To cheer you up during this pandemic, I’ve pored over last week’s election results, looking for the good news.
I know it’s not nice to gloat. But this is a gloatable moment. On top of everything else, Burke was Donald Trump’s property tax lawyer. He made you pay more in property taxes by using his clout to get Trump to pay less on his tower. So, c’mon, Chicago. Let’s all gloat together.
The governing explanation for the low turnout in 2012 was balmy election-day weather. It was so nice that voters were distracted by fun things like walking along the lake.
The low turnout was a boon for former Vice President Joe Biden. That and strong support from older Black voters, and what pass for white north-lakefront liberals.
My centrist friends love to tell me—and they tell it to me all the time—”Ben, Black voters are just more conservative than white lefties like you.”
Ostensibly, Evanston was integrated. But by and large the races existed on either side of a great self-imposed divide—rarely, if ever, coming into contact with one another.
