Alderman Daniel Solis was reelected Tuesday in a run-off contest against Cuahutemoc Morfin. Morfin and Ambrosio Medrano Jr. both earned over 20 percent in the Feb. 22 general election, forcing the incumbent to the run-off.

On Tuesday 7,209 ballots were cast in the 25th ward. 3,898 (54 percent) went to Solis and 3,303 (45.87 percent) went to Morfin.

In his concession speech at Manjares restaurant in Pilsen on Ashland, near Cermak, Morfin told supporters, "I congratulate Alderman Solis tonight. I urge him to take some lessons away from this runoff - that he needs to be more accessible to his constituents, that he needs to protect the health of the residents of the 25th Ward ahead of his own campaign coffers; that he needs to fight for the needs of the most vulnerable members of our community above all else."

Alderman Solis walked triumphantly into a packed Lalo's restaurant on Maxwell near, Halsted at 8:50pm. Television cameras, reporters and campaign workers, friends and other supporters greeted Solis as the theme to "Rocky" played over the sound system.

He shouted out the names of many of the neighborhoods within the 25th ward and declared, "I represent just about every ethnicity that there is in the city of Chicago," to cheers.

In a testament to the stiffer than expected test that his opponents in this year's election posed to him, Solis reiterated his new support for the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance. After opposing the proposed legislation that would require coal-fire power plants like the Fisk one in his ward to reduce their emissions of toxins like lead into the air during the general election, Solis said he supported it once forced into a runoff by Morfin, who supported the ordinance.

"On Feb. 22 I ...