On February 2, Anthony W. Williams, pastor of the Good Shepard Lutheran Church in south Chicago, won the Green Party congressional primary, 2nd district. Williams had an opponent in the Green Party primary who was backed by the party leadership.
In each of the three preceding elections, Williams ran against incumbent Jesse Jackson, Jr. He has now run under four different party labels. In 2004 he ran in the Democratic primary, but in a 4-person race polled only 4.3% of the vote. In 2006 he entered the Libertarian Party primary and won it without opposition (in 2006, the Libertarian Party wasn’t ballot-qualified in the entire state, but it was ballot-qualified in the 2nd U.S. House district). As the Libertarian nominee in a 3-way race in November 2006, he polled 3.33%.
In 2008, he was the Republican nominee, and polled 10.6% in a two-way race. Here is Williams’ campaign web page for 2010.
In the 2010 election, the Republican nominee is Isaac Hayes, youth pastor of the Apostolic Church of God.
And Anthony Williams is a church-and-state mixing anti-gay anti-choice bigot: http://thatsmycongress.com/index.php/2010/02/03/green-party-chooses-homophobic-theocrat-in-illinois/
Why did the Greens in the 2nd district vote for this distasteful man?
Chances are, bona fide Greens didn’t vote for him, but almost any Illinois voter was free to choose a Green Party primary ballot, and probably many friends and parishoners of Rev. Williams chose a Green Party ballot so as to vote for him. This is why I personally prefer conventions instead of primaries for minor parties.
Don’t be so quick to blame the Greens. As B.A.N. states in the first paragraph, Williams had an opponent in the district – Michael “Coach” Mayden – who was backed by the party leadership. Illinois has semi-open primaries, which means that registered independent voters can vote in any party primary. As the minister of a church, Williams probably mobilized his congregation to vote in the Green primary and this faith-based get out the vote effort overtopped that of the local Green Party.
According to local media reports, Williams’ 116 primary votes, beat Green Party candidate Michael Mayden’s 76 votes in Tuesday’s primary. This points out the hazards of primaries. One of the hazards of primaries, I guess.
Sorry for the duplication in the last paragraph. Distractions, distractions.
Scott, overtopped is putting it mildly. The vote split was 60 – 40. That’s huge.
Green Party activists didn’t seem to put much effort into supporting Mayden’s campaign. They allowed themselves to get out maneuvered by Williams. That suggests a remarkable lack of organizing ability. The alarm was sounded back in December that a right wing candidate was campaigning for the Green line, but most local Greens reacted defensively, lashing out at the warning, rather than getting their resources together on Mayden’s behalf.
I’m hearing a lot of excuses, but not a single plan from the Illinois Greens about how they’re going to address the problem. I think blaming primary elections as a “hazard” is a way of avoiding responsibility for a remarkable screwup.
Uh, hey, Congress Watcher, I’ve explained to you over and over again what the situation is. Yet, you go on making assertions without checking your facts. I don’t know how, for instance, the Greens could have, as you say, recruited Williams, voted for him, and yet his win somehow shows a lack of organization to stop him. You’re just making a whole bunch of ridiculous assumptions that aren’t necessarily connected to one another, and through it all, you understand a very poor knowledge of election system.