Most conservative/Republican areas of Chicago (Lincoln, Washington: school, taxes, bill)

[Electric Blue]

Even NYC has Staten Island and a few parts of Brooklyn. Are their any Republican/conservative strongholds within the city?

[jsk1983]

I thought I heard once the Edison Park on the far northwest side was the most Republican area in Chicago.

[ChikidII]

I heard the Gold Coast is as well.

[Drover]

Not really. Maybe the transplant areas of Lincoln Park and Lakeview. 41st Ward alderman is Republican. That's 1 out of 50.

[SCCP]

The most conservative area of the city is the far northwest side, which includes Edison Park (as jsk points out). Chicago's only recent Republican alderman came from the far northwest 41st Ward. However, the ward is now represented by a Democrat. Obama won the 41st Ward in 2008, but by the smallest margin of any ward in the city (high 50s Obama to low 40s McCain, as I recall). As a point of comparison, Obama won the city as a whole with 85% of the vote (compared to 13% for McCain), so the Far NW is definitely conservative on a relative scale.

The southwest corridor is culturally traditional, and so it might be considered "conservative" for some purposes. Politically, though, the southwest is still strongly Democratic. You will find that SW Side Dems are more centrist (e.g. Congressman Lipinski) and/or old-school (Madigan, Burke).

The Gold Coast is heavy on the yuppie contingent, so some Gold Coasters tilt center-right on economic issues. But it is still overwhelmingly Democratic (like the yuppie parts of Manhattan).

Bottom line: if you want to run as a Republican in Chicago, understand that you are doing it just for the personal publicity, or as a matter of principle, or whatever... you aren't running to win!

[Drover]

OK, so I guess even the 41st Ward isn't Republican any more.

[Electric Blue]

I wonder why a Giuliani type has not come out of Chicago. Someone who is tough on crime,cuts spending and taxes,liberal on social issues.

[SCCP]

Nope... Ald. Doherty retired and Democrat Mary O'Connor replaced him this year. I recall reading an article about Doherty lamenting the GOP's departure from the Council.

[SCCP]

Originally Posted by Trampass

I wonder why a Giuliani type has not come out of Chicago. Someone who is tough on crime,cuts spending and taxes,liberal on social issues.

New York City has a history of centrist (or even center-left) Republicans, such as LaGuardia (FDR's favorite Republican), Lindsey (who defected to the Dems later in his career), and Bloomberg (Dem-turned-Republican-turned Independent). New York is also somewhat unique in having the "Liberal Party" label, which had been used in the past effectively by NYC Republicans.

In contrast, Chicago's last Republican chief was Big Bill Thompson in the 1920s. For all the talk of the sleazy "Democratic machine," Thompson was the most corrupt mayor in history. After the defection of African American voters to the Democratic fold in the 1930s, "real" Republicans pretty much called it quits locally... you only had the crop of Democrat-turned-Republican anti-Harold Washington politicians in the 1980s.

Statewide, Illinois has produced plenty of moderate-to-liberal Republicans, but they left Chicago to the Dems. This might be explained in part by the refusal of wealthier liberal "reformist" types to hop on with Republicans in large numbers (which is exactly what you saw in NYC during parts of the 20th century).

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by SCCP

The most conservative area of the city is the far northwest side, which includes Edison Park (as jsk points out). Chicago's only recent Republican alderman came from the far northwest 41st Ward. However, the ward is now represented by a Democrat. Obama won the 41st Ward in 2008, but by the smallest margin of any ward in the city (high 50s Obama to low 40s McCain, as I recall). As a point of comparison, Obama won the city as a whole with 85% of the vote (compared to 13% for McCain), so the Far NW is definitely conservative on a relative scale.

The southwest corridor is culturally traditional, and so it might be considered "conservative" for some purposes. Politically, though, the southwest is still strongly Democratic. You will find that SW Side Dems are more centrist (e.g. Congressman Lipinski) and/or old-school (Madigan, Burke).

The Gold Coast is heavy on the yuppie contingent, so some Gold Coasters tilt center-right on economic issues. But it is still overwhelmingly Democratic (like the yuppie parts of Manhattan).

Bottom line: if you want to run as a Republican in Chicago, understand that you are doing it just for the personal publicity, or as a matter of principle, or whatever... you aren't running to win!

Does this include Norwood Park, too? I kind of get the impression that it might be, although not in any big way..

New England is famous for having moderate Repubs, with examples like Weicker of Connecticut, Snowe and Collins in Maine, Chaffee in Rhode Island, etc, but the national GOP tends to ignore them, especially when making their posiitonal platforms...