[7] Burke aligned himself with Chicago mayor Jane Byrne, and was endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Central Committee.

[3][4] Burke ran at Byrne's urging, as she wanted to prevent Daley from becoming State's Attorney, since she saw him as a likely mayoral challenger in 1983.

[8] She raised questions of his mental state, accused him of being racist, and even succeeded in getting several ward committeemen to oppose Daley's candidacy.

[11] Due to her heavy-handed intervention in the campaign, many voters in the city and county viewed the race as a proxy-referendum on mayor Byrne, and cast votes for Daley in order to voice their disapproval of her mayoralty.

[8] These included an ad he ran early in the campaign which went as far as to accuse some of Daley's brothers-in-law of being connected to organized crime.

[8] With Byrne and some on the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee effectively supporting Carey over Daley, this argument was no longer persuasive.