Tom Kacich: After 'lessons learned,' Feinen riding momentum into third term

Apr. 10—What do President Joe Biden, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen have in common? All three won every one of the city's 39 precincts in their most recent election.

Feinen's overwhelming victory with almost 75 percent of the vote in a three-way race last Tuesday isn't official yet. That happens when counting of mailed ballots ends later this month. But Feinen is guaranteed to win almost every precinct on her way to becoming only the third person to win three terms as mayor of Champaign. The other two are the late Jerry Schweighart (1999-2011) and Dan McCollum (1987-1999).

Feinen, a former Republican county board member and one-time GOP candidate for the Legislature, had a vast financial advantage in the election, spending $18,531 in the period up to March 31, most of it on printing and mail pieces.

Her campaign collected $55,657 in the first three months of the year, with a varied list of donors, including business groups (the Champaign County Business Empowered PAC, $5,000; the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, $10,000; and the Illinois Realtors PAC, $5,000); labor unions (Laborers Local 703, $2,500; Southern Illinois Laborers Political League, $2,500; and Mid America Carpenters PAC, $1,000); and a collection of Republicans and Democrats from Champaign, Urbana, Chicago and Tuscola.

Neither of her opponents, former Mayor Don Gerard and Azark Cobbs, filed a campaign disclosure report.

She won easily in majority-Black precincts like City of Champaign 1 in north Champaign, where she got three times the number of votes as Cobbs, a Black man she defeated in 2019. She had more than five times the number of votes as Gerard (whom she defeated in 2015) in City of Champaign 20 (west of Prospect Avenue between University Avenue and William Street), one of the strongest Democratic precincts in the city.

Although Champaign doesn't have majority-Republican precincts any longer, Feinen won the most Republican precincts in the city comfortably, such as City of Champaign 23 (southwest of the intersection of Kirby and Prospect avenues), where she got almost five times as many votes as Gerard.

Feinen was always a moderate Republican as a county board member and a candidate, but her politics — like those of many Champaign voters — have moved left in recent years. She marched with community members protesting the murder of George Floyd in 2020, stirring the ire on social media of some local conservatives and prompting talk of a challenge from the right. It never materialized.

And although she financially supported the local Republican Party and moderate Republicans early in her mayoral term, she hasn't done so for five years and even gave a nominal amount to Act Blue, the online fundraising conduit for Democratic candidates. Feinen's voting record shows she voted in the Democratic primaries in 2020 and 2022.

She dismissed questions about whether she has moved away from the Republican Party, saying that local government works better when it is free of partisan politics.

"I am a nonpartisan mayor. I hold the middle and work for the best interests of our city," Feinen said. "Local government works best when we leave party politics out of it, and the city of Champaign is a great example of that."

Feinen said she is looking forward to her third term, particularly after a second term that included an unprecedented wave of shootings in the city, the shooting death of Champaign police Officer Chris Oberheim, and the COVID-19-related stresses on the city's businesses and the government's own finances.

"I think there were some good lessons learned," she said. "The community partnerships that were strengthened during the pandemic will be a source of problem-solving for the future. We always worked well together in the community anyway but we are all thinking in a different way about strategic partnerships now. I think that will have an impact."

Featured Local Savings

The city is on solid financial footing now, she said, although it will have to wean itself from federal pandemic-relief money and figure out which programs will have to be eliminated and which can continue with local funding.

"We're on top of it. We have great financial planning in the city," she said.

The lack of a major electoral battle for the three at-large seats on the city council surprised her, Feinen said. Four years ago, there were eight candidates for the three seats.

"But I think people are exhausted by the vitriol, and I also think that elected officials ... it's hard to recruit people because they see the way that these people can be treated," Feinen said. "School boards across the country ... people were getting death threats and horrible things happened the last four years. I think that takes a toll."

Four years from now, Feinen, now 55, may have the chance to become the first person to run for a fourth term as mayor of Champaign. She laughed when asked whether she had looked that far ahead.

"It really has to do with whether I think I can contribute to the work that needs to be done," Feinen said. "I have really taken every term one term at a time and go into it thinking what can I accomplish these four years, and evaluate near the end whether I want to run again. And that's not something I'm ready to even think about now."

Vinson spending

Jackie Vinson, who unofficially lost the race for mayor of Danville last week to incumbent Rickey Williams Jr., reported that her campaign spent $23,849 during the first three months of 2023.

Vinson lost to Williams by 59 votes out of just 4,436 cast Tuesday in Danville.

Williams has not yet filed a first-quarter campaign disclosure report.

Scott Bennett memorial highway

A resolution recently introduced by state Sen. Paul Faraci, D-Champaign, would name a portion of Interstate 74 east of U.S. 45 in Urbana to the Indiana state line the "Senator Scott M. Bennett Memorial Highway."

Bennett died in December of a brain tumor at the age of 45. He was succeeded in the Senate by Faraci, a close friend.

The Senate resolution is co-sponsored by Senate President Don Harmon and fellow state Sens. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, and Tom Bennett, R-Gibson City, who is Scott Bennett's uncle.