How your West Side ward voted in the presidential election 

With about a month to go until President Elect Donald Trump takes over as United States President, you may be wondering how we got here, given Illinois’, Chicago’s, and the West Side’s Democratic leanings.  

La Shawn Ford, state representative for the 8th District, said U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in the presidential race is largely a result of the Democratic party’s messaging. 

“I think that the Democrats have to be less elite and more about kitchen-table issues of Americans,” Ford, a Democrat, said. 

Although the West Side remained largely blue, some areas leaned way more red this year than the past several elections, mirroring a national trend. 

Here is how your ward voted: 

24th Ward  

Throughout the 24th Ward, which encompasses Lawndale, over 83% of voters cast a ballot for Harris, and more than 14% voted for Trump.  

While a majority of Lawndale voted blue, the most Trump votes came from the southeastern-most precinct near Little Village. The 19th precinct had the highest percentage of Trump votes, and the most voters, in the 24th Ward. Out of the 1,239 people who voted in the 19th precinct, more than 47% voted for Harris, and 48% for Trump, or 592 and 600 votes, respectively. The precinct with the next highest percentage and number of Trump voters in the 24th Ward was 16% in precinct 18, where 117 people voted red.  

Ford said the stark difference in numbers in the 19th precinct may come down to how people of certain backgrounds vote, which could be said for anywhere in the U.S.  

“They don’t feel impacted, or need to preserve [their] entitlements,” Ford said of West Side precincts that voted for Trump in higher numbers. “Trump offers the protection of what they have,” for example, making a living wage, which is about $37,000 in Illinois.  

While nearly 80% of North Lawndale is Black and has a median household income around $33,000, Little Village is over 80% Hispanic with a median household income of about $48,000. These numbers may have impacted votes in these areas. 

The Associated Press reported that 16% of Black voters voted for Trump, while 43% of Latino voters cast a ballot for him this year. In 2020, 8% of Black voters wanted Trump in office, and so did 38% of Hispanic voters, according to the Pew Research Center.   

Republican votes in the 19th precinct were way up compared to previous years, a similar trend throughout the rest of the 24th Ward. 

In the 2020 election, every 24th Ward precinct cast at least 90% of their votes for Biden. Of 473 ballots in precinct 19, 95% voted for Biden.  

And in 2016, at least 93% of voters chose Hillary Clinton in all precincts. 

“The Republicans really connected with the people that flipped,” Ford said. 

28th Ward  

In a ward that stretches from Garfield Park to the Tri-Taylor area, about 87% of voters indicated they wanted Harris in the White House in contrast to the 11% selecting Trump. Those numbers represent a pretty accurate mean across all precincts, though they were much higher for the Democratic candidate in the last election.  

The results are in line with the 2020 election, in which every 28th Ward precinct had at least 89% of voters cast a ballot for Biden.  

Four years earlier, in the 2016 election, the highest percentage of votes for Trump were in the eastern most precincts – nearly 19% of voters in the 28th precinct and about 18% in the 27th. Both precincts cast about 75% of their votes for Clinton.  

29th Ward  

The stretch from Galewood to Austin had the fewest percentage of votes for Harris of any West Side ward with 81% of voters casting a ballot for the Democratic candidate.  

In Montclare and Galewood, precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4 had the lowest percentage of votes for Harris in the 29th Ward. While most precincts saw 80 to 90% of voters mark their ballots for Harris, in precinct 3 and 4, that number was only 63%. Only 57% of precinct 2 voted for Harris. And in precinct 1, 52% of voters voted for Harris, or 474 people, the highest of any precinct by over 100 votes. 

 Ford said these numbers may have something to do with race, culture and income. Galewood is nearly a quarter white compared to 5% of the population in Austin. And Galewood’s median household income is nearly three times that of Austin’s.  

But like in the 24th Ward’s 19th precinct, the northern precincts in the 29th Ward voted Republican in much lower numbers in previous elections.  

In 2020, at least 89% of voters in all precincts wanted Biden for president. In 2016, most of the 29th Ward’s precincts saw no more than 26% of voters cast a ballot for Trump, and precincts 1 through 4 were significantly lower.  

37^th Ward  

In Austin and Humboldt Park, more than 84% of voters cast a vote for Harris, and nearly 14% voted for Trump. While Harris had a more favorable turnout in the 37th Ward than some of the other West Side wards, Democratic candidates have received fewer and fewer votes here over the years.  

In 2020, Biden received at least 89% of votes across all precincts in the 37th Ward. And in 2016, Clinton won at least 94% of those votes.  

What’s next for the West Side  

Ford warned that Chicago’s West Side should recognize what it means that Trump will take office again next month.  

“Democratic policy, whether Republicans know it or not, actually helps Republicans,” he said. “There are poor people that vote Republican that receive SNAP benefits, that receive Medicaid, that receive rent subsidies.”  

Without those supports, and under other Trump proposals, people on the West Side could suffer, he said. 

“That’s the reality of a Republican administration,” Ford said. “This could really harm the wealth gains in our community.”