1980 Cook County State's Attorney election

In the 1980 Cook County State's Attorney election, incumbent second-term state's attorney Bernard Carey, a Republican, was unseated by Democrat Richard M. Daley.

1980 Cook County State's Attorney election

November 4, 1980
Turnout	76.77%[1][2]
Candidate Richard M. Daley Bernard Carey Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,058,529 1,042,287 Percentage 50.39% 49.61%
State's Attorney before election Bernard Carey Republican Elected State's Attorney Richard M. Daley Democratic

Election information

The election was part of the 1980 Cook County, Illinois elections.

1980 was a presidential election year in the United States. The primaries and general elections for Cook County races coincided with those for federal races (President, Senate, and House) and those for state elections.

Democratic primary

Candidates

The following candidates ran for the Democratic Party nomination for State's Attorney:

Candidate		Experience
	Edward M. Burke	Chicago alderman since 1969
	Richard M. Daley	Illinois state senator since 1972

Endorsements

Edward M. Burke

Organizations

• Cook County Democratic Central Committee[3][4]

Officeholders

• Jane Byrne, mayor of Chicago
• Michael Madigan, member of the Illinois House of Representatives

Richard M. Daley

Officeholders

• Thomas Hynes, Cook County assessor and 19th ward Committeeman[5]

Campaign

Daley ran as an "independent" Democrat, rather than pursuing the support of the local political machine.[6] Daley's campaign was managed by his brother William M. Daley.[7]

Burke aligned himself with Chicago mayor Jane Byrne, and was endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Central Committee.[3][4] Burke ran at Byrne's urging, as she wanted to prevent Daley from becoming State's Attorney, since she saw him as a likely mayoral challenger in 1983.[8][9]

Burke's loss to Daley was seen at the time as a setback for Chicago's political machine.[3][4] This was also seen as a bad sign for Byrne, as the prospect of Daley being elevated to Cook County State's Attorney was problematic to her reelection chances, since he was seen as likely to challenge her for reelection in 1983 (and ultimately would).[10]

Results

Cook County State’s Attorney Democratic primary[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard M. Daley (incumbent)	436,089	62.63
	Democratic	Edward M. Burke	260,266	37.38
Total votes			696,355	100

General election

Campaign

While the Cook County Democratic Party organization got behind Daley's candidacy once he won the party's primary, Chicago mayor Byrne continued to attempt to undermine the candidacy of her potential 1983 mayoral challenger.[8] She raised questions of his mental state, accused him of being racist, and even succeeded in getting several ward committeemen to oppose Daley's candidacy.[8][11] Byrne publicly supported Carey over Daley.[11] Due to her heavy-handed intervention in the campaign, many voters in the city and county viewed the race as a proxy-referendum on mayor Byrne, and cast votes for Daley in order to voice their disapproval of her mayoralty.[8][11] The feud between Daley and Byrne overshadowed most other aspects of the campaign.[8]

Daley was successful in organizing with the Cook County Democratic Party across the county, including its suburbs.[8] He also continued to benefit from the Daley name, still popular in much of Chicago.[8]

Chicago Sun-Times columns by Mike Royko which attacked Carey may have harmed his performance in the election.[8]

Some of Carey's harsh attacks on Daley may have backfired, offending voters more than persuading them.[8] These included an ad he ran early in the campaign which went as far as to accuse some of Daley's brothers-in-law of being connected to organized crime.[8]

Daley denied rumors that he had plans to seek the mayoralty of Chicago.[8]

While he had a clean record, Carey had also failed to make many waves while in office.[12]

A key argument for Carey's past candidacies had been his opposition to the Democratic political machine.[8] With Byrne and some on the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee effectively supporting Carey over Daley, this argument was no longer persuasive.[8]

Carey criticized Daley as being under-qualified for the office, arguing, "Even his father wouldn't have slated him for this office, because he isn't qualified. He's a ward committeeman, and Mayor Daley never slated someone like that for the prosecutor's job. He knew the people wouldn't buy it."[13]

Results

Cook County State’s Attorney election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard M. Daley	1,058,529	50.39
	Republican	Bernard Carey (incumbent)	1,042,287	49.61
Total votes			2,100,816	100

References

1. Illinois Elections (p. 90) c. 1986. Publishers, Paul Green, David Everson, Peter Colby, and Joan Parker
2. OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1980. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Board of Elections. p. 82. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
3. "Daley beats Chicago machine". Milwaukee Journal. March 19, 1980.
4. "Worn-out Machine". Pittsburgh Press. March 24, 1980.
5. Colby, Peter W.; Green, Paul Michael (September 1980). "The Irish game: watch Byrne watch Daley watching Byrne". Illinois Issues. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
6. "First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley by Keith Koeneman". press.uchicago.edu. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
7. Royko, Mike (23 October 1980). "The Vidette 23 October 1980 — The Vidette Digital Archives". videttearchive.ilstu.edu. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
8. McManus, Ed (December 1980). "Getting mad and getting even: an Irish feud". www.lib.niu.edu. Illinois Issues. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
9. Spielman, Fran (6 March 2018). "Ald. Ed Burke at 50 years: A remarkable story of political survival". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
10. McManus, Ed (June 1980). "Suburbs crucial to Richie's rise". www.lib.niu.edu. Illinois Issues. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
11. "Cook County State's Attorney Bernard Carey, who once appeared..." UPI. 5 November 1980. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
12. Stewart, Russ (4 November 2015). "ALVAREZ MUST OVERCOME RAP OF "TOO-TOUGH-ON-CRIME" AND "TOO-SOFT-ON-POLITICIANS"". www.russstewart.com. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
13. Pratt, Gregory (4 June 2018). "Bernard Carey, former GOP state's attorney who helped spark Operation Greylord, opposed Daleys, dies". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 22 October 2020.