Congress, 4th (D)
Both incumbent 4th District Congressional representative Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Alderman Raymond A. Lopez want immigration reform, gun reform, and improved healthcare access and affordability. As an incumbent Garcia has a record of accomplishment for the district. His New Way Forward Act would find a more humane immigration solution than prison and deportation, enact background checks and gun trafficking crackdowns, and improve healthcare and education. Garcia has been an effective and progressive Congressional representative, and while Lopez offers some good ideas, we do not agree with his position on immigration reform. There is no need to make a change here. Gazette Chicago endorses Jesus “Chuy” Garcia for another Congressional term.
Congress, 7th (D)
It is not often that so many candidates line up against an incumbent who is not the subject of scandal—unless that incumbent is 82 years old and his opponents are tired of waiting. Nikhil Bhatia, Kina Collins, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, and Kouri Marshall all have some good new ideas and policies they would like to bring to Congress. But incumbent Danny Davis has the record of accomplishment. He passed the Second Chance Act, which has helped former criminals re-integrate into the community, he supports Medicare for All and the Affordable Care Act, he understands that we need a balanced instead of punitive approach in dealing with migrants, and he continues the fight for student loan reduction despite the Supreme Court throwing a roadblock at those efforts. There is no need to switch from Davis, who has delivered for the district for more than a quarter century and remains sharp and in charge. In a strong field, Gazette Chicago endorses Danny K. Davis for 7th Congressional District representative in the Democratic primary.
Illinois Supreme Court, 1st (D)
The Illinois Supreme Court 1st District Democratic primary pits two candidates with great judicial experience against each other. Jesse Reyes is active in and has strong ties to this community as a longtime resident of Pilsen and Bridgeport and a graduate of the University of Illinois Chicago and its law school. Reyes is known for his commitment to diversity as well as identifying problems in the justice system¾and finding solutions to them¾and teaching, lecturing, and presenting to law students, lawyers, and judges. He has more than 20 years of experience as a judge. Reyes has received numerous awards for judicial excellence, including awards from the Chicago Bar Association, Arab American Bar Association, Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, Illinois Judges Association, and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois—showing that he is respected for superior achievement by a wide variety of diverse groups. Joy V. Cunningham currently sits on the Supreme Court through appointment. She would improve the court’s technology and understands that respect for the rule of law and the public’s understanding of civics are the foundation for the law working. It is a rare opportunity to be able to vote for someone for a statewide post who is not only from this community but who has a stellar record on the bench and in public service. Gazette Chicago strongly endorses Jesse G. Reyes for Illinois Supreme Court.
State Rep, 5th (D)
In the 5th State Rep District Democratic primary, while we like that Andre Smith is a candidate who has picked himself up by his bootstraps to achieve success, his position on immigration seems rather punitive. Incumbent Kimberly du Buclet’s is more balanced, as she knows Illinois must deal with the situation humanely and needs Federal help to do so. She also understands how to fight crime, the importance of healthcare availability for women, and the need for more equity in educational funding. Du Buclet has achieved a good record during her time in Springfield. Gazette Chicago endorses Kimberly du Buclet for another term as 5th District State Rep.
State Rep, 6th (D)
Sixth District State Rep Sonya Harper serves on some committees and subcommittees important to this area: energy and the environment, immigration and human rights, revenue and finance, and property tax. She leads the agriculture and conservation committee, a role giving her an understanding and a will to act in the fight against food deserts in this community. Harper has been proactive in the battle against gun violence through her bill, which calls for State analysis of firearm use. She is fighting against the loss of safety net hospitals in the district. Joseph Williams is a community activist. While we understand he prioritizes district residents over migrants, we feel the State must deal with the migrant issue as well and we recoil over candidates and others who hold a migrant position that sets up an “us versus them” situation. We like Williams’s his violence prevention ideas and his advocacy for reopening mental health centers in the district. Sonya Harper has both a strong understanding of and record of fighting district problems actively, and we endorse her for another term as 6th District State Rep in the Democratic primary.
State Rep, 24th (D)
Lai Ching Ng did not respond to Gazette Chicago’s repeated requests for an interview. Her website lists her campaign priorities as community involvement and transparency in migrant camp decisions, enhancing public safety, and addressing rising property taxes. Incumbent 24th District State Rep Theresa Mah has been a strong community advocate, working to get a new high school for the South Loop in a way that meets the needs of both the African American and Asian communities. She spends significant time in the community, even regularly attending community policing meetings. In her diverse district, she also is fighting for better language access to healthcare coverage for Latinos. Theresa Mah has been an involved, active, and caring State Rep who works hard to build bridges among diverse constituencies, and she receives a strong endorsement for 24th District State Rep in the Democratic primary.
State’s Attorney (D)
Kim Foxx’s tenure as state’s attorney has seen missteps and an increase in crime in Cook County. Ask the average citizen, and he or she likely will say fighting crime should be elected officials’ top priority—particularly the state’s attorney. So good riddance to Foxx.
Unfortunately, some of the same people who backed Foxx are backing Clayton Harris III, including the Cook County Democratic Party led by County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and the ever-increasing influence of the Chicago Teachers Union and Service Employees International Union. Harris is showing a dismaying lack of independence from the Foxx way of doing things, including little interest in charging thieves who steal less than $1,000 with a felony, even if they have done so multiple times. We do like his promise to focus on carjackings, gun crimes, and yes, retail theft. We just hope he will come to understand that it is important to public safety to follow the law and charge those who steal over $300 worth of goods with a felony. The public is in no mood for mere slaps on the wrists of criminals. We also like his idea of embedding state’s attorneys within the Chicago Police Department, improving cooperation between these two arms of law enforcement.
Former judge Eileen O’Neill Burke flat-out says the justice system is broken here and believes it will take someone with her level of experience to fix it. The state’s attorney’s office is very much understaffed, and O’Neill Burke would fill those vacancies with prosecutors who actually would fight crime, and she has a creative plan to recruit young lawyers who would gain valuable experience in the nation’s largest court system. She also would enforce gun laws on the books instead of seeking new ones—something for which both liberals and conservatives have been asking.
However, we are deeply concerned over some of the ultra right-wing individuals from whom the O’Neill Burke campaign has accepted campaign contributions. One individual has ties to NumbersUSA, which the Southern Poverty Law Center finds to promote bigotry. Another is a former prosecutor who used a torture-induced confession to prosecute a case. Several donors who typically fund far-right Republicans are contributing to her campaign. “Her donor list reads like a who’s who of the far right wing of this country,” said 26th Ward Alderman Jesse Fuentes.
We prefer Democrats and Republicans who say exactly who they are, not Republicans in Democrats’ clothing. And we certainly don’t need ultra right-wingers, who are causing enough trouble in other jurisdictions, becoming a force in Cook County—and certainly not in the justice system. We recently went through the whole charade of Paul Vallas running for mayor of Chicago on the Democratic ticket and look at what we learned about him after the election. If you don’t follow, read Vallas’s tirades in the Chicago Tribune or on the far-right website of the Illinois Policy Institute. In total transparency, Gazette Chicago endorsed Vallas and we deeply regret that error.
Unfortunately, neither candidate for state’s attorney is stellar, but we like many of Harris’s positions and find the views of some of O’Neill Burke’s backers quite frightening. Gazette Chicago endorses Clayton Harris III for state’s attorney, with the hope that he will show the independence that the public demands.