Michael Crawford beat state Rep. Mary Flowers, the longest-running Black lawmaker in Illinois, to win the Democratic primary for the Illinois House 31st District on Tuesday after party leadership and unions threw their support behind him.
With almost 80% of votes counted, Crawford beat Flowers, 69% to 31%, in a district that extends across the South Side and into the southwest suburbs, according to AP estimates.
Newcomer Crawford, 41, had the backing of Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch. In an unusual move that was a test of his own political muscle, Welch threw his support and money behind Crawford in the primary and helped him defeat a politician who first took office when Harold Washington was mayor of Chicago.
The race became a proxy for Welch’s power to control his own members. Welch and Democratic-supporting unions backed Crawford, raising a whopping $1.7 million. That’s more than Flowers raised in total over the last 30 years.
“I don’t think Crawford is the important part here," said Brian Gaines, the Arrington Professor in State Politics at the University of Illinois. "He’s the device. It’s really about Flowers.”
