I had no idea Doherty was running for State Senate, should be a good pickup opportunity. He can do so without risking his current gig. And could run for Mayor without risking his Senator status if he wins that but I also doubt he’d be interested.
He mostly votes with Daley on the council, like on the parking meter privatization, he’s taken heat for that.
Yes the last GOP Senator from Chicago was Walter Dudycz. In 2002 he retired and I guess his seat was essentially eliminated/rejiggered. The district of sole Chicago GOP House member Michael McAuliffe was 1 of the 2 in Dudycz’s seat, now it’s in the retiring rat De Leo’s seat. Or should I say retired rat. It appears he resigned and the rat nominee for the seat, John Mulroe, was appointed to replace him.
If there is a Hispanic mayor I hope it’s not my Congressman Luis Gutierrez. In my opinion he’s the most liberal member of the delegation and a jerkass.
Gery Chico has been mentioned. His wife is a Republican. A pity she hasn’t turned him from the dark side. So many liberal wives are terrible influences on their more conservative husbands, I’d love to see the reverse in effect.
As bad as Daley is it could and now probably will be worse.
For possible Republican candidates
Ron Gidwitz is from the city. He’s currently Chair of Bill Brady’s campaign.
Proft I think lives in the city.
John Cox, bad idea I’d say, he’d get 2% of the vote. And he’s still suburban afaik.
Too bad Mark Kirk isn’t from the city as many people seem to think (”He has to be liberal in his HEAVILY DEMOCRAT district.”). ;)
State Rep. Michael McAuliffe might be an even stronger choice for mayor. He, Doherty, and County Commissioner Silverti share the same office space and distingustion of being the "lone elected Chicago Republican" in their respective offices. McAuliffe represent's Doherty's ward in springfield, plus portions of three other wards that are majority RAT (unlike the 41st) and a tiny bit of suburbia. The RATs tried to eliminate during re-districting by putting him in the same district with Chicago's longest serving Dem Rep, Ralph Capperelli. (guess having 59 out of 60 Chicago districts wasn't enough for them, they wanted all 60). But McAuliffe handily beat Capperilli. He's about a 75% conservative guy. Little too cozy with big government spending and handouts to be the ideal guy, but far better than a RAT. He also has a "B" rating from the NRA in a city where everyone else has Ds and Fs
State Sen. Meeks is conservative on a handful of social issues (mainly abortion, traditional marriage, and school vouchers) but a hard-left marxist on everything else. I never trusted him since he's Jesse Jack@$$'s right hand man. Also, he put on the farce of being "Independent" of the two parties to get himself elected Senator, then quickly switched to the RAT party (and voted with them when needed on all major bills) once he had dispatched the official Democrat. Shades of a future Mark Kirk? Though I will have to begrugenly admit he's probably the most "conservative" Dem we could hope for as Mayor. Too bad the Mayor's office has very little influence on social issues like abortion.
I agree John Cox would probably earn about 2% of the vote citywide, even after throwing away several million on his campaign. Cox keeps coming in a distant last place and has proven he can't attract voters in election after election. I love Dan Proft, but I can't see him doing much better. His image is a GOP partisan pitbull. That's absolutely the worse style to have for a Chicago race. I'm not saying we need a Kirk style RINO, but a charmastic conservative who seems "above" party politics would probably fair the best in Chicago, where they react to the word "Republican" like Superman does to kyponite.
Gidwitz would be ideal -- solid resume, lots of money, right-of-center, well liked by both parties -- but the huge factor where he's lacking is personality. The guy has none. His candidacy puts people to sleep, that's why we came in last place in the 2006 GOP governor's primary despite having the most effective anti-Topinka ads and being acceptable to "moderates"
Now that I think about, the person most likely to get elected if he publicly came out as a Republican is none other than Mayor Daley's son. The guy is already a DINO who voted for Bush for President and not only supported the Iraq War, but enlisted to show his support (touche, Michael Moore). Of course the issue here is the fact that a Daley family would never, EVER switch his party affliation to Republican, especially the Mayor's son. They'd disown him. That's a crime worse than treason in Chicago's version of the Kennedy clan.
John Cox isn’t suburban. My P.R. company worked for his 2008 presidential campaign, so I know that his address is 53 W. Erie St., Chicago. I think that he would get 20%-25%. Since the race will have about five candidates, that could be enough to advance to the run-off.