Progress Illinois

Until urban communities become accountable for their children and actions, gun violence is always going to be hot in Chicago, said LeAlan Jones, one of the six candidates on Tuesday’s ballot in the race to fill Jesse Jackson Jr.’s empty seat in Congress.

Green Party candidate Jones lives in the South Shore neighborhood. He said he often sees children walking to school alone in the morning.

“How is it that momma can’t wake up or daddy can’t wake up to go with their kid to school, and they don’t even have a job,” Jones said at last night’s 2nd congressional district election forum sponsored by the Chicago South Side and Far South Suburban chapters of the NAACP. Read more »

Former State Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson has won the Illinois 2nd Congressional District's primary election Tuesday to become the Democratic nominee in the race to fill the seat left vacant by disgraced former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

Kelly will run in the district’s April 9 general election to replace Jackson Jr., who pled guilty last week to misusing some $750,000 in campaign funds.

With more than half of the district's 545 precincts reporting, Kelly won the special primary with 54 percent of the vote. Major contenders during Kelly’s campaign were Democratic candidates former congresswoman Debbie Halvorson and Chicago Ald. Anthony Beale (9th).

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For many voters in the south suburban areas of the 2nd Congressional District, Tuesday’s special election to replace former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. was a chance to express their desire for “change”, despite admitting to having a guarded optimism over anyone who eventually wins the seat.

“I feel like new people do not have the connections, they do not owe anybody,” said Calumet City resident Karen Fields, who voted for former state Rep. Robin Kelly. “They have nothing to gain by not being themselves - they can come into office and make a change.”  

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