On Tuesday, two of Chicago’s favorite things will collide: politics and Irish heritage.
It is Primary Day in Illinois, and through a quirk of the calendar, the election falls on St. Patrick’s Day this year, capping off several days of parades and parties around the city celebrating the holiday.
That has given Chicago politicians even more chances to mingle with voters, march around while the Chicago River was dyed emerald green on Saturday and deck themselves out in Irish-appropriate gear — whether they are Irish or not.
“Call me Raja, but today, just call me Roger Christian Murphy,” Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Senate candidate who often alludes to his Indian American heritage, said in a video on Saturday as he wore a green-and-gold sash at a parade. “That’s what I was called when I first came to Chicago and introduced myself to someone.”
Chicago considers itself the most Irish of big American cities. About 9 percent of Cook County residents — more than 400,000 people — claim Irish ancestry, making it the county with the largest Irish American population in the United States.
The weekend on the eve of the election is traditionally jammed with activities around Chicago that are voter-rich targets for eager politicians. There were four parades around Chicago marking the holiday. The Irish Fellowship Club hosted an annual dinner on the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day, attended by more than 1,000 people, where a $100 raffle ticket bought a chance to win round-trip airfare for two to Ireland, courtesy of Aer Lingus.
But there are limits to how much St. Patrick’s Day merriment is permitted to seep into the voting process, a city official warned.
No longer do dozens of taverns double as polling places all around Chicago, where it was once considered acceptable to cast a ballot and sidle up to the bar for a tipple of Jameson afterward, said Max Bever, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections.
“We urge voters that once they get their civic duty done, get your ‘I Voted’ sticker, take that selfie,” he said, “and then go have that adult beverage.”
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
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