WOODLAWN — Incumbent Ald. Willie Cochran has won re-election in the 20th Ward against challenger Kevin Bailey.
"It feels great," Cochran said after defeating Kevin Bailey. "It feels like the work we've been doing in the 20th Ward has been appreciated and confirmed by the people I work for."
Cochran was ringed by family and campagin workers eager to congratulate him on his third term in office.
"I knew he was going to win," said Mildred Cochran Watts, Cochran's sister, who flew up from San Antonio, Texas, on Friday to lend some last-minute support to her brother's campaign.
With 38 of 39 precincts reporting, Cochran had a clear majority with 56 percent of the vote to Bailey's 44 percent.
Cochran rounded his campaign office, 6548 S. Cottage Grove Ave., around 8:45 p.m. giving high-fives and hugs before pulling key staff into his office where his wife sipped a celebratory glass of white wine to personally thank them.
The race was the second time Cochran faced a runoff since wresting the seat from Arenda Troutman in 2007.
Bailey, a civil engineer by training, was nipping at Cochran’s heels the entire race and at times seemed well positioned to take over the aldermanic seat.
Cochran stuck to a campaign of promising more jobs and development to the 20th Ward. Bailey waged a vicious campaign against Cochran on social media and did not shy from plastering Jesus "Chuy" Garcia's name on campaign material in a ward whether neither Garcia nor Mayor Rahm Emanuel had strongly moved voters.
Despite this, community leaders supporting Emanuel like the Rev. Leon Finney Jr. of the Woodlawn Organization and the Rev. Torrey Barrett of the Keep Loving Each Other Center in Washington Park appeared at events with Bailey, but were careful not to appear in photos with him.
Cochran maintained a distance from Emanuel during the election and did not officially endorse either mayoral candidate, but got support from the mayor. On March 31, Emanuel’s campaign transferred $10,000 to Cochran’s campaign.
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