Braithwaite, Kelly, Reid Keep Leads In Final Evanston Vote Count

EVANSTON, IL — Two weeks after the last day of voting in the April 6 municipal elections, the Cook County Clerk's Office has released a preliminary final count of ballots, which is scheduled to be certified by Tuesday.

The results (below) show four new aldermen are set to join five incumbents and a new mayor and city clerk next month on the Evanston City Council, with three races decided by fewer than 100 votes.

In the 1st Ward, challenger Clare Kelly defeated incumbent Ald. Judy Fiske by 26 votes, out of nearly 1,150 votes cast, according to the unofficial final tally. City Clerk Devon Reid defeated Ridgeville Park District Commissioner Matt Mitchell by 32 votes in the 8th Ward, where both edged out senior Ald. Ann Rainey during February's primary. And incumbent 2nd Ward Ald. Peter Braithwaite defeated Darlene Cannon by 71 votes.

Incumbent Ald. Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, retained her seat by 235 votes while and Ald. Eleanor Revelle held on to her 7th Ward seat by 375 votes. They will be joined by newcomers Jonathan Nieuwsma, 4th Ward, and Bobby Burns, 5th Ward, who received the highest vote share of any incoming alderman with nearly 66 percent of the vote.

Under state law, ballots postmarked by election day could be added to the count up until Tuesday. Losing candidates have five days after the final clerk's final canvass to petition for a discovery recount in order to gain evidence if they wish to ask a judge to overturn the result.

Fiske issued a statement via social media Wednesday thanking those who voted for her and seeming to acknowledge the results of the election.

"A number of critical issues will be facing 1st Ward residents over the coming months: rebuilding our downtown businesses, attracting new and appropriate development, responding to political pressure to relax zoning and other codes that can adversely affect our neighborhoods, protecting our lakefront and natural resources, spending wisely and well, and working to keep Evanston affordable," Fiske said. "At a time when experienced leadership will be necessary to address these and other issues, please feel free to continue to reach out to me as a resource as the new Council attempts to deal with them."

Kelly said she was humbled, excited and ready to get to work.

"Evanston has a long history of leading some of our nation’s most important conversations. When we are at our best, we’ve been a beacon of progress and humanity," Kelly told Patch in a statement. "Our campaign—our win—is about those values and about that commitment and our shared desire to be even better. While I’m honored to have been chosen to advance that commitment on behalf of Evanston’s First Ward, this win represents a community effort."

Mitchell previously conceded the 8th Ward race, but in the 2nd Ward, Cannon has not. Patch has inquired about whether Cannon or Fiske intend to pursue a discovery recount and will update with any response received.

Fiske was one of two candidates endorsed by the recently formed political action committee backed by outgoing Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty to lose.

The Evanston Together LLC group was formed after Rainey and 4th Ward incumbent Ald. Don Wilson lost their seats by coming in third in their respective primaries. It endorsed four incumbents and a challenger to Ald. Tom Suffredin, the 6th Ward incumbent who wound up receiving the largest number of votes of any ward-level race, defeating Katie Trippi by a margin of 628 votes and 25 percentage points.

RELATED: Evanston 'Dark Money PAC' Launches Attack Ads In Aldermanic Races

Meanwhile, data from the Illinois State Board of Elections shows all but one of the winning candidates outspent their opponent during the first quarter of the year, although this month's campaign finance disclosure filings do not include spending during the final week of the campaign.

RELATED: Evanston Together LLC Violated Campaign Finance Laws, Filing Says

1st Ward

Citizens for Judy Fiske raised nearly $10,000 in the first quarter, spending about $8,000 of it before April 1. Its largest contributions were $1,500 from Hagerty, $2,000 from Barbara Janes and over $2,800 in in-kind contributions from Matt Mirapaul of Wilmette.

Clare for First, Kelly's committee, raised almost $15,000 in the first quarter and spent over $13,300 of it before the start of the month. A $600 contribution from the Evanston's Fireman's PAC was the lone gift larger than $500.

2nd Ward

Citizens to Re-Elect Peter Braithwaite received almost $21,400 in contributions in the first quarter and spent over $14,450 of it. Its largest reported contributions were a from Hagerty and Chuck Lewis, who each provided $1,500.

Darlene Cannnon for 2nd Ward only received in-kind contributions and spent over $6,000 in the first quarter. The quarterly report included over $4,800 in non-itemized in-kind contributions.

3rd Ward

Melissa Wynne for Evanston received more than $13,300 in contributions and spent almost $11,400 of that before April 1. Its largest contributors were Mary and Paul Finnegan, co-CEO of private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. Wynne's husband's family members contributed a combined $2,800, while Hagerty kicked in $900. Wynne also reported she loaned her campaign $5,000 on the day of the Feb. 23 primary gifted her campaign $3,500 the week after the election.

Nick for Evanston, the committee of challenger Nicholas Korzeniowski, raised $4,250 in the first quarter and spent nearly $1,800 on lawn signs. Its largest contribution was $1,000 from Alexis Eyler, and it had about $2,500 on hand to start the month.

4th Ward

Friends of Jonathan Nieuwsma reported $6,800 in first quarter contributions added to more than $4,800 it had on hand. It spent $9,800 prior to April 1. Adam Finlayson contributed $1,500 over three donations and was its largest individual donor.

Friends of Diane Goldring reported over $7,500 in contributions were added to almost $2,500 in cash on hand to start the quarter. It spent $6,800 in the first three months of the year. An $800 contribution from Norman Goldring, of Lake Forest, was the largest itemized gift reported.

5th Ward

Friends of Bobby Burns reported it raised more than $15,650 in the first quarter, and spent over $16,300. It started the year with about $4,100 cash on hand. Its largest individual donations of the first three months of the year were $2,500 from the Vote Assyrian political action committee and a pair of gifts from Leslie Shad totaling $1,250 combined.

Burns' opponent, Carolyn Murray, did not form a campaign finance committee, which is not required when a candidate does not either raise or spend more than $3,000.

6th Ward

Friends of Tom Suffredin started the quarter with over $10,300 in cash after the candidate loaned it $9,000 just before the new year. It raised another nearly $16,600 during the first three months of the year and spent more than $18,000, leaving it nearly just enough to pay back the loan. The committee's largest single contribution — other than the $8,225 Suffredin gifted his own campaign in February — was a $1,500 transfer from the Realtors Political Action Committee.

Trippi for Evanston, the committee of Suffredin's opponent and fellow political scion Katie Trippi, raised $13,000 in the first quarter to add to $1,500 cash on hand, spending spent $5,350 of it during the first quarter. That left over $9,200 in cash on hand heading into the final week of the election. Trippi's largest contributions were $3,000 from her former spouse, longtime Democratic political strategist Joe Trippi, and $2,000 from Hagerty. The committee also received an in-kind contribution of $2,300 from The Strategy Group, her brother-in-law's the direct-mail group.

7th Ward

Friends of Eleanor Revelle raised and spent about $8,600 in the first quarter. Its only contribution above $500 was a $1,000 gift from Michael Mulder.

Friends of Mary Rosinski raised $6,700 in the first quarter to add to $2,000 it had on hand to start the year and spent about $8,000. Its largest contributions were transfers of $600 and $650 from the Evanston Firemens PAC and former mayoral candidate Lori Keenan's Keenan4Evanston, respectively.

8th Ward

Reidfor8, City Clerk Devon Reid's aldermanic committee, raised more than $14,500 in the first quarter to add to its almost $2,000 cash on hand. It spent nearly $14,540 prior to April 1. Its largest combined contributions were three gifts totaling $900 from Cory Thomas and five gifts totaling $650 from Trisha Connoly. Reid's political committee from the clerk's race, Dev4Ev, last year paid a fine levied by state election officials after it did not continue to file quarterly reports or close out the after the 2017 election four years earlier. Reid said mail sent by the state election board to a shared office space used in his 2017 campaign had never reached him. He settled the $30,105 fine for about $4,000 in December, state election officials confirmed.

Friends of Matthew Marley Mitchell received more than $22,600 in first quarter contributions and spent almost $17,600, spending the most per vote of any candidate in the first three months of the year. His biggest donors were Chuck Lewis and Penny Sebring, who gave a combined $5,000, and Bill and Julia McBride, who provided $1,000. After the $9,360 the committee spent on direct mailings, its largest expense was the more than $4,440 in consulting fees it paid to Adam Newman, chief of staff to Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, who also consulted for the campaign of the commissioner's son, the 6th Ward incumbent.

9th Ward

Ald. Cicely Fleming was unopposed in the race for 9th Ward alderman.

City Clerk

Mendoza for Clerk, formed by City Clerk-elect Stephanie Mendoza in November, raised more than $21,300 in the first three months of the year and spent almost $13,000 of it. Christian Sorensen, chief of staff to 18th District State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) was the largest donor of the quarter, contributing $4,600 over two gifts. Mendoza's committee also received transfers of $1,000 from Gabel's campaign committee and from the campaign of Mayor-Elect Daniel Biss.

Beebe4Clerk, formed by Cynthia Beebe in January during her write-in primary election campaign, raised about $5,600 and spent more than $5,000 of it, prior to April 1. Nearly half of the money raised came from the candidate herself.

RELATED: Evanston Election Results: Mendoza Elected Clerk, All But One Incumbent Leads

Final vote count: