Alex Seith

Prior to running for the Senate, Seith's political career had been limited to appointed positions, including service on a regional sanitary district board and, most notably, the Cook County Zoning Board of Appeals.{{cite journal|author=Staff Report |editor-last=Gherardini |editor-first=Caroline |title=Alex R. Seith wants to be U.S. senator |journal=Illinois Issues |volume=3 |number=12 |pages=12-13 |date=December 1977 |publisher= Sangamon State University |access-date=June 17, 2024|url=https://www.lib.niu.edu/1977/ii771212.html |via=Illinois Periodicals Online (IPO) at the Northern Illinois University Libraries| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728191203/https://www.lib.niu.edu/1977/ii771212.html |archive-date=July 28, 2012}} Though at heart a mainstream member of the Democratic Party, with associated positions on most issues, Seith's campaign emphasized his hard line positions in foreign policy. Percy managed to salvage his office by means of a televised mea culpa in the final week of the campaign, but Seith's campaign may have been dealt a blow some days earlier, when popular Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mike Royko informed readers that Seith had served as a character witness in the trial of a mob figure some years earlier.{{cite journal|last=Littlewood |first=Tom |title=Polls and politics? The Percy-Seith race |journal=Illinois Issues |publisher= Sangamon State University |volume=4 |number=2 |pages=32-22 |date=February 1979 |access-date=June 17, 2024 |url=https://www.lib.niu.edu/1979/ii790232.html |via=Illinois Periodicals Online (IPO) at the Northern Illinois University Libraries |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728191208/http://www.lib.niu.edu/1979/ii790232.html |archive-date=July 28, 2012}}

Seith unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Illinois' other U.S. Senate seat in 1980, but was defeated by Illinois Secretary of State Alan J. Dixon, who went on to win the general election.{{cite web |title=OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the GENERAL PRIMARY ELECTION MARCH 18, 1980 |url=https://www.elections.il.gov/DocDisplay.aspx?doc=Downloads/ElectionOperations/VoteTotals/Archived/1980/1980%20PE.PDF |website=www.elections.il.gov |publisher=Illinois State Board of Elections |accessdate=24 June 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web |title=OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1980 |url=https://www.elections.il.gov/DocDisplay.aspx?doc=Downloads/ElectionOperations/VoteTotals/Archived/1980/1980%20GE.PDF |website=www.elections.il.gov |publisher=Illinois State Board of Elections |accessdate=24 June 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Seith unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 1984,{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}} but was defeated by Congressman Paul Simon, who went on to narrowly defeat Percy in the general election.

Seith later went on to co-own a number of radio stations with Thom Serafin, including WSDR/WSSQ in Sterling, Illinois. They also owned the Illinois News Network, a statewide radio network.

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s he provided on air commentaries for WLS (Channel 7) television in Chicago, the ABC network affiliate.

In his later life, Seith lived and worked in Chicago, where he was an attorney and lobbyist, specializing in real-estate law.

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Category:1934 births

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:People from Cook County, Illinois

Category:Illinois Democrats

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