Theresa Mah (D-Chicago) was never given much of a chance at winning the 2nd House District Democratic primary race March 15 against a well-known political name who had a huge demographic advantage.
Mah was vying to be the first Asian-American legislator in state history. But the 2nd District was purposely drawn to include Chinatown in order to give Asian-Americans only some “influence” in the district. In previous years, Chinatown and Asian-American neighborhoods were sliced up between several legislative districts, but the Democrats made a conscious decision to avoid a federal lawsuit against their map by creating an “influencer” district.
The census numbers show the 2nd has an Asian-American voting-age population of 23.5 percent, vastly smaller than the 53 percent Latino VAP. And Rep. Eddie Acevedo’s (D-Chicago) organization had put another Asian-American on the ballot to further muddy things on behalf of Acevedo’s son Alex’s candidacy to replace him. But that put-up candidate was kicked off the ballot Feb. 1, and things went rapidly downhill from there.
The younger Acevedo’s campaign took its own Latino base for granted and didn’t take Mah very seriously. Acevedo only sent two negative mailers against Mah, and they hit the boxes very late and weren’t all that effective. On the other hand, Mah, a former Pat Quinn administration official, sent numerous mailers that disastrously defined Acevedo as a Rauner/Emanuel candidate. Acevedo’s Facebook page displayed a photo of him and his father with their arms around Rauner along with a post about endorsing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election. Both men are hugely unpopular in Chicago, and they were tied around Acevedo’s neck in multiple brutal mailers.
The Acevedo organization reportedly expected Asian-Americans to make up about 18 percent of the district’s final turnout. Instead, the final number was closer to 30 percent. Asian-Americans in the city typically turn out in far lower numbers than their population strength would suggest. Not this time.
Why? A big reason was they finally had a legitimate candidate to vote for who spent a lot of time, energy and money on getting them to the polls. One Acevedo operative said he knew they were in big trouble when he saw the first packed bus unload Mah supporters at an early voting location. Same-day registration played a huge role in Mah’s win as well, and it really kicked into high gear when Acevedo sent loud, obnoxious thugs to disrupt a Mah campaign event featuring Rep. Luis Gutierrez’s endorsement of her. Gutierrez told reporters that he feared for his life during the rowdy event.
Word spread like wildfire (helped along by Mah’s campaign) that the demonstrators had used a racial epithet. There isn’t any video evidence of that, but the rumor took hold, and Chinatown’s elders were furious and demanded that powerful 11th Ward Committeeman John Daley withdraw his endorsement of Acevedo.
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ big surge in Chicago also contributed. Sanders won the top three wards in the 2nd District, including Daley’s 11th. But that backing was put into focus when Sanders supporter Chuy Garcia, a former mayoral candidate, endorsed Mah’s bid. Liberal whites and younger Latinos took strong notice, and their fury at Donald Trump’s appearance in Chicago and their fervent support of Sanders were channeled into supporting Mah.
The Acevedo people realized late in the game that the district’s “hipsters” were coming out hard and tried to address it by placing “Acevedo/Sanders” signs at polling places. It didn’t work.
Mah won Daley’s ward. Some say Daley pulled his captains from the precincts the afternoon of election day under pressure from Chinatown. Others say he cleverly diverted some Democratic voters into a contested Republican ward committeeman race, where each candidate received over 700 votes while Mah won the district by a bit over 500. Others point to the fact that Daley refused to appoint the younger Acevedo to the seat if the elder Acevedo retired early as evidence that he was secretly backing Mah.
The Acevedo family also got itself involved in a nasty Democratic ward committeeman race, siding with Sen. Tony Munoz over 12th Ward Ald. George Cardenas. Cardenas lost the committeeman’s race, but he ended up backing Mah, and she won the 12th by a couple of hundred votes. There were more contributing factors, but this isn’t a book, even though it may feel like it.
Rep. Acevedo vows his son will be back for another try in 2018, so Mah, Illinois’ first Asian-American legislator-elect, will have to work hard and not ever let her guard down.
- Just Me - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 9:46 am:
See! This is proof that we don’t need to do our re-map process. Proof I tell you! Our current one works just fine. Just fine indeed!
- Snucka - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 9:50 am:
On the topic of the 12th committeeman’s race: Is it the case that Cardeñas spent no money on it? Seems weird, but what appears to be his only campaign fund shows no expenditures for the first quarter.
- Precinct Captain - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 9:56 am:
==- Just Me - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 9:46 am:==
Lovely topical comment.
To the post, Mah outworked and outhustled the Acevado crowd. How does Acevado make that pic of him and Rauner disappear between now and 2018?
