It’s no secret that the City of Chicago intentionally schedules its elections a mere three months after the Midterm Elections in order to protect incumbents, keep voter turnout low, and prevent grassroots organizations like ours being able to rest from the Midterms and properly prepare for the Municipals. But this time is going to be different! We don’t need rest. We’re always prepared. We’re ready for the fight.
For the first time, the Center for Racial and Gender Equity is running its own members as a part of a slate of candidates for municipal offices in the city of Chicago.
Our members are directly impacted by the intersections of violent racialization, lack of resources and over-criminalization impacting Black communities.
Our slate of candidates are dedicated to advancing a radical vision for liberation through leadership development and political engagement. They have committed to introducing and publicly supporting policies that will:
Reinvest a significant portion of the police budget into alternatives to policing and other safety net programs that keep our communities safe.
Create a publicly funded campaign finance program where candidates running for municipal office will receive matching funds for every dollar they raise.
Change the city charter to allow for residents to initiate binding referendums that can be placed on the municipal ballot.
During the primary election, we rose to the urgency of the moment by launching our most ambitious voter mobilization campaign to date in order to protect our fundamental rights, Black & Brown communities and our democracy as a whole. We won that fight. Now we are ensuring candidates who share our values are elected to office to protect the progress we have made.
At this time, we are not endorsing a candidate for mayor. While there are numerous folks running for mayor that are drawing support from community members and allies across the city, our expectation is that a candidate will emerge that everyone can coalesce around to ensure that Mayor Lori Lightfoot is not reelected to office.
We are prioritizing Aldermanic and ECPS District Council races in order to have the biggest impact possible. Our goal is to knock on 30,000 doors and advance a narrative around public safety that promotes alternatives to policing and reinvesting public safety dollars into programs that actually keep us safe.
Our bold groundbreaking slate of endorsed members represent nothing short of our commitment to advancing a radical vision for racial justice, equity and liberation.
We are proud to announce our slate of endorsed candidates for Chicago's 2023 municipal election.
Krystal Peters for 6th Police District Council
We believe it is time to have OUR OWN in office and at the decision making tables!
There is no better time than NOW to roll up your sleeves and get involved. We need people like you to get active and ensure that candidates committed to racial justice and preserving democracy are elected.
Join our Civic Engagement Program to help us get a seat at the table. The time is now! This program is how CRGE builds the support to elect people to office that will fight for OUR communities.