Politics
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez Announces Independent Bid for Congress
Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) on Wednesday announced plans to run for Congress.
A member of the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Sigcho-Lopez is running as an independent vying for the seat of outgoing U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García in Illinois’ 4th Congressional District. To qualify for the November election, Sigcho-Lopez will need to collect 10,816 signatures by May 26.
García announced his retirement in November after the petition signature deadline, allowing only his chief of staff, Patty Garcia (no relation), to acquire enough signatures to run in the Democratic primary on March 17. She will be the only Democrat on the ballot.
“We’re not strangers to being outspent by big corporate PACs,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “I think that there is a desire to elect independent leadership that is unbought.”
Sigcho-Lopez is the third candidate to throw a proverbial hat in the ring, joining Patty Garcia and political organizer Mayra Macías, who is running as an independent.
Sigcho-Lopez said his vision for Congress includes tackling what he sees as the country’s most pressing problems, including the militarization of American cities and aggressive federal immigration enforcement.
He’s been a vocal critic of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling the system broken.
“We’ve been calling for abolishing ICE for years,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We cannot reform a system that now is recreating slave catchers. That’s why we see people running for terror. And we not only need to abolish ICE, we need to find accountability.”
Sigcho-Lopez also wants to take on “issues of affordability, rising cost of food and SNAP benefits being cut,” focusing on traditional kitchen-table issues.
“We see premiums of health care insurance going up drastically, leaving thousands of people without insurance,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We see people struggling to make ends meet, to pay for rent, pay for mortgages. We see an affordability crisis with a president who does not even know what affordability means.”
