Smile Politely

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:

Gerard campaign manager Angela Patton:

Gerard and newly-elected Unit 4 School Board member Jamar Brown:

The Gerard clan waits to go on camera:

The News-Gazette‘s Tom Kacich pounds away on deadline:

County Clerk Gordy Hulten making sense of things:

Newly-reelected Councilman Tom Bruno tweets away:

Photos by Seth Fein; words by Joel Gillespie

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