5 Candidates Are Running For 25th Ward Alderperson. But Will The Current Alder Run?

PILSEN — Chicagoans have six months until it’s time to vote on who will lead each of the city’s 50 wards — but in the 25th, residents already have their work cut out for them.

Five candidates have announced they’re running to lead the ward, which covers Pilsen, University Village and a portion of Little Village. Notably absent from the list of contenders is the incumbent, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who has yet to say if he’ll run for reelection.

The election is Feb. 23. Petition circulation for candidates began Tuesday.

“I am passing petitions and talking with the people of the ward, and will make an announcement soon based on those conversations,” Sigcho-Lopez wrote Tuesday in a statement provided by a spokesperson.

The alderman had hoped he’d be running for Congress, having campaigned as an independent candidate in the 4th District race to replace Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García. But just last week, the state’s election authority ruled Sigcho-Lopez would not appear on the November ballot.

During that campaign, Sigcho-Lopez, who has led the 25th since 2019, refused to say if he would run for alderman again — though he also wouldn’t rule out a reelection campaign.

That created a rare opportunity for Chicago politicos: a potentially open race.

As of Tuesday, five candidates — Aida Flores, Nubia Batista Willman, Ian Watkins, Miguel Chacon and Leonardo Quintero — have announced their runs for the 25th Ward.

Emerging Campaigns

Most aldermanic races tend to see incumbents running for reelection, but when Sigcho-Lopez declared his run for Congress, he opened the field for more candidates to vie for the 25th Ward office, said Dick Simpson, a former alderman and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Even if Sigcho-Lopez had announced he was definitely running for another City Council term when he launched his bid for Congress, would-be challengers might have been tempted to run by seeing him tied up with a congressional campaign this fall.

“It meant that there was a better opportunity to be elected,” Simpson said.

At the same time, Sigcho-Lopez has become a somewhat controversial figure, drawing both strong support and opposition, which could fuel other contenders, Simpson said.

And Sigcho-Lopez has not always had the easiest path to victory: He was unsuccessful in challenging now-disgraced former Ald. Danny Solis in 2015. He ran again in 2019, winning in a runoff that made him the ward’s first new alderman in more than two decades. In the most recent election in 2023, he ran against Flores and narrowly beat her with about 52 percent of the vote to her roughly 47 percent.

Flores — a Pilsen educator, mother and third-time candidate for the ward — announced earlier this year that she’s running again, making the announcement just after Sigcho-Lopez kicked off his campaign for Congress. She is vying to build an inclusive, multigenerational ward, according to her campaign website.

In Flores’ first 100 days, she plans to “walk every block herself, and publish a public report card each quarter, sharing what she’s found and inviting feedback so the ward office keeps improving,” according to her website.

Another contender, Nubia Batista Willman, also launched her campaign last month. Batista Willman served as director of the city’s Office of New Americans and chief engagement officer under Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration.

Batista Willman is an immigration attorney, advocate and former public official with a history of advocating and providing legal aid to immigrants and domestic violence survivors, according to her campaign website. A Mexican immigrant, she found her place and home in Pilsen and Little Village, and she hopes to continue to provide opportunities like the ones she received for neighbors in these areas, she said.

“I’m running for 25th Ward alderman because it’s time for action, not talk,” she said in her launch video.

Chacon, who has lived in Pilsen for 20 years, said he is running because he is tired of “empty rhetoric” and not seeing changes in the neighborhood.

“I want the neighborhood to be better. I want better schools, better homes, more housing, affordable housing, and I want to create opportunities for families to actually be able to stay,” Chacon said.

Quintero, a Pilsen neighbor, organizer and member of the area’s police district council, was the most recent candidate to join the 25th Ward race. Quintero kicked off his campaign Saturday with a promise to build a ward “where every resident has a voice in decisions that impact their lives,” he said.

“I am running because I know firsthand what it feels like to be silenced, ignored and thrown away,” Quintero said.

Ian Watkins, a classically trained pianist and retired ballet dancer, has also announced a run for alderman, promising to build “a ward rooted in dignity, safety, opportunity, and compassion,” according to his campaign website. He also pledged to donate 10 percent of his salary as alderman into a private ward trust to fund “legal aid and emergency support for undocumented families and community members living in fear of ICE,” according to his website.

As of Tuesday, Batista Willman, Flores and Watkins had active or registered political committees with the state’s election authority, records show.

If Sigcho-Lopez decides to run, he would be competing against at least those four contenders, some of whom have strong ties to the neighborhood and experience in local government. Still, factors like name recognition, the ability to mount a precinct operation that can collect petition signatures in person and strong fundraising will be key for candidates to become viable challengers, Simpson said.

Candidates will have to make their case to voters on longstanding issues and hot topics for the ward, including development, gentrification, immigration and the impacts of immigration enforcement operations, Simpson said.