Quincy, Illinois, holds partisan elections for city office. On April 7, independent candidate Jeff Vancamp, running for Alderman in the 6th ward, defeated Republican incumbent Jim Musolino. Here is a link to the election returns. Vancamp believes he is the first independent member of the Council in many decades.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
Elected by “the skin of his teeth,” but another Independent elected nevertheless. Does anyone have any knowledge of his political philosophy? Many Independents are not really Independents. They just use the label because they either don’t want a party label. Don’t mean to contradict my words, but a real Independent develops his or her own philosophy – not a whitewash of a Republican or a Democrat. As an Independent, I have views which some would classify as “conservative,” and views on other issues which might be classified as “liberal.” To me this is what real Independent is. Just plain common sense on how an issue should be addressed. Nothing less, nothing more.
He is member of both the parks board and the the library board. He said that it really wasn’t strategic to run as an independent. In a campaign interview, he said he didn’t have an agenda, but thought his creativity could help provide solution to problems that did come up.
The Republicans won the 6 other seats, including 3 without opposition, but appears that the dominance is something that is fairly recent. One of the Republicans defeated a 30-year incumbent Democrat who had last had an opponent in 1999. I kind of have a sense that there is not a need for party labels, but that is the way they’ve always done it.