Longtime Darien Incumbent Faces Opponent
DARIEN, IL – Darien has one competitive City Council race in the April 1 election.
In Ward 1, Ted Schauer, the longtime incumbent, is facing John Mayrens. The candidate filing period ended Monday.
Schauer has served on the council since 2009. According to his LinkedIn page, Schauer works full time for JP Morgan Chase Bank as a private client banker. He has been unopposed for at least the last two elections.
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In an interview Tuesday evening, Mayrens, who lives on Hayenga Lane, said he was a blue-collar, union worker.
“I roll up my sleeves every day, get dirty. I’m a no-nonsense kind of guy,” he said.
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Three years ago, Mayrens said, he was speaking with neighbors who had an issue and took it to Schauer, but nothing got done. That experience, he said, inspired him to run for the council.
“In the course of collecting signatures for my petition, I ran across only three people who knew the alderman or met the alderman. Some of those I spoke with were 25- to 30-year residents of Darien,” said Mayrens, who has lived in Ward 1 since 2016.
He said becoming a candidate was not an easy process for political newcomers.
“I had to go through a lot of hoops, make a ton of phone calls and consult with attorneys. I can see why more people don’t run,” Mayrens said.
Ward 1 includes Q Bar, Cass Junior High School and Concord Elementary School.
Ward 3’s Joe Kenny, Ward 5’s Mary Sullivan and Ward 7’s Thomas Belczak are all running unopposed.
The mayor’s office isn’t up this cycle. Neither are the council seats held by Ward 2’s Ralph Stompanato, Ward 4’s Gerry Leganski and Ward 6’s Eric Gustafson.
In 2023, all three incumbents up for election faced opposition. Two were ousted – Lester Vaughan by Stompanato and Tom Chlystek by Leganski.
Other towns rarely see contests. Western Springs saw its last competitive race a couple of decades ago. In La Grange, the last competitive election for village president was in 2005.
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