Former Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham, the city’s first Black chief executive, declared victory Tuesday night in his bid to regain the office he lost four years ago, thus extending the city’s 28-year string of one-term mayors.
Leading in a four-candidate race, Cunningham was ahead of incumbent Mayor Ann Taylor, who defeated him four years ago to become the city’s first woman chief executive, according to unofficial results.
“I’m honored and certainly grateful to the voters to allow me another opportunity to serve as their mayor,” Cunningham said. “This election was more about the future of the city, and I believe the voters have made it very clear they trust me to lead Waukegan forward.”
Expressing gratitude to his three opponents for their service to Waukegan, Cunningham said he is ready to get to work after he is inaugurated on May 5.
“I’m ready to work alongside the City Council and other local leaders, but more importantly Waukeganites, to rebuild a stronger, more united community,” he said.
Cunningham collected 47.04% of 6,020 votes counted as of late Tuesday night. Taylor had 33.94%, Ald. Keith Turner, 6th Ward, had 13.17%, and former Ald. Harold Beadling, 4th Ward, had 5.85%, according to unofficial election results from the Lake County Clerk’s Office.
Taylor conceded shortly after 9 p.m. She congratulated Cunningham and expressed gratitude to the people of Waukegan for their support over the past four years.
“I congratulate former Mayor Sam Cunningham on his election victory this evening, and wish him success as he leads Waukegan forward,” Taylor said. “Serving as mayor these past four years has been an incredible honor, and I am proud of the progress we’ve made together as a community.”
Since former Mayor Bill Durkin was reelected to a second term in 1997, Waukegan voters have chosen a different chief executive every four years since. Cunningham said numerous times during his campaign that he had unfinished business. Now, he has a chance to address that.
Starting his first term with bold plans, Cunningham updated the city’s master plan after nearly 40 years, crafted a capital improvement plan and shepherded three applications for an “entertainment center called a casino” through the City Council to the Illinois Gaming Board.
“I want to continue with the plans we started,” he said in February. “We had to put some of them on hold with COVID. I want to rebuild Waukegan. We (started) to rebuild affordable housing, particularly in the public sector. It’s important to me because I lived in public housing.”
Starting to rebuild the city’s water plant during his tenure, Cunningham said he still sees it as a way to sell Lake Michigan water to other communities as a revenue source. It will help keep taxes down, he said.
Collaborating with other governmental entities to benefit the community, Cunningham said he plans to work with the Waukegan Park District and the Lake County Forest Preserves District to create a mobility trail partially along the lakefront, from the south side of Waukegan to the Lyons Forest Preserve near Highway 41 and Route 173 in Zion.
A piece of the trail puzzle is acquiring the land owned by the Canadian National Railway once used to haul coal to the now-decommissioned NRG electric generating plant. There were negotiations and an agreement during his tenure, but it did not materialize.
Removal of the railroad tracks will also enable another project Cunningham said he intends to pursue — Navy Pier North — by creating an entertainment district at the beach. The area’s success is also dependent on adding 700 to 1,000 residential units in the downtown area, he said.
“Downtown redevelopment ties in to the entertainment center at the beach,” Cunningham said. “They go hand in hand. We also need a new police station, and a realignment of our current fire stations. It’s all essential to the rebuilding of Waukegan.”