Meeks Officially Jumps into Mayor Race

Senator James Meeks speaks to his supporters. John Konstantaras/Chicago News Cooperative

In a city where only one of 50 City Council members is a Republican, a former leader of the state GOP will be one of two campaign finance co-chairmen for mayoral hopeful James Meeks.

Meeks, a Democratic state senator from the South Side, officially declared Sunday night that he will run to succeed retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley in the Feb. 22 election.

Besides counting on support from his 20,000-member Salem Baptist Church, the minister from the Pullman neighborhood announced that ComEd CEO Frank Clark and former state Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna Jr. will lead his mayoral bid’s fundraising efforts.

McKenna introduced Meeks at the campaign kick-off event Sunday evening on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago.

McKenna’s support for Meeks stems from their shared views on school vouchers. Meeks, whose church has run a private school since 1990, is a rare Democrat who favors the concept of letting students use taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay tuition at private schools.

“Sen. Meeks is the leading voice for school vouchers,” McKenna said in a statement released by the Meeks campaign. “He is truly a leader fighting for children above and beyond politics or party.”

Meeks and McKenna authored an op-ed piece about school vouchers for the Chicago Tribune in April.

McKenna’s endorsement is not the first instance where Republicans have helped Meeks because of his support for vouchers. Meeks was one of the few Democrats who received campaign donations from Two Party System Inc., a political group formed this year primarily to help GOP state legislative candidates.

McKenna likely could have a bigger influence on Meeks’ campaign account than on many voters in the city. McKenna was a losing candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the February primary, garnering 19.3 percent of the vote to finish third in the seven-man field. He received less than 10,000 votes in Chicago.

On Sunday, Meeks said unemployment, crime and the city’s “underwater” budget are major issues facing Chicago’s next mayor. But he said the failure of the education system is the “most troubling” problem.

“I am running for mayor to unify the city so we can solve these problems together,” he said, according to the statement from his campaign.

Meeks’ formal announcement came on the eve of the opening of the filing period for the election. Candidates have until Nov. 22 to file nominating signatures to appear on the ballot.

A spokeswoman said City Clerk Miguel del Valle will file his nominating signatures on Monday morning.

Others who say they plan to file more than the requisite 12,500 valid voter signatures needed to run for mayor include former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, former city school board president and Daley chief of staff Gery Chico, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.