April 1, 2025 Election Results

Despite what seemed like some hot division over direction of both the City of Evanston and its elementary school system, a large majority of voters in Evanston last week elected to sit not just on the fence but on the couch. The Cook County Clerk counts over 52,000 registered Evanston voters on the county rolls. Only 33.5% of them voted. However, the results are interesting.

Based on returns to date, unlikely to change in any significant degree from the last few mail-in ballots, incumbent Evanston mayor Daniel Biss was re-elected fairly comfortably over political newcomer Jeff Boarini. Mayor Biss won a little over 62% of the vote, carrying 8 of the 9 wards, but losing the 7th ward where Ryan Field is located. A 3:2 win is in one sense a solid one for the mayor, but on the other hand closer than might have been predicted considering the lopsided advantages he held in terms of name recognition, campaign experience, fundraising ability, actual cash on hand, and cash spent. We will have to wait for the next quarterly reports, due in a couple weeks, to see how money impacted this election.

The 6th ward in northwest Evanston returned Tom Suffredin to office against a spirited challenge by former District 65 school board president Candance Chow. The margin was slightly closer than 55%-45%. Councilmember Suffredin received more votes than any other Evanston councilmember candidate in a formally contested race, and he will be the senior Councilmember in the new Council, since both Eleanor Revelle (7th)  and Melissa Wynne (3rd), chose not to run again. As did Katie Trippi four years ago, Ms. Chow received enough votes that, had she been running in many other wards, she would have been elected. However, the 6th Ward turns out in greater numbers than most areas of the city.

In the 7th Ward, which spans from the lakefront at Evanston’s northeast corner to roughly McDaniel Ave., first-time candidate Parielle Davis defeated Kerry Mundy by about 360 votes. Ms. Davis, best known as a leader of Most Livable City Association, racked up a large plurality in the neighborhoods surrounding Ryan Field. The strong showing of Ms. Davis near the stadium and Mayor Biss’s loss in the 7th Ward undercut the argument some have made in court and in public debate that residents opposing the stadium district rezoning were an unrepresentative minority. The results in the 7th have to be seen in part as a referendum on the rezoning itself, and its unpopularity with the neigborhood most impacted.

The 6th and 7th Wards had the highest turnout in the city. Except for one campus precinct, every precinct in 6 or 7 had over 45% turnout.  No precinct in Evanston outside 6 or 7 reached that mark. North Evanston takes democracy seriously. Spreadsheets with the precinct totals and percentages (as of 4/7/2025) may be downloaded at the bottom of this article.

A couple blocks of the re-mapped 1st ward, which spans through downtown to the lakefront, are now within walking distance of Central Street, and there incumbent Clare Kelly (1st) appears to have prevailed in another squeaker, defeating challenger Steven Hackney by about 50 votes, which, if the pattern from four years ago repeats, will be enough to hold up against any late mail-in ballots that trickle in.

In the District 65 school board race, three of the four active female candidates in a 12-candidate field were victorious, and even one woman who had withdrawn received over 1,000 votes, seemingly confirming the longstanding built-in advantage for female candidates in Evanston. Of the 8 men competing in a millennial-heavy ballot, Andrew Wymer, who had top ballot position, won the fourth slot. The link at beginning of this paragraph is to the Roundtable story. Nearly all candidates campaigned on platforms of greater fiscal accountability and transparency with the residents.

The high school board race was effectively uncontested, with four candidates running for four positions. John Martin, supported by many in north Evanston in an unsuccessful race for District 65 a couple years ago, will join the District 202 board.

We congratulate the winners and wish them well in the challenges facing both the City and our schools. We also thank all those who took time from their lives to run, or even to vote.