	13,539	-15.5%
22	4,802	5,386	12.2%
23	16,638	9,746	-41.4%
24	9,633	7,391	-23.3%
25	9,057	7,844	-13.4%
26	7,934	6,894	-13.1%
27	9,895	8,928	-9.8%
28	8,497	7,824	-7.9%
29	10,933	11,231	2.7%
30	6,511	5,146	-21.0%
31	6,490	5,930	-8.6%
32	14,096	8,696	-38.3%
33	8,175	8,403	2.8%
34	14,587	12,733	-12.7%
35	9,070	6,348	-30.0%
36	14,447	6,120	-57.6%
37	8,977	8,478	-5.6%
38	12,494	11,369	-9.0%
39	10,844	11,464	5.7%
40	10,629	9,921	-6.7%
41	20,398	15,156	-25.7%
42	18,900	8,980	-52.5%
43	15,015	10,687	-28.8%
44	13,114	9,503	-27.5%
45	16,148	13,193	-18.3%
46	14,611	10,693	-26.8%
47	17,345	12,588	-27.4%
48	13,457	11,374	-15.5%
49	9,929	9,031	-9.0%
50	11,656	8,118	-30.4%
TOTAL	594,734	483,700	-18.7%

Source: Chicago Board of Election Commissioners