Here’s my election wrap-up on two local races: the 7th Congressional District seat and the Park District of Oak Park pool referendum:
State Rep. La Shawn Ford won. (Full disclosure: I’ve known La Shawn for 20 years since he was involved in our feasibility study and the start-up board to launch what is now Christ the King Jesuit College Prep on the West Side.) In winning, La Shawn showed a glimmer of light for how to beat outside super-PAC money, whether Israeli-supporting AIPAC or oligarch-based crypto coin “money.” That outside cash went to Melissa Conyears-Ervin, city treasurer of Chicago.
And she lost. Some of it had to do with La Shawn’s long presence in Austin and Oak Park. People know him. And trust him. Because he’s shown up.
My theory is that Oak Park played an outsized role in La Shawn’s victory, but not in the way you may think.
Oak Park had lots of Kina Collins yard signs and few for La Shawn or Conyears-Ervin. Collins, a progressive, had run three times against longtime Congressman Danny Davis.
A large chunk of Collins’ vote total overall this year, 9 percent, might have migrated to Conyears-Ervin if Collins were not in the race. If it had, La Shawn would not have won, by a narrow 3 percent, over Conyears-Ervin in a large candidate field.
We can call the Oak Park pool referendum a trial balloon that popped due to a lopsided no vote.
Despite quiet design planning at the Park District of Oak Park board level over the last year, the political groundwork never happened. In old Oak Park, we used to call them “teas.” Having neighbors over to the house to quietly push a political objective. No such thing this time.
And the pool’s natural constituency, swimmers, were split. Outdoor 50-meter pool lovers voted No. Indoor year-round swimmers were Yes. And anti-tax people, who will always show up for local tax referendums, made the defeat decisive.
Now … can we cover the Ridgeland pool for inside/outside use?



