SALON

Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 12:00 AM UTC

Voters ponder guns, ethics in Jackson Jr. district

By

Topics: From the Wires, ,

Voters ponder guns, ethics in Jackson Jr. districtFILE - In this Dec. 15, 2012 file photo, former Illinois Congressman Debbie Halvorson speaks during a candidate presentation at the 2nd District slating meeting in South Holland, Ill. Residents in Illinois 2nd District are preparing to vote in a special primary Feb. 26, 2013, to replace former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., in the Chicago area district that has seen three congressmen leave office in an ethical cloud. Jackson entered a guilty plea in Washington, Feb. 20 to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. He resigned from Congress in November 2012. (AP Photo/John Smierciak, File)(Credit: AP)

CHICAGO (AP) — Candidates for Jesse Jackson Jr.’s former congressional seat made their final push for votes Monday ahead of a high-stakes primary, but turnout was expected to be paltry despite the lurid headlines surrounding the disgraced Chicago Democrat and millions in outside super PAC money driven largely by the guns debate.

The front-runners — former state Rep. Robin Kelly, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson and Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale — made a flurry stops at train stations, strip malls and diners all over the district that spans Chicago’s South Side, south suburbs and some rural areas. They faced a truncated campaign season, the frenzy for endorsements once locked up by Jackson and even a potential Election Day winter storm.

But Danny Armstrong, 51, who had voted previously for Jackson, remained undecided between Beale and Kelly and was considering whether to even vote at all. Jackson pleaded guilty this month to illegally spending campaign funds and became the third consecutive congressman in the district to leave office under an ethical or legal cloud.

“I feel let down,” said Armstrong, who works as a school bus aide and at a bowling alley.

Early voting numbers showed reluctance to get to the polls.

In Chicago, fewer than 2,800 voters, or roughly 2 percent of registered voters in the district, cast early ballots. In suburban Cook County — the bulk of the district’s voting population — it was nearly 2 percent.

The last time the Chicago area had a special primary election for Congress was 2009 after Rahm Emanuel left his seat to take a job as White House chief of staff. Roughly 18 percent of registered Chicago voters in the district including North Side neighborhoods voted. In suburban Cook County, the percentage was far less.

Further complicating things Tuesday could be an impending winter storm. The National Weather Service issued a warning for much of northern Illinois predicting up to 6 inches of snow. Election officials said they were communicating with streets and sanitation workers about keeping pathways to polling places clear.

“We hope the voters appreciate, that given a low turnout contest, your ballot has more power than it normally it does,” said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Voters haven’t seen an open primary since 1995 when Jackson first won office. His November resignation created a rare opening in the strongly Democratic territory and the Democratic winner of Tuesday’s primary is expected to cruise through the April 9 election. There are 14 Democrats and four Republicans running.

The shortened campaign season has been fierce; it wasn’t unusual for candidates to attend multiple debates on a single day.

While the state’s most high-profile Democrats who once backed Jackson stayed out of the race, Kelly did secure union endorsements and those from other longtime U.S. Reps. Danny Davis and Bobby Rush. Also several high-profile candidates dropped out of the race: State Sen. Donne Trotter, state Sen. Toi Hutchinson and state Sen. Napoleon Harris, a former NFL player.

Although the issue of ethics has hung over the district with Jackson’s legal saga in court, it’s taken a back seat to guns.

Kelly, who wants an assault weapons ban, made guns her top issue, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s super PAC, Independence USA, poured more than $2 million into adds supporting her and blasting Halvorson. The ads note Halvorson once received an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. Halvorson supports universal background checks and gun registration but opposes a ban.

Political experts say the ads are a big factor in the race.

Political consultant Don Rose said in a race with more than a dozen candidates — many with close positions on major issues — the ads have been “really the only thing you can call a factor.”

However, the ads could end up helping Halvorson, either drawing supporters of gun rights to the polls or with a sympathy vote from voters turned off by the negative tone.

“That’s really where it’s all centered,” Rose said. “That spot is either going to work, or it’s not … It won’t turn a loser into a winner, but in any close election it could make a difference.”

Kelly says she was focused on guns long before Bloomberg’s involvement and that her record in public office as a state legislator and in the Illinois treasurer’s office made her well-suited for the job. She may also have another advantage: Her name is listed first on the ballot and Halvorson’s is toward the bottom.

Other candidates said they’re focus on a range of issues, particularly unemployment.

“I’m not a one-issue candidate,” said Beale, who opened up an office south of Chicago to draw new supporters outside his city base.

Still neither candidates nor election officials were banking on a big turnout.

Tuesday’s special primary coincides with municipal elections in the non-urban parts of the district. Suburban voters— areas where Halvorson has a base — may be more motivated to get to the polls. Halvorson unsuccessfully challenged Jackson in a 2012 primary.

Chicago voter Angela Craig, a retiree, was also undecided on who to vote for but she liked Kelly’s attention to guns. However, she still felt she needed more time to study the candidates and felt a little cheated with the timing of the primary, just three months after Jackson resigned.

“It’s such short notice,” she said, adding the congressional office is “going to take a lot of cleaning up.”

__

Sophia Tareen can be reached at http://twitter.com/sophiatareen

___

Associated Press writer Sara Burnett contributed to this report.

More By Sophia Tareen.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
342 points343 points | 113 comments
vote
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government -- "...much of the U.S. economic security support system consists of subsidies for the affluent in the form of tax breaks, like those for private retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and private employer-provided health insurance."
60 points61 points | 3 comments
vote
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: “Sounds like diagnosis by committee.” When it comes to autism, Grandin argues we're paying too much attention to labels -- and not enough to individuals
36 points37 points | 2 comments
vote
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: “Sounds like diagnosis by committee.” When it comes to autism, Grandin argues we're paying too much attention to labels -- and not enough to individuals
33 points34 points | 3 comments
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
33 points34 points | 4 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations