Forest Park voters liked the idea of sending Mayor Rory Hoskins to Congress.
After polls closed at 7 p.m. last Tuesday, La Shawn Ford was quick to claim victory in the Democratic primary in the Illinois 7th congressional district, a win that’s likely to make him the area’s next congressman.
Among over 97,000 voters across the district — which stretches from the South Side of Chicago, along I-290, to the West Side of Chicago and some western suburbs — Ford got nearly 24% of the vote, with runner-up Melissa Conyears-Ervin getting over 20%, according to unofficial election results from the New York Times.
In Forest Park, the race was even closer, but between Ford and Hoskins.
Hoskins did not return multiple requests for comment.
The general election for Congress will take place in November, but the district is heavily dominated by Democratic voters. Thirteen Democratic candidates ran in the primary to succeed the current long-time representative, Danny Davis, who’s retiring in January.
Out of nearly 10,900 registered voters in Forest Park, over 3,000 voted, 20.5% for Hoskins and 21% for Ford. In the village, Hoskins fell behind Ford by only 13 votes. Hoskins garnered only 2% of the district-wide vote.
Anthony Driver Jr. and Kina Collins both got over 11% of the Forest Park vote. Driver saw a similar percentage in the district as a whole, but Collins got about 9% of district-wide vote. Collins performed better in suburban Cook County, where she was runner-up to Ford. Out of over 33,600 suburban Cook County voters, Collins saw 14.5% of the vote, compared to Ford’s 24%.
Fifth-most popular on Forest Park ballots was Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who got 10% of the Forest Park vote.
Thomas Fisher saw about 6% of the Forest Park vote, but over 7% of the districtwide vote.
Reed Showalter got 5% of Forest Park’s vote, and just under that in the district.
Jason Friedman saw 4.6% of Forest Park’s vote and over 7% of the district’s.
Richard Boykin garnered about 4% of votes, both in Forest Park and throughout the 7th district.
Anabel Mendoza got nearly 4% of Forest Park’s votes and 5.5% of the district’s.
Jazmin Robinson got over 2% of Forest Park’s vote and 2.7% of the district vote.
David Ehrlich and Felix Tello both saw under 1% of the vote in the district as a whole and among Forest Park voters.