ENGLEWOOD — In a race that went down to the wire, Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) has declared victory in the 16th Ward — but her challenger Stephanie Coleman refused to concede.
With 97 percent of the vote counted, Foulkes had 51 percent of the vote, or 3,653 votes, while Stephanie Coleman had 3,515 votes, or 49 percent.
"It feels good," Foulkes said Tuesday night. "I worked hard. I had faith in the constituents, my volunteers, friends. Everybody came out and so we did it."
But Coleman's campaign manager, Brandon Bradford, said they were waiting for all the votes to come in.
"We are not conceding," he said. "The final count is not in. That will be the final proclamation. Early voting and absentee ballots are not in. We’ll fight until the end.”
DNAinfo/Tanveer Ali
Foulkes celebrated with her supporters at Garifuna Flava, 2518 W. 63rd St., on Tuesday night. People ate, drank, danced and offered her congratulations throughout the night. Foulkes moved around the room with a big smile on her face and could be seen quickly wiping tears from her eyes.
Augustus Clark, 35, has been an active member of the Englewood Political Task Force for the past 12 years and said that Foulkes has proven herself as the right candidate even before she ran in the 16th Ward.
"I’m super happy," he said. "This right here speaks for itself, when she was the alderman of the 15th Ward, no schools in her ward got closed. She got the finances to keep them open and she’s not controlled by anybody, she is independent and doing the right thing for the community."
He said that one big issue in the ward is economic development, something Foulkes said she is already working on. Foulkes said she has already been in contact with developers.
Both candidates were forced into a runoff in February’s election. Foulkes had 42 percent and Coleman pulled 36 percent of the votes.
Foulkes formerly worked at a bakery at a Jewel, while Coleman is the daughter of former alderman Shirley Coleman. Coleman had the support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, but Foulkes had strong union support.
Foulkes, who's represented the 15th Ward since 1997, said she decided to compete in the 16th Ward race because 40 percent of her constituents became 16th Ward residents after a new ward map was drawn. When Ald. JoAnn Thompson (16th) suddenly died in February, that left Foulkes, Coleman and two other candidates in the race.
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