Voter Turnout Light in Primary for Former Rep. Reynolds’ Seat

A light voter turnout was reported Tuesday in a congressional primary election where much of the attention fell on Jesse Jackson Jr., 30-year-old son of the civil rights activist.

The contest is for the seat held by former Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-Ill.), who resigned after he was convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker.

Reynolds, a 43-year-old two-term Democrat, was sentenced two months ago to five years in prison.

Winning the Democratic nomination is tantamount to winning the seat in next month’s special election in the heavily black and Democratic district, which runs through Chicago’s South Side and into neighboring suburbs.

Jackson, who campaigned Tuesday with his father, was reported holding a slight lead over four Democratic challengers in pre-election polls. But the surveys indicated that as many as a third of the district’s residents were undecided.

The other major Democratic contenders were Emil Jones, 60, the party’s leader in the Illinois Senate, and Alice Palmer, 56, a longtime state legislator. State Rep. Monique Davis and businessman John Morrow rounded out the Democratic field.

Jackson has never held elective office, and some observers said that since Reynolds was a little-known outsider when he was elected in 1992, voters will go with a known quantity this time.

The Rev. James Demus, a longtime Jackson family friend, supports the more seasoned Palmer.

“The people have been embarrassed by their last two representatives. I think they want someone they can trust,” Demus said. “That’s probably the central issue: Is this person going to embarrass us?”

Reynolds’ predecessor in the seat was Gus Savage, whose 12 years in office ended after a sexual-harassment scandal involving a Peace Corps worker.

Davis, an outspoken former educational administrator, claims support from Savage and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Four men were seeking the long-shot Republican nomination for the seat.

Only two have campaigned actively: T. J. Somer, a suburban lawyer, and Lionel Pittman, a Chicago plumbing contractor.