Politics

Anthony Quezada Confirmed as 35th Ward Alderperson by Chicago City Council

The Chicago City Council voted 32-11 on Monday to confirm Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada as 35th Ward alderperson, replacing former Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who is now the head of the Chicago Park District.

Quezada, 29, was immediately sworn into office as his family and friends flanked him.

“We need to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity,” Quezada said, vowing to make the 35th Ward a better place to live for all its residents.

Alds. Brian Hopkins, Anthony Beale, Desmon Yancy, Raymond Lopez, David Moore, Silvana Tabares, Felix Cardona, Gilbert Villegas, Brendan Reilly, Jim Gardiner and Debra Silverstein voted against Quezada’s appointment, an unprecedented show of defiance.

Much of the debate over Quezada’s confirmation focused on a 2014 post on social media in which he used an anti-Black racial slur. Quezada made the post when he was in high school and deleted it two years ago.

Quezada has apologized for the tweet, saying it “does not reflect my values or character,” and said he is meeting with caucus members about it.

While Ald. David Moore (18th Ward) said the more than decade-old post disqualified him from serving on the City Council, adding that he found his apology lacking.

“Please don’t spit in my face and tell me it’s raining,” Moore said. “And that’s how I felt about the apology.”

However, other alderpeople said they would not judge him on a social media post he made as a high school student.

Ald. Angela Clay (46th) said the City Council should use the controversy as a “teachable moment” and build bridges between Black Chicagoans and Latino Chicagoans.

“This word still carries intense trauma in the Black community,” said Clay, the youngest Black woman on the City Council.

Gardiner said he “wondered” whether he would be forgiven if he used an anti-Black slur. It was unclear whether Gardiner’s hypothetical was based on a slur that he used as a high school student, as an adult or as an elected member of the City Council.

In 2021, Gardiner apologized on the floor of the City Council for using “misogynistic, homophobic and obscene language” and verbally harassing another alderperson, a city staff member and his own constituents. He was reelected in 2023.

Quezada was one of six people to apply to replace Ramirez-Rosa, according to the mayor’s office. Only one other candidate, Daniel Tobon, submitted a complete application, records show.

Tobon called the selection of Quezada as Ramirez-Rosa’s replacement “transparently corrupt.”

A member of the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Quezada was elected in 2022 to represent the 8th District on the Cook County Board, making him the first gay Latino to serve as commissioner.

Quezada is also the 35th Ward’s Democratic committeeperson and worked as an aide to Ramirez-Rosa in the 35th Ward office for six and a half years

Quezada had the endorsement of United Neighbors of the 35th Ward, the political organization Ramirez-Rosa helped to found after his election to the City Council in 2015. Quezada was also the pick of the search committee formed by Johnson, which was led by Rules Committee Chair Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) and included Palenque LSNA Executive Director Juliet De Jesus Alejandre, Palenque LSNA Director of Equitable Community Development Christian Diaz, Logan Square Preservation President Stephen Andrew Schneider and Marcela Reales Visbal, the assistant director of DePaul University’s Center for Latino Research.

Now that Quezada has been confirmed by the City Council, he will have an advantage if he chooses to run for a full term in February 2027 to represent parts of Logan Square, Hermosa, Avondale, Irving Park and Albany Park on the City Council.

The 35th Ward seat is the first to become vacant since Johnson took office in 2023.

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

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