6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer
6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer
The numbers may say one thing, but campaign representatives for Deborah A. Foster-Bonner did not exactly sound ready to concede her 6th Ward race to incumbent Ald. Roderick Sawyer in the immediate hours after all the votes had been counted.
“The community is still divided,” Malcolm Bonner, who served as campaign manager for his mother, told Chicago City Wire. “I think 5,000 people voted [that] they’re not satisfied with the way things are going. I think that we need better representation. I think that’s what my mom’s run was about.”
Bonner hinted that the campaign may be looking into taking some sort of action over how the election played out, but declined to elaborate.
Deborah A. Foster-Bonner
| Deborah A. Foster-Bonner for 6th Ward Alderman/Facebook
With 47 of 48 precincts reporting, Sawyer held a seven-point lead over Bonner-Foster, with 53.50 percent of the vote (5,794) to her 46.5 percent (5,035), according to Chicago Board of Election officials.
The two-time incumbent alderman, who also serves as chairman of the city’s Black Caucus, was forced into a runoff in February when he reportedly fell three votes short of the 50-percent threshold needed to lock up the election. In the wake of his close call, Sawyer, the son of former city Mayor Eugene Sawyer, vowed to be more visible in the neighborhood as he sought to remind voters of all the things his administration has accomplished over his first two terms.
“We weren’t as visible as we could have been” Sawyer told the Block Club Chicago just weeks before Election Day, vowing to go door-to-door delivering his campaign message.
An accountant by trade, Foster-Bonner has resided in the area for decades and has a history of working in the community.
“She’s worked in the community for over 20 years and that won’t stop,” Malcolm Bonner added of his mom, who serves as president of her block club and founded the nonprofit Reunite Chatham. She was also endorsed by both the Tribune and Sun-Times.
The 6th Ward includes parts of Chatham and Englewood.
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