Up To 5 Democratic Socialists Could Be Joining Chicago City Council

Five members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) found election success last Tuesday in Chicago and could join the city council in April.

Two candidates, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and Daniel La Spata, won aldermanic seats Tuesday night, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Three other candidates, Rosanna Rodriguez-Sanchez, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, and Andre Vazquez will proceed to runoffs to try and win their seats on the council.

“The oligarchs are shaking in their boots tonight,” Ramirez-Rosa said after winning re-election, according to the Times. “Our continued organizing and movement-building over the last four years is paying dividends. And it appears to be a total transformation of political power at City Hall from the bottom up.”

Ramirez-Rosa faced a challenge from nonpartisan candidate Amanda Yu Dieterich.

La Spata was the challenger in his race, taking out incumbent Ald. Proco “Joe” Morena in the 1st Ward.

Rodriguez-Sanchez was also a challenger, and will face incumbent Ald. Deb Mell from the 33rd Ward.

“Chicago had a way of doing politics, and I feel like that died tonight,” Rodríguez-Sánchez said at her post-election party. “I’m very very confident that I’m going to win” the runoff in April.

Sigcho-Lopez hopes to win the open seat in the 25th Ward vacated by Ald. Danny Solis, who retired. Sigcho-Lopez said it was the DSA that helped him get his chance to win the seat.

“DSA members were instrumental, and I’m thankful to the volunteers who spent hundreds — thousands — of hours campaigning,” Sigcho-Lopez said at his election party, according to the Times. “We’ve had a rubber-stamp City Council beholden to corporate interests, and that’s why the DSA candidates resonated with people.”

Finally, Vazquez faces incumbent Ald. Pat O’Connor in the 40th Ward, who has represented the Ward for 35 years and is now in charge of the city’s finance committee, taking over for Ald. Edward Burke, who was recently charged with trying to extort the owner of a Burger King (Burke also won re-election outright last Tuesday. Because, Chicago.)

DSA co-chair Lucie Macias told the Times that the organization “supports rent control and having an [sic] Chicago school board and opposes plans to build a new police academy in Garfield Park. Nationally, the group backs ‘Medicare for all.’”