In 1983 a black reformer who had never held citywide office, and who was opposed by the white-dominated media, ran a shoestring campaign against two white candidates for mayor. Harold Washington got about 425,000 votes, or 37 percent–enough to win.
In fact, Evans’s 428,000 votes were 4,000 more than Washington got in February 1983 (and 40,000 more than Eugene Sawyer received in this year’s primary).
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The answer, of course, is that in the interval between Washington’s first 1983 run and Evans’s 1989 run, Harold Washington got much higher vote totals, enough to push him over 50 percent, in three straight elections: the 1983 general and the 1987 primary and general. In all three elections, Washington got more votes than Daley received this year. The Washington coalition had become accustomed to winning, and to governing. While losing in 1989 may not have been an intellectual surprise, it was nonetheless an emotional shock for many.
Evans’s loss, in short, gives “the movement” no reason to fall into fratricidal finger-pointing, or to lose sight of the principles–or the unity–that brought it to power.
Despite all this, Evans matched Washington’s February 1983 vote. In fact, not only was Evans’s total vote remarkably close to Washington’s–the difference was less than 1 percent–but his vote totals among key constituencies were also eerily close to Washington’s.
In short, Evans’s vote closely parallels Washington’s of February 1983, not only in size but also in shape. The core of the progressive coalition looks very much today as it did then.
In politics, two years can be forever. A lot can happen.
