Jane Byrne ran in Chicago’s 1979 mayoral election as an anti-machine underdog, which appealed to many Chicagoans. More on her campaign: ChicagoStoriesWTTW
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Through the promise of jobs in exchange for votes, Daley maintained his political control. “The machine was basically a vote-gathering organization,” Don Rose, who would serve as campaign manager for Byrne’s first campaign, told“It stole votes, it forced votes, it bought votes and was very repressive and, in fact, racist.” People were faithful to – and also fearful of – Daley’s machine.
“He had an almost filial pride in her and affection for her. She was very much one of his favorites,” Axelrod said. In 1976, Mayor Daley had a heart attack and died in office at the age of 74. According to the city’s line of succession, the president pro-tem of the City Council – a Black alderman named Wilson Frost – was supposed to step in as mayor. But Daley’s aides wouldn’t allow Frost to enter the office.
As the underdog, Byrne began assembling her campaign team, including a successful and reputable political strategist named Don Rose. “This was a campaign based on gut instincts rather than polling,” said Rose of the campaign, which was lacking in financial support early on. The Byrne campaign slogan was “One Chicago.” The goal was to create a campaign that would appeal to marginalized communities who wanted things to change. Chicago StoriesDuarte said Latino voters in Chicago were facing challenges similar to those that many face now.
“It was a campaign of opportunism that was taking place while the city was undergoing the torment of this terrible winter, and people were very upset,” Rose said.I used to have people go down into the subway cars and ride for a little while and [go into] these packed cars and yell out, ‘It’s Bilandic that did this to you. Let’s get rid of him!’ and stuff like that, and [then they would] get off the car and wait for the next train – all kinds of little nasty tricks.
“She lost only two out of some 3,000 precincts,” Rose said. “That's overwhelming. Nobody has ever won that much – not even Mayor Daley.”Image: Chicago History Museum, ICHi-037841; Richard T. Kaner, photographer