Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th Ward) appears on "Chicago Tonight" on May 19, 2022. (WTTW)

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th Ward) abruptly dropped his bid for a fourth term representing Humboldt Park, joining an unprecedented exodus from the Chicago City Council less than two months before Election Day.

Maldonado, 71, has represented Chicago’s 26th Ward since July 2009, when he was appointed by former Mayor Richard M. Daley to replace former Ald. Billy Ocasio. Maldonado joined the City Council after serving as a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners for 15 years.

After filing a withdrawal notice with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners late Friday, Maldonado posted a lengthy letter to his website on Saturday recounting his political career and announcing his decision not to seek a fourth four-year term in office.

Although Maldonado said he had not made the decision to drop his reelection bid “lightly,” he did not explain why he changed his mind after launching a campaign and qualifying for the Feb. 28 ballot.

“Now is the time to leave public life after 28 years, pleased of our accomplishments and legacy and full of excitement to be able to dedicate even more time to my three children,” Maldonado wrote.

Democratic Committeeperson Angee Gonzalez Rodriguez and former radio DJ Julian Perez are running to represent the 26th Ward, with three other candidates — Jessica “Jessie” Fuentes, Kirk Ortiz and Anthony Rivera — facing petition challenges that election officials have not decided.

Maldonado said he had promised his wife, Nancy, who died in 2015 from cancer, that he would not run for re-election in 2019.

But Maldonado said he decided to run four years ago with the “clear understanding that, had I not run for re-election in 2019, our efforts and struggles fighting gentrification and displacement would have dissipated and, I know, we would not be here today proclaiming we have slowed down, and soon will stop, gentrification for years to come.”

Maldonado spent much of his final term in office fighting gentrification along the 606 Trail, where dozens of affordable multifamily homes were demolished and replaced with single-family homes that longtime residents could not afford.

A former chair of the City Council’s Latino Caucus, Maldonado wrote that he was confident his efforts had been successful, and efforts were on track to achieve his goal of preventing “gentrification and displacement of the people who built this great 26th Ward community.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised Maldonado for his “passionate leadership” and lauded what she called in a statement his “fierce advocacy for more affordable housing and push for anti-gentrification legislation to protect his constituents from displacement.”

Maldonado also played a key role in efforts to craft a new ward map based on the 2020 census that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade. Maldonado was the only Latino member of the City Council to back the map crafted by the City Council’s Black Caucus, which created 16 wards with a majority of Black voters, one ward with a plurality of Black voters and 14 wards with a majority of Latino voters.

The Latino Caucus supported a map that created 15 wards with a majority of Latino voters, which the caucus said was needed to fairly represent Chicago’s growing Latino population.

After a deal brokered by members of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus, the map backed by the Black Caucus was approved by a 41-7 vote.

Maldonado is one of five members of the current City Council appointed by Daley. His decision to retire leaves Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward), appointed in 2006, and Ald. Emma Mitts (37th Ward), appointed in 2000, as the only two Daley appointees seeking re-election.

Indicted Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward), who was appointed by Daley in 1994, and Ald. Tom Tunney (44th Ward), who was appointed by Daley in 2002, are also not seeking re-election.

Along with Austin, Tunney and Maldonado, Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward), Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th Ward), Ald. Howard Brookins (21st Ward), Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th Ward), Ald. Harry Osterman (48th Ward), Ald. James Cappleman (46th Ward) and Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) are not running for re-election.

Ald. Sophia King (4th Ward) and Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th Ward) are running for mayor.

In the past year, four City Council members were replaced: former Alds. Michael Scott (24th Ward), Michele Smith (43rd Ward), George Cardenas (12th Ward) and Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward).

Now a member of the Chicago Board of Education, Scott resigned to take a job with a West Side movie studio, while Smith stepped down to take care of family members and Cardenas is now a member of the Cook County Board of Review. Daley Thompson was removed from the City Council after being convicted of lying to federal agents and filing false tax returns.

All four of Lightfoot’s appointees are seeking full terms in office.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]