For Immediate Release: 6:30 AM, Thursday, November 15, 2018
Contact: Kristi Sanford 773-456-4024 or kristi@thepeopleslobbyusa.org
CHICAGO, IL — Reclaim Chicago announces their endorsement of five young candidates of color at a press conference at 10 am on Thursday, November 15 outside city hall chambers, 121 N LaSalle St, 2nd floor:
Colin Bird-Martinez, 31st Ward
Rossana Rodriguez, 33rd Ward
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th Ward
Andre Vasquez, 40th Ward
Maria Hadden, 49th Ward
Chicago is a city in crisis. People of color are segregated in neighborhoods without good jobs, schools or city services and suffer from violence that is a consequence of exclusion and exploitation. Poor and working people of all backgrounds are being pushed out of the city and are suffering from lack of investment in education, infrastructure and services. To create a safe, healthy and equitable Chicago for everyone, people rooted in the neighborhoods need to have political power in city hall. Reclaim Chicago is endorsing candidates who demonstrate viability through strong grassroots support, understand the depth of crises facing Chicago’s neighborhoods and are committed to putting the needs of constituents before the needs of the donor class that typically fund elections.
“I’m running for alderman because city government is failing our people”, says Colin Bird-Martinez running to unseat an Emmanuel ally in the 31st Ward. “I have talked to single mothers who can’t go back to work because preschool is not free, to young people who dropped out of community college because it’s too expensive, to people whose employers are stealing their wages and to parents who are worried sick about their children’s schools closing. It’s time for city council to fight for what our communities need, rather than what the donor class wants. I’m proud to be a part of this slate of candidates leading that fight.”
Reclaim Chicago has a strong membership base throughout Chicago, including on the north and northwest sides. Reclaim Chicago’s members are eager to get young and first time voters to the polls. “Chicago’s neighborhoods are in crisis, but in this election young progressives have an historic opportunity transform city council from a rubber stamp for the millionaires and billionaires who buy mayoral elections to a body that fights for what our neighborhoods need,” says Robert Peters, Political Director of Reclaim Chicago. “Energy across the city is high, and Reclaim Chicago has a plan to turnout the record number of young voters who showed up in the midterms to support a bold vision by a new generation of Chicago leaders.”
“I’m a son of Guatemalan immigrants whose family was priced out of five neighborhoods. I went to four Chicago Public Schools and became a battle rapper for a while. I worked retail and management for most of my life. Those things don’t typically add up to elected office in America”, says Andre Vasquez, running to unseat Emanuel’s floor leader in the 40th Ward. “But I can’t rest easy unless I know I’ve done everything I can to make the city that raised me better. Those in office now have failed us. I’m running against a 35-year incumbent who first ran for alderman to be part of the Vrdolyak 29 that stopped the city’s first black mayor from investing in Chicago’s black and brown communities.”
Reclaim Chicago’s powerhouse, door-to-door, volunteer-led canvass played a key role in the election of State Senator Ram Villivalam in 2018 and the the initial election and reelection of several progressive state senators and representatives, including Will Guzzardi, Christian Mitchell, Theresa Mah and Omar Aquino. Reclaim Chicago also dialed and door knocked 300,000 voters about our 2016 endorsement of Kim Foxx for Cook County State’s Attorney played key roles in the 2015 election of Alderman Carlos Rosa and the reelection several progressive caucus members, including John Arena.