- Grand Avenue - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 9:59 am:
You forgot the best part - Eddie Jr’s voicemail to Alderman Solis!
- Grand Avenue - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:02 am:
And she won’t be beat if she can keep getting Chinatown to turn out like that. If she’s getting 30% of the vote going 90% for her, she’s already at 27%. She’ll only need to secure 23% from the remaining 70% - which means she’ll need to get 33% of the non-Chinatown vote. No way an incumbent won’t get that (unless he’s named Ken Dunkin) so as long as Chinatown’s in that district, she’s unbeatable
- Rich Miller - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:07 am:
===You forgot the best part===
It ain’t a book and that happened after election day.
- Just Me - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:11 am:
Precinct Captain - I can’t tell if you’re joking or not so I thought I would explain. The anti-remap folks argue that an unbiased remap process can’t protect minorities.
I was joking that the gerrymandered map we have now accidentally protected a minority group over a political insider.
- walker - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:11 am:
Carl Camacho, who worked both the Alderman Garza, and Theresa Mah campaigns, and won both against entrenched interests, won this year’s Patrick S. Botterman Award given by the NW Suburban Dems.
- Rich Miller - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:12 am:
===accidentally protected a minority group over a political insider===
That was no accident.
- Grand Avenue - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:18 am:
Snucka - Cardenas spent big on it. Sooner or later he will file an amendment to his D-2 reflecting his spending - just like Ken Dunkin amended his expenditures by a few hundred thousand
- JoanP - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:28 am:
“Acevedo’s Facebook page displayed a photo of him and his father with their arms around Rauner along with a post about endorsing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election.”
Well, that was smart. Not.
- CermakWentworth - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:38 am:
Alex Acevedo didn’t show up at any candidate forums during the campaign. The first one that he missed was in Chinatown which was set up to be very fair and non-partisan. Acevedo did show up for the Chinese New Year parade and the dedication of the new Chinatown mural that Rep. Eddie Acevedo helped to get funded. Those who showed up at the forum rightfully complained about disrespect - you come to take pictures at events but you don’t want to listen to and address community concerns.
- paddyrollingstone - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:15 am:
Rich - That’s a great rundown of the race. I didn’t pay particularly close attention to it and neither, it appears, did Acevedo.
- Rhino Slider - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:43 am:
Day of the Dragon. The Dragon Warrior will be ready in 2018.
- Political Insider - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:52 am:
Grand Avenue
You did forget about the record breaking turnout for the whole district, city, and state. When there is a turnout like that, it is unpredictable. Most likely, will not happen again unless it is another presidential. Latinos still make up a majority of the 2nd district. If another candidate can get the Latinos out, she is done.
- MadiganBot - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 12:07 pm:
**If another candidate can get the Latinos out, she is done.**
Meh. She has to continue to work hard. But she’ll now be an incumbent. And incumbents who vote who don’t vote against their districts are very hard to beat.
- Harry - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 12:12 pm:
Sounds like the Acevedos made every mistake it was possible to make.
- Rich Miller - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 12:16 pm:
===who don’t vote against their districts are very hard to beat===
Very, very true.
- wordslinger - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 2:07 pm:
–“Acevedo’s Facebook page displayed a photo of him and his father with their arms around Rauner along with a post about endorsing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election.”–
What, no photos of him jogging with Blago?
- Wayne Bibliotech - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 3:35 pm:
I’m not clear on why he was he posing with Rauner. Was it just a passing thing?
- Bleh - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 4:43 pm:
Latino districts have voted for non-Latino candidates, so long as the candidate has a better and more inclusive message.
One of the many mistakes that the Acevedo campaign made was that it assumes that the Latinos will jump to his saving.
And while they did vote for Acevedo, it does not mean they will vote for him again if Mah runs as an incumbent.
Often times, unfortunately, the inter-racial/community fights are most often perpetuated by the politicians more than the actual communities.
- Keep it simple... - Tuesday, May 3, 16 @ 10:47 am:
I think Solis’ decision to sit on the sidelines when it came to the Asian-American vote ultimately decided this race. A simple sentence who have sufficed.
- Political Animal - Thursday, May 5, 16 @ 11:00 am:
==The anti-remap folks argue that an unbiased remap process can’t protect minorities.==
I’m pro-remap and I’d make the same argument.
I think the judicial precedent is outdated and should not apply to non-biased redistricting.
The point was to prevent people from intentionally diluting the minority vote through gerrymandering. This was a good and noble goal. But if you kill gerrymandering, you also preclude this possibility.
A fair map drawing process should include no consideration whatsoever to the characteristics of the persons in the districts, including their racial demographics.
Anything else is still gerrymandering.