Congressman Davis says no Hispanic candidate can win Chicago’s mayoral race


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U.S Rep. Danny Davis might not be in the running to become the black consensus candidate for the upcoming mayoral race, but he’s not pulling any punches when it comes to critiquing his potential rivals.

Davis says he doesn’t think any of the Hispanic candidates vying to become the next mayor of Chicago have the chops to cross the finish line. Those candidates include Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle, former Chicago City Colleges Board Chairman Gery Chico and Rev Wilfredo De Jesus.

While Davis praised del Valle and Chico for their civic service, the congressman says he doesn’t think they have the “political base from which to spring,” adding he believes both candidates are in the same tier as perennial candidate William “Dock” Walls.

“There are no Hispanic candidates who have the chance of winning,” Davis said Thursday. “Do you think Miguel has a chance of winning? Do you think Gery Chico has a chance of winning? Do you think I have a chance of winning the lottery?”

Attempts to reach del Valle, Chico and De Jesus late Thursday evening were unsuccessful.

Davis’ comments come as the Chicago Coalition for Mayor knocked his name out of the running to become the group’s black consensus candidate, though Davis says he doesn’t know if that’s actually the case.

The coalition, which includes members of the Chicago City Council’s Black Caucus and various community organizations, revealed on Thursday that the list of possible consensus candidates has been narrowed to former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers. That’s down from four candidates announced earlier this week that included Davis and state Sen. James Meeks.

Despite being read the press release from the coalition’s communications team revealing the latest development, Davis says he’s not sure if he actually has been eliminated because he continues to receive calls of encouragement from coalition members.

The Austin resident said he hasn’t been directly contacted by the coalition’s selection committee, which he says is supposed to vote on candidates. He also says he’s been hearing of the committee’s decisions “secondhand” from other coalition members.

“It does seem kind of strange,” he said. “I bet James Meeks doesn’t know anymore than I do.”

Davis says his decision to move forward without the coalition’s backing will hinge on how much support the consensus candidate can garner.

“I don’t know how much unity this will represent,” Davis says. “Suppose the coalition decides to support Larry Rogers, and Carol Moseley Braun runs and James Meeks runs. What does that say?”

While Davis is considering his next move, mayoral candidate and Chicago Urban Prep Academy founder Tim King is moving forward with his campaign even though he’s  out of the running to become the coalition’s consensus candidate.

King’s political consultant, Delmarie Cobb, says petitions will begin circulating this week. Cobb, whose clients include Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) and Freddrenna Lyle (6th), says the Chicago Coalition for Mayor is a “good effort,” but she doubts there will be a consensus black candidate.

“In a democracy, you let everyone run,” she says. “Let the voters decide.”

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6 thoughts on “Congressman Davis says no Hispanic candidate can win Chicago’s mayoral race

  1. What is he smoking? Anglos would sooner vote for a Hispanic candidate than a AA candidate any day of the week. Worse, the whole decision to reach a “consesnsus” candidate for the AA community was stupid- a lot of valuable time wasted.

  2. You guys don’t speak for me!

    I will vote for anybody that’s up against Rahm Emanuel ! In fact, most of you have been there too dang long. You all need to go! Don’t try to clear the field for Rahm.

    Down with Rahm Emanuel!

  3. What are YOU smoking and drinking, MDD?
    ANGLO S understand that “Hispanics” Chicano s are self serving, ANTI- ANGLO AND ANTI- AA, and don’t have the interest of anyone in mind other than serving the Spanish speaking, Bi-lingual- illiterate(speak Spanish but can’t read or write Spanish, aka majority of Spanish speaking population here in Chicago) population of Chicago, who happen to be running down the wages and standard of life for all Americans, and who are COMPLICIT in the illegal immigration problem this country faces. These facts are issues that ANGLO S and AA S are finding that they can and do agree upon. Nice try at race baiting, though.

  4. Yeah, the Irish have consistently dominated politics in Chicago and Harold Washington had a short but sweet tenure as the first black mayor of Chicago.

    So the Jewish community, awash in a city of Catholics (Polish, many hispanics, Irish, etc) wants to try to run one of the most effective politicians in the entire Democratic party from the past decade (if you look at his election W/L and the Dem takeover of congress in 2006), so yeah…down with Rahm Emmanuel…who wants a nationally recognized figure heading Chicago, drawing more high-profile attention (and all the tourist/investment/business dollars, not to mention political capital) to our city and perhaps moving the perception of Chicago politics a little further away from the corrupt, race-based politics that many perceive it to be.

    So yeah, down with Rahm Emmanuel. He is head and shoulders above the most qualified candidate, he represented a significant chunk of the near Northside of Chicago in Congress faithfully, and has been a decently effective Chief Of Staff. And he’s Jewish. You’re right, these other candidates are clearly much more qualified…

  5. Dear readers,

    There is a University of Illinois at Chicago student running for mayor. He was born and raised in Chicago. He has no political connections and he is not from a well connected or wealthy family. He is a sophomore but is twenty three years old.

  6. I think Chico would be a great candidate for mayor. Many of the white community would back him in a minute. Meeks should stay with his church and skip politics, Braun should not run because of her shady past trying to hide 25,000 plus dollars of her mothers nursing home care money (clean candidates only please) and danny davis doesn’t appear too energetic to run, he appears as if he could care less about chicago, he should run for Gary, Ind. they’re more laid back there.

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