Mayor Don Gerard

Don Gerard is now the mayor-elect of Champaign, having defeated incumbent Jerry Schweighart by 230 votes in yesterday’s election. As you can see in the table below, Gerard carried 24 of the 40 precincts (the City of Champaign has 38 precincts, but this election included two polling places in Champaign Township, as well).

	Gerard		Schweighart
	Votes	Percent	Votes	Percent
City of Champaign 1	180	90.00%	20	10.00%
City of Champaign 2	10	58.82%	7	41.18%
City of Champaign 3	15	100.00%	0	0.00%
City of Champaign 4	6	75.00%	2	25.00%
City of Champaign 5	6	100.00%	0	0.00%
City of Champaign 6	80	54.42%	67	45.58%
City of Champaign 7	23	53.49%	20	46.51%
City of Champaign 8	10	83.33%	2	16.67%
City of Champaign 9	71	67.62%	34	32.38%
City of Champaign 10	115	66.09%	59	33.91%
City of Champaign 11	149	68.04%	70	31.96%
City of Champaign 12	119	61.98%	73	38.02%
City of Champaign 13	220	71.66%	87	28.34%
City of Champaign 14	70	64.22%	39	35.78%
City of Champaign 15	130	55.08%	106	44.92%
City of Champaign 16	85	40.48%	125	59.52%
City of Champaign 17	94	44.55%	117	55.45%
City of Champaign 18	77	38.50%	123	61.50%
City of Champaign 19	167	59.01%	116	40.99%
City of Champaign 20	209	55.73%	166	44.27%
City of Champaign 21	134	55.83%	106	44.17%
City of Champaign 22	94	50.81%	91	49.19%
City of Champaign 23	100	55.25%	81	44.75%
City of Champaign 24	247	46.25%	287	53.75%
City of Champaign 25	114	53.02%	101	46.98%
City of Champaign 26	167	55.12%	136	44.88%
City of Champaign 27	85	42.71%	114	57.29%
City of Champaign 28	57	43.18%	75	56.82%
City of Champaign 29	93	48.95%	97	51.05%
City of Champaign 30	53	51.46%	50	48.54%
City of Champaign 31	83	50.92%	80	49.08%
City of Champaign 32	145	38.06%	236	61.94%
City of Champaign 33	148	44.18%	187	55.82%
City of Champaign 34	155	47.40%	172	52.60%
City of Champaign 35	134	42.27%	183	57.73%
City of Champaign 36	121	43.06%	160	56.94%
City of Champaign 37	155	47.84%	169	52.16%
City of Champaign 38	254	44.80%	313	55.20%
Champaign 1	121	41.02%	174	58.98%
Champaign 2	21	33.33%	42	66.67%
Total	4,317	51.37%	4,087	48.63%

Gerard built a sizable early lead, as the first precincts to report were in Democratic-leaning parts of town, and then held off a late charge from Schweighart as results came streaming in from southwest Champaign, typically a Republican stronghold.

Gerard took Champaign in much the same way that U.S. Congressional candidate David Gill did in 2010 in his (ultimately losing) race against Tim Johnson. Gill carried 25 precincts to Gerard’s 24, also struggling in the southwest part of town, but building a large enough margin in the central and north to score a solid victory in the city.

8,404 ballots were cast out of 48,886 registered voters, for an overall turnout of 17% in Champaign. Total votes were 13% lower than in Champaign’s last contested mayoral election, in 1999, when a total of 9,592 voters cast ballots. However, turnout was 13% higher than in 1995, the last mayoral election featuring an incumbent mayor.

Here are some photos from Brookens County Government Center last night.

Gerard and his kids: