Scandal-ridden “Dolton Dictator” Mayor Tiffany Henyard is back on the ballot Tuesday night, confidently predicting a “landslide” despite ongoing accusations of mismanagement and corruption.
Henyard is seeking the Democratic nomination to run again in the Chicago suburb where she has been the self-styled “super mayor” for the past four years.
She is running against a former ally, Jason House, whose slogan is “clean house” — a play on his name as well as the scandals facing his rival in Tuesday’s primary.
Even so, Henyard expressed supreme confidence Tuesday, even as voters turning up to vote said the mayor had made the town “a joke.”
“Well, I see no competition, so when I come in with a landslide this evening, [it will] be so great,” Henyard confidently told Fox 32, blasting her campaign theme song, “We the People.”
“Y’all can all come to the after-party and we can talk about it.”
After becoming mayor of the village of roughly 20,000 residents in 2021 running as a reform candidate, Henyard’s tenure in office has been marred by accusations of mismanagement and corruption. Her city hall even became the focus of an FBI investigation.
Just last month, she allegedly got into a wild brawl at a board meeting in Thornton Township, where she also serves as supervisor, after her boyfriend was seen charging at a local activist who called her “bitch.”
Days earlier, she was found in contempt of court for allegedly stonewalling liquor licenses for months.
Dolton’s Board of Trustees hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to probe the city’s finances. After a lengthy investigation revealed that Henyard mismanaged city finances, which were already in shambles.
in April 2022, Dolton’s general fund balance was $5.61 million — but by May 2024, the balance had crumbled to $3.65 million.
“At least as early as late 2021, 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 while delivering the damning report.
The mayor’s conduct has outraged residents who have called for her to step down, but she’s refused.
Henyard had also survived a failed recall effort in 2022, which was tossed by the a judge after Henyard challenged the measure.
Those complaints were echoed at the ballot Tuesday, including from many whjo voted for the mayor in 2021.
“Everyone is just looking for a change right now,” one such former supporter, Thomas Shelton, told Fox 32. “So I just came out to do my duty, to vote, just to try to get that change.”
Another voter, Regan Lewis, said Henyard had made Dolton “kinda like a joke.”
“It’s embarrassing,” Lewis complained.
Hoping to unseat Henyard is her former ally House, who has been a Dolton trustee since 2017. He vowed to put an end to the reckless spending and negative national headlines that have plagued the village under Henyard’s leadership.
“We have seen four years of failure, and we cannot continue down this path,” he told NBC Chicago. “We want to make sure we can change the narrative and show people what this community is really made of.”
Tuesday night’s winner will face independent candidate Casundra Hopson in April. Polls close at 7 p.m.
Only 9.5% of registered voters cast a ballot in 2021 when Henyard won her first term, according to election records reviewed by CBS Chicago.
Henyard recently lost the Democratic nomination for Thornton Township supervisor, a position she’s held since 2022. She claimed she lost because of “voter suppression” and promised to fight back.
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