In a closely watched and tense suburban contest, Larry Dominick was elected to his third term as Cicero's town president.
In the days leading up to contest, allegations surfaced that voters were being intimidated by town officials to support the incumbent rather than fellow front-running challenger, former McPier CEO Juan Ochoa.
Despite the intervention of Cook County Clerk and amid the U.S. Justice Department monitoring the vote, Dominick coasted to victory with about 60 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial vote -- more than enough to avoid an April runoff election against Ochoa, who won just 30 percent of the vote, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Celebrating his victory Tuesday evening at Al's Restaurant, Dominick, 64, said residents in the town approve of his crime-fighting strategies and economic development work and added that he hopes to remain in his position for "the rest of my life," according to WBEZ.
Dominick has a history of dust-ups when it comes to the town's Latino residents: In 2011, Dominick allegedly used several racial slurs to describe Latinos and was sued by an employee on the city's payroll for allegedly firing him based on his race. In addition, he was criticized after admitting he hired more than 20 family members.
Ochoa told his own supporters Tuesday, according to Fox Chicago, that it was difficult to challenge an "organization that has been doing this for decades." Earlier in the week, Ochoa said Dominick would "stop at nothing to try to win this election and protect their patronage jobs."
Dominick, for his part, said Ochoa used gang members as campaign workers, accusations Ochoa denied, according to ABC Chicago.
Cicero, a largely Latino suburb with a legacy laden with corruption thanks to the likes of Betty Loren-Maltese and Al Capone, is located just west of the city's South Side, between Berwyn and the city's South Lawndale neighborhood.
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