Heading into election night, things looked bleak for candidates not named Rahm Emanuel. But on the South Side’s Parkway Ballroom (4455 S. King Drive) the Carol Moseley Braun campaign remained spirited before the 7 p.m. poll closings. The room was filled with the sound of a live band and choir for much of the night, while the visitors chatted, laughed and kept an eye on the large television situated in the corner of the room.It did not seem like the headquarters of a candidate that looked to have little chance at winning.
“We just are quite optimistic and hopeful,” said Renee Ferguson, spokesperson for the Moseley Braun campaign. “But I mean, who knows? At this time of night, all you can do is be optimistic and hopeful.”
Many polls had Braun trailing far behind Emanuel, citing what was likely to be a low voter turnout among the African-American community as part of the reason. But Ferguson said they expected differently.
“Our polling shows a larger voter turnout than 20 percent in the African-American Community,” she said. “If we only have what [other polls] say, then those polls will be right.”
Only an hour after polls closed, however, Moseley Braun was giving her concession speech. In it, she thanked her campaign for the hard work they did, while saying she was comfortable that she ran the “right” way.
“We gave it our best,” Braun said with a smile on her face. “We went all over the city, and it is a painful thing to lose an election, but I believe that hope springs eternal. We will certainly stand together [with the new mayor] because we love the city of Chicago.”
But clearly, not everybody was happy.
“I’m disappointed,” said 50-year-old Leonard Noble after Moseley Braun gave her concession speech. “I thought she had the most to offer to the working class people of the city.”
Noble owns a trucking company in the city, and said he knew the turnout was going to be low because of the door-to-door work he did for Braun.
“Nobody seemed energetic about the whole process,” he said.
Some supporters didn’t see Braun’s defeat as her finale, however.
“I think she’s a very formidable, strong relentless woman, and I do expect to hear from her in some form or fashion,” said Yvonne Orr, a self-described politics fan and mother of two. “I’m glad she was actually talked into running, and I think she put up a good fight. She ran a good fight.”
But even if Braun does emerge again on the political scene in the future, those who supported her have to deal with the current reality.
Asked what he would do now, with Moseley Braun out, Noble had a quick answer.
“I’m going home and going to bed,” he said.
And what will he do for the next four years (at least) with a different mayor?
“Move to Indiana,” he said.