Trustee Jason House declares victory over Tiffany Henyard in Dolton, Illinois mayoral primary
Dolton, Illinois Village Trustee Jason House declared victory Tuesday night after trouncing embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard in the south suburb's primary election.
Unofficial Cook County results showed with all precincts reporting, Henyard had only 12% of the vote — or 536 votes in total — compared with 88%, or 3,896, for House.
House campaigned with the slogan "Clean House 2025," and his supporters said the huge margin of victory shows he is well on the way to doing just that. House heads to the general election on the Democratic ticket in April.
Speaking to CBS News Chicago, House said the vote was clear evidence that the people were "fed up," and called Henyard a "rogue" anomaly among Dolton politicians.
"I feel ecstatic. The voters have spoken. They've spoken in a loud way," House said, "and I've said it before — I'll always say it — this does not represent Dolton. We had one rogue individual. Dolton is proud, and we are happy that we're ready to change the narrative."
House and his team later entered his victory party dancing to rapper Kendrick Lamar's "They Not Like Us," as the crowd burst into cheers.
"We faced four years of intimidation, four years of failure, and tonight is the new day for the community of Dolton," he told enthusiastic supporters.
House said he had not heard the numbers for his landslide victory until CBS News Chicago told him. He said he is equally optimistic for a general election victory.
"[Henyard] didn't have the support that she thought she did, and that the residents have woken up, and they're ready for a clean house," a supporter said.
House was asked what he would say to Henyard, who had not made a comment on the race as of just before 8 p.m.
"I would say the same thing to her as any other elected officials — listen to the voices of the residents," he said.
Before the polls closed, House said a high voter turnout was encouraging for his campaign.
According to election records, only 9.5% of registered voters cast a ballot in 2021 when Henyard won her first term. House said he expects the numbers to be vastly higher this time around.
CBS News Chicago was told about 2,000 people voted early in the Dolton primary.
House and Henyard were part of the same ticket in 2021. Now they are rivals.
House earlier said he would reach out to Henyard Tuesday night no matter the outcome. When asked if he believes Henyard will do the same for him if he is victorious, he said he did not expect her to do so.
While there were cheers and even emotions at the victory party for House, the scene down the street left the few Henyard supporters at her election watch party in a room to themselves — acknowledging her huge defeat.
Henyard did not address the room, and has not made any comment since House declared victory.
House will face independent candidate Casundra Hopson-Jordan in the April general election.
Henyard had been confident she would win
On Tuesday morning, Henyard rapped her new song outside the Lester Long Fieldhouse as voters cast their ballots, saying it was a way to reach out to young voters.
Dolton resident Sharon Hunley said such a performance is a sign of how Henyard hadn't handled things well in the village.
"I just recently just saw a video of her rapping. Like, that's just not a good look. You're in politics, you're supposed to be leading the people," she said.
Nonetheless, Henyard said she was confident she would win the primary.
"I can't wait until the results come in this evening," Henyard said. "I'm going to come in by a landslide, and when I do the people will speak."
Henyard was spotted talking to voters as they headed to the polls Tuesday. She said she believed she would also prevail in the general election in April, and said all the investigations and probes are baseless.
"It's been all negative news — nothing positive. I do a ton of positive things in the community. So yeah, it's real challenging," Henyard said. "But this too shall pass, and when it does, I want to unify my community. That's what I want to do moving forward."
When asked about the recent investigation of Dolton village finances led by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, which found widespread financial mismanagement under Henyard, she said, "The real receipts are available," referring to the information she released on YouTube.
"You will see the trustees have been stealing money," Henyard said, without providing evidence.
Based on CBS News Chicago reports, there has been no confirmation of allegations against trustees. Henyard also stated Lightfoot was under investigation, which is not confirmed. There is no record of this investigation.
Henyard also said she expected the entire current village board would be voted out on Tuesday. She mocked House's campaign slogan as she made the prediction.
"I'm going to unite my community when I get rid of this board, and that's going to unite my community," Henyard said. "They say 'clean house.' They're damn right. We're going to clean house today, starting with the board of trustees. That's every last one of them, including the clerk."
Meanwhile, while House and his campaign were out rallying up final supporters even the night before the election, Henyard had been absent from the campaign trail for weeks until being spotted Tuesday.
On Monday night, Henyard was a no-show to a Thornton Township meeting she herself called. Yet Henyard had made herself seen and heard online lately making rap videos.
Tiffany Henyard's record of controversy
Henyard won the Dolton mayoral race in 2021 as a reform candidate.
In 2022, Henyard was the subject of a failed recall effort. Voters cast their ballots in favor of recalling Henyard in June of that year, but Henyard fought the referendum in court, and the Illinois Appellate Court threw out the recall votes.
This ruling resulted in Henyard breaking into her rendition of the 1979 disco hit "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" by McFadden & Whitehead. This happened at a village board meeting in October 2022.
But the trouble has persisted for Henyard. Her village hall has become the focus of an FBI probe.
Village trustees also brought in former Chicago Mayor Lightfoot, who found Henyard mismanaged finances through lavish spending while regularly avoiding questions about it.
"There was a concerted, systematic effort on behalf of Mayor Henyard and others in her administration to hide the true financial condition of the Village of Dolton from the trustees and from members of the public," Lightfoot said as she presented the findings of her investigation in January.
Controversy has dogged Henyard in her role as Thornton Township supervisor too. When a critic took the mic and used an expletive to describe her last month, fists flew and chaos broke out at the township board meeting — the first she had attended in a while.
Meanwhile, Henyard will not be on the April 1 ballot for reelection as Thornton Township supervisor, following a Democratic Party Caucus for the township in which Illinois state Sen. Napoleon Harris won the ballot spot.
Henyard filed a lawsuit over this decision, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge.
