Eugene Sawyer

The Rev. Jesse Jackson gave his long-awaited endorsement to black Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer in the Feb. 28 Chicago primary and urged voters to defeat a challenge from the son of the "Boss" who ran Chicago for two decades. "I choose to stand with this rainbow coalition of political and community leaders and endorse Mayor Eugene Sawyer for reelection," Jackson said as the South Side crowd chanted "Sawyer! Sawyer! Sawyer!" The former Democratic presidential candidate said Cook County State's Atty.

Eugene Sawyer, 73, Chicago's second African American mayor, who served briefly during a deeply divisive period in city politics in the late 1980s, died Saturday in the city's Adventist Hinsdale Hospital after several recent strokes, his family said. A native of Greensboro, Ala., Sawyer served as mayor for 16 months after the sudden death of the city's first black mayor, Harold Washington. Elected an alderman for Chicago's 6th Ward in 1971, Sawyer was chosen by the City Council to replace Washington in 1987.

Eugene Sawyer, 73, Chicago's second African American mayor, who served briefly during a deeply divisive period in city politics in the late 1980s, died Saturday in the city's Adventist Hinsdale Hospital after several recent strokes, his family said. A native of Greensboro, Ala., Sawyer served as mayor for 16 months after the sudden death of the city's first black mayor, Harold Washington. Elected an alderman for Chicago's 6th Ward in 1971, Sawyer was chosen by the City Council to replace Washington in 1987.

After winning Chicago's Democratic mayoral primary, Richard M. Daley Wednesday reached out to Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer while his staff tried to downplay the significance of the pronounced racial split in the vote. Meanwhile, black political leaders sought to regroup in the face of a split that weakened Sawyer's candidacy and depleted turnout in black wards.

Eugene Sawyer, a black alderman with ties to the old-guard Chicago Democratic machine, was elected by the City Council early today to succeed the late Mayor Harold Washington. The council voted 29 to 19 to elect Sawyer over Alderman Timothy Evans, who had served as Washington's floor leader in the council. The final vote came at 4 a.m., following two hours of nominating speeches that were delayed by boisterous parliamentary wrangling and demonstrations by supporters of Evans.

Mayor Eugene Sawyer, claiming that he is in a virtual "dead heat" with State Atty. Richard M. Daley as the Democratic mayoral primary approaches, won the endorsement Wednesday of Alderman Lawrence Bloom, who dropped out of the race. Bloom's departure leaves only Sawyer and Daley in the Democratic primary, which will be held Feb. 28. Daley is the son of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, who dominated city politics for 21 years until his death in 1976.

Pressure built on Chicago Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer on Wednesday to dismiss a top aide whose statements attacking Jews, Christians, Italians and some prominent blacks stirred a controversy that has paralyzed city government this week. The aide, Steve Cokely, serves as the mayor's $35,000-a-year link to community groups. He made his controversial statements last year and earlier in a series of tape-recorded lectures to followers of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Less than a week before Election Day, former Chicago Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak announced Wednesday that he will run as a write-in candidate for mayor in the Republican primary. The controversial Vrdolyak, who had kept GOP officials in suspense before announcing at the last minute in December that he would not enter the race, said Wednesday that he had changed his mind. "I'll be your candidate," he told 600 cheering supporters at a Chicago restaurant.

Richard M. Daley, the son of the legendary mayor who dominated Chicago politics for more than two decades, won the Democratic primary for mayor Tuesday in an election split overwhelmingly along racial lines. In a contest punctuated in its last days by nasty racial appeals and inflammatory accusations, Daley, the Cook County states attorney, pulled together a coalition of blue-collar whites, affluent whites and Latinos to defeat Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer.

Jeff Toth stepped up to a polling booth at the Abraham Lincoln School Tuesday and did something that not long ago would have been considered unusual by the electoral norms of the independent-minded 43rd Ward. He voted for Richard Daley in the Democratic mayoral primary, as did most of Toth's friends and neighbors in the north side Lincoln Park area. It wasn't that Richard Daley, of course, but rather his son, Cook County State's Atty. Richard M.

After an early attempt at civility, Chicago is showing its true colors, so to speak. Leading up to today's mayoral primary, Richard M. Daley, the leading white candidate, has been censured by a watchdog group for allegedly telling Polish voters "you want a white mayor."

Chicago's Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer and his chief Democratic rival, Cook County State's Atty. Richard M. Daley, sprinted to the finish of a hotly contested primary race in the nation's third-largest city. Despite holding a lead in the polls, Daley, son of legendary "Boss" Richard J. Daley, who ruled the city for 21 years, crisscrossed the city with less than 48 hours to go until the polls open Tuesday.

Less than a week before Election Day, former Chicago Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak announced Wednesday that he will run as a write-in candidate for mayor in the Republican primary. The controversial Vrdolyak, who had kept GOP officials in suspense before announcing at the last minute in December that he would not enter the race, said Wednesday that he had changed his mind. "I'll be your candidate," he told 600 cheering supporters at a Chicago restaurant.

Mayor Eugene Sawyer, claiming that he is in a virtual "dead heat" with State Atty. Richard M. Daley as the Democratic mayoral primary approaches, won the endorsement Wednesday of Alderman Lawrence Bloom, who dropped out of the race. Bloom's departure leaves only Sawyer and Daley in the Democratic primary, which will be held Feb. 28. Daley is the son of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, who dominated city politics for 21 years until his death in 1976.

It was not quite the Second Coming, but you would have thought so from the way the crowd went wild when Richard M. Daley entered the room. A Dixieland band was tooting out a toe-tapping version of "Chicago, Chicago," the local answer to "Hail to the Chief," which they had started playing on cue a moment earlier, when Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer walked through the door. Unlike Daley, Sawyer had been greeted with only polite applause, but what more could he expect?