All of Evanston’s nine aldermen and the mayor say they plan to run for re-election next spring — a sharp change from four years ago when five incumbents chose to retire from office.
So far only one alderman, Mark Tendam of the 6th Ward, has an announced opponent for re-election, Central Street Neighbors Association President Mark Sloane.
Sloane came in second to Tendam four years ago in a three-way contest to replace the retiring Edmund Moran. Tendam drew 41 percent of the vote to 36 percent for Sloane. Christopher Hart finished third in 2009 with more than 23 percent.
The other first-term aldermen elected to open seats in three-way races in 2009 are Don Wilson, 4th Ward, Jane Grover, 7th Ward, and Coleen Burrus, 9th Ward.
Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl moved up from 7th Ward alderman with the endorsement of retiring mayor Lorraine Morton. Tisdahl drew 62 percent of the vote in the four-way race for the mayor’s seat.
The only defeat for an incumbent last time came in the 1st Ward where challenger Judy Fiske drew 62 percent of the vote to 38 percent for Cheryl Wollin, in a reversal of the outcome of their 2005 matchup.
Four years ago aldermen Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward; Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, and Ann Rainey, 8th Ward faced no opponents in their re-election bids.
Jean-Baptiste resigned in the middle of his term after he was appointed a circuit judge. His replacement, Peter Braithwaite, appointed by Mayor Tisdahl, will be seeking his first full term in office next April.
Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, won election to a second term in 2009 drawing 75 percent of the vote against challenger Adrian Dortch, nearly the same margin she’d achieved in a five-way race to win her first term in 2005.
District 65 school board member Jerome Summers has taken out petitions to run for 5th Ward alderman next year, but says he hasn’t decided whether to actually make the race.
City Clerk Rodney Greene, who is also running for re-election, says the dates for filing petitions to get on the April ballot have been revised. Candidates must now file between Monday, Dec. 17, at 8:30 a.m. and Wednesday, Dec. 26, at 5 p.m.