Alderman James Gardiner wins 45th Ward runoff against Megan Mathias

Brian Nadig

45th Ward Alderman James Gardiner has defeated attorney Megan Mathias in their April 4 runoff election, as Gardiner was up 10 percentage points with all of the precincts reporting.

Gardiner had 8,964 votes, or 55.19 percent, and Mathias has 7,277 votes, or 44.81 percent. There are outstanding mail-in ballots that will not be counted for days, but Mathias is not expected to overcome Gardiner’s lead.

This will be the second term for Gardiner, a firefighter, who in 2019 defeated two-term incumbent John Arena, capturing just over 50 percent of the vote and narrowly avoiding a runoff with Arena.

Mathias had finished second in the Feb. 28 election, with just under 17 percent of vote, in the six-candidate race, which also included James Suh, Susanna Ernst, Ana Santoyo and Marija Tomic.

Mathias announced her campaign in 2021, but her Old Irving Park home was later remapped out of the ward. Under election rules, she could run for alderperson in the 45th Ward but would have to move into the ward if she had won. She also could not vote for herself, as she lives in the new 30th Ward.

In recent weeks the Mathias campaign went into attack mode, sending out several negative mailers about Gardiner. They listed headlines about the investigations into his conduct, and one mailer included an image of Gardiner next to a prison yard-type fence.

Gardiner has said that his campaign does not send out negative mailers and that the focus of his campaign has been his opposition to property tax hikes and his support for first responders, along with listing roadway and other infrastructure improvements in the ward, including several large development projects in the Six Corners area.

The Law and Order Political Action Committee, which has ties to the Northwest Side GOP Club, sent out a mailer last week with a picture of Mathias at a 2020 Black Lives Matter rally in which some participants were holding anti-police signage. Mathias has said that she has a long history working with and supporting law enforcement, and one of her recent mailers focused on public safety.

In the Feb. 28 election Gardiner performed well in the new areas of the ward, which now includes Wildwood and parts of Edgebrook and Norwood Park.

Also, Ruth Cruz was leading Jessica Gutierrez by about 290 votes in the 30th Ward and Alderman Gibert Villegas had a large lead over Leonor Torres Whitt in the 36th Ward.