CHICAGO — Leaders in Chicago’s Chinatown and beyond clamored Tuesday for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to appoint an Asian-American successor to 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, whose federal tax fraud conviction this week could pave the way for the Near South Side enclave to have its first City Hall representative of Asian descent.
The day after Thompson was found guilty, state and local politicians as well as community leaders expressed that Asian Americans in the 11th Ward deserve a City Council representative from their community. They cited the likelihood of that region being remapped into Chicago’s first Asian-majority ward, as well as 2020 U.S. Census figures showing Asian Americans as the fastest-growing racial group in Chicago.
“Given the certainty that we will have a majority Asian-American ward through the remap, I think that it makes sense for the mayor to appoint somebody from the Asian-American community,” said state Rep. Theresa Mah, a Democrat who represents Chinatown and is believed to be the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly, in 2016.
The possibility of the 11th Ward being redrawn to represent mostly Asian Americans hinges on the increasingly acrimonious fight over the decennial remapping process, but it is also a rare point on which the main blocs generally agree.
Both the council’s Black and Latino caucuses have for months been on the record supporting the idea of adjusting the boundaries to include more of the Chinatown neighborhood, thereby turning it into the city’s first majority-Asian ward.
That was over the objections of Thompson, who was immediately ousted from his seat following Monday’s felony conviction. Lightfoot now has 60 days to appoint a replacement for the rest of his term ending in 2023.
In a Monday statement following Thompson’s guilty verdict, the mayor said, “This week, we will be outlining an open and transparent process to fill the vacancy with a qualified public servant that represents the values of the residents of the 11th Ward and the City of Chicago.”
While Black and Latino aldermen have squabbled over the particulars of the proposed Asian-majority ward, backing the idea allows both groups to acknowledge Chicago’s explosive Asian population growth and bolster their argument that their citywide map proposal best reflects demographic trends.
In the wake of Thompson’s Monday conviction, Latino Caucus Chair Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, released a statement calling on Lightfoot to select a nominee of Asian descent to finish the deposed alderman’s term, which runs until early 2023.
Political wisdom has it that an incumbent alderman enjoys an advantage over challengers, so if the mayor’s selection decides to run for a full term, that person could have a leg up in the 2023 race.
“(Lightfoot) can commit right now to the principles of representation and fairness by immediately appointing an Asian-American alderperson to fill the 11th Ward vacancy,” Villegas’ statement reads in part. “This will finally give Chicago’s growing Asian-American population true representation in City Hall, in line with the City’s first Asian-majority ward included in the proposed Coalition Map.”
Villegas added in a Tuesday interview: “I look at the creation of the wards as opportunities, and I want to be part of creating an opportunity. … Instead of waiting for a referendum, the mayor’s selection is a great first step to acknowledging this fast-growing population.”
The new map could be determined by a referendum on the June primary ballot if aldermen cannot agree on new ward boundaries by then.
Black Caucus Chair Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, said the mayor should pick someone prepared to start meeting the needs of constituents immediately but stopped short of saying someone of a particular background must be the one to do that.
“I think it’s the mayor’s responsibility to select a person who’s qualified to serve the people of the 11th Ward as it exists today,” Ervin said. “It’s up to us on the council to ratify the mayor’s pick, so I’ll wait to see who she appoints, and evaluate that person on those criteria. In the future, it’s up to the voters of that ward to make that choice.”
Asian Americans, whose share of the city’s residents increased by 31% over the last decade, currently have no representation in City Council. In all of Chicago’s history there has only been one Asian American alderman: Ameya Pawar, who represented the majority-white North Side 47th Ward for two terms.
Should Lightfoot heed the calls for an Asian-American alderman in the 11th Ward, she will have to contend with the political diversity of that demographic. On a national level, most of Chicago’s Chinatown supported Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, but Donald Trump’s share of the vote increased significantly over 2016 in several precincts, according to records from the Chicago Board of Elections.
Although most Asian Americans in Chinatown and Bridgeport are of Chinese descent, they have varying regional backgrounds that come with their own dialects, said C.W. Chan, founder of Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. His organization is trying to gather the community’s wide-ranging opinions before rallying behind an Asian American candidate for Lightfoot to appoint, he said.
“We have a very diversified community,” Chan said. “We are still trying to listen to different people to come to some kind of consensus in the community.”
The top issue uniting Asian Americans in Chinatown and Bridgeport remains crime, followed by education and affordable housing, said Grace Chan McKibben, executive director of CBCAC. She stressed that to these residents, credentials matter just as much as race.
“We do want to have an Asian American voice representing that ward,” Chan McKibben said. “There are many qualified and experienced Asian American candidates that should be considered, and certainly we’ll be making some recommendations when the time is right.”
Chan McKibben said Thompson’s ejection is an opportunity to improve aldermanic-community relations. She said while he did have Chinese American staff and was present in the community, she felt he could have been responsive and in tune with his ward’s growing diversity.
One point of contention was what Chan McKibben described as a lack of community engagement when corporations arrive with development plans, such as the pitch from a helicopter company seeking to bring a fleet of choppers and a heliport to Bridgeport, she said.
“There are folks that have not been helped,” Chan McKibben said. “We certainly would like the next alderman to be even more in tune with the Chinese American community and be able to not only come to events but understand the concerns.”
This may not be the last the 11th Ward hears of the Daley family, as Cook County Commissioner John Daley serves as the ward’s Democratic Party committeeman and may attempt to exert some influence over Lightfoot’s selection process. Daley is the brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley; Thompson is their nephew.
John Daley could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
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(The Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Pratt contributed to this report.)
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