The race in the 36th — a teeter-totter-shaped ward drastically redrawn by City Council in a fit of political pique during last year’s ugly remap battle — pits two-term incumbent Ald. Gilbert Villegas against a leader of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Leonor “Lori” Torres Whitt sits on the CTU’s Executive Board and teaches Spanish at Monroe Elementary School. Political action committees associated with the union have contributed $150,000 to Torres Whitt’s campaign in direct funding, mailers, polling and other campaign help, according to state records.
Villegas has been helped by super PACs aligned with charter schools and some members of the business community. The Get Stuff Done PAC, an independent expenditure committee that can’t coordinate with candidates and is funded by allies of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the business community, reported spending roughly $60,000 to support Villegas or oppose Torres Whitt, campaign finance records show.
Villegas got 46.5% of the vote in the four-candidate first round, with Torres Whitt getting 30%.
The Chicago Teachers Union PAC has spent $70,285 on mailers backing Torres Whitt, according to the campaign finance records.
Torres Whitt has argued she is better positioned than Villegas to represent the redrawn ward, which slants southeast from the Far Northwest Side’s Dunning neighborhood down Grand Avenue all the way to the West Town area. She pledged to push for more investments to keep kids off the streets if elected.
Villegas, chair of City Council’s Latino Caucus, has highlighted the creation of the city’s guaranteed income program as a key accomplishment and said if reelected, he would continue his commitment to “funding police at the proper levels.”
