Walker carries 85 counties but loses: Daley's candidate, Hewlett, wins primary
THE FIRST defeat of an incumbent Illinois
governor in the primary of his own party in
almost 50 years occurred March 16 when
Gov. Dan Walker was defeated by Sec. of
State Michael J. Hewlett, who ran with the
support of Chicago's Mayor Richard J. Daley. In the Republican primary, James R. Thompson, former U.S. district attorney for
northern Illinois, won an easy victory over
Richard Cooper, a millionaire businessman
without political experience who conceded
before the election that he did not expect to
win. Almost complete, but unofficial election returns, showed over 585,000 votes were
cast in the GOP primary compared to over
1,430,000 in the Democratic primary. Walker's defeat can be attributed to the
very large lead his opponent received in
Chicago and also to Walker's failure to carry
the suburban territory in Cook County
outside Chicago. But Walker carried the
downstate area (although losing in some
counties) and showed gains there over his
performance in 1972 against Paul Simon,
the regular organization candidate in that
election. Howlett's winning margin was 114,000
votes, according to unofficial returns. Four
years ago Walker's majority was a much
narrower 40,000. In Chicago, Hewlett had a
lead in excess of 200,000 (85,000 for Simon
in 1972), and in the Cook County area
outside the city, his lead was 24,000 (Walker
had a lead of 64,000 in this area in 1972).
Incomplete returns suggest that fewer votes
were cast in the Democratic primary in Cook
County this year than in 1972, but this could
not be large enough to account for Howlett's
victory.
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One of the pillars of Walker's campaign was his attack on the Chicago "boss" (Daley). This proved effective in most downstate areas. In the 101 counties outside Cook, Walker's plurality was over 112,000 compared to 61,000 four years ago. Although he lost the primary, Walker carried all but 16 of the 101 downstate counties. He did not do nearly as well in the four large suburban counties in the Chicago metropolitan area (DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will) as he did four years ago. His lead in these counties this year was about 20,000 compared to 40,000 in 1972; most of this loss in Walker's strength resulted from substantial increases in the vote for his opponent. Walker failed to carry three downstate university counties. Champaign (University of Illinois), DeKalb (Northern Illinois University), and Jackson (Southern Illinois at Carbondale). Four years ago these counties gave him a 7,000 vote lead; his vote fell off there sharply this year, and these counties gave Hewlett a 2,000 vote lead. The Walker 1976 vote increased over 1972 in the populous downstate counties of Macon, Madison, Rock Island, St. Clair, Sangamon, Tazewell, and Winnebago, although he did not carry St. Clair and Sangamon. Walker carried another large county, Peoria, but not as well as in 1972. Four years ago these counties gave him an 11,000 vote lead; this year, his lead came to more than 36,000. Possibly his best performance came in Macon County which he carried almost 2 to 1. Walker's "team" — Joanne Alter for lieutenant governor, Ronald Stackler for attorney general, Vincent de Muzio for secretary of state, and Roland Burris for comptroller — was composed of persons who had not sought state office before and were virtually unknown. They were badly beaten by their rivals on the Hewlett slate. |
State primary winners Governor Michael J. Howlett, D James R. Thompson, R Lieutenant Governor Neil F. Hartigan, D Dave O'Neal, R Attorney General Cecil A. Partee, D William J. Scott, R Secretary of State Alan J. Dixon, D William C. Harris, R Comptroller Michael J. Bakalis, D George W. Lindberg, R |
On the Republican side, Scott, Harris,
and Lindberg ran unopposed. The only
contest was for the lieutenant governor
nomination. Here O'Neal, who is sheriff of
St. Clair County in the southern part of the
state, defeated Joan Anderson of Western
Springs in Cook County, a commissioner of the Chicago Metropolitan Sanitary District. 5
O'Neal ran ahead of Ms. Anderson in
Chicago, the rest of Cook County, and downstate.
The last time an incumbent Illinois
governor was defeated in his own party's
primary was April 10, 1928, when Gov. Len
Small, Kankakee, lost to Sec. of State Louis
L. Emmerson, Mount Vernon, in the
Republican primary. Small came back in
1932 and won the Republican gubernatorial
nomination but lost to Henry Horner (D., Chicago) that fall. It was Horner who in
1936 successfully opposed the Chicago
organization's candidate in the Democratic primary.
Walker's term ends on the second Monday in January 1977, when the victor of the
Hewlett-Thompson contest in the November general election will take office. Speculation following the primary centered on
how Walker would perform during the
remainder of his term. His successor will
serve only a two-year term, ending in
January 1979. With Walker's strong showing downstate, the possibility that he might
seek office again in two years cannot be ruled out.
More election coverage
ILLINOIS ISSUES will report the other
winners in the primary election in following
magazines with special sections on the
candidates for state Senate and House of
Representatives, Illinois judgeships, and
U.S. House of Representatives. As the
campaigning progresses for the November general election, Illinois Issues will also
have special coverage on the candidates in
the races for governor, lieutenant governor,
secretary of state, attorney general and
comptroller.
24 / May 1976 / Illinois Issues