2019 Chicago Voters' Guide

Candidate Statement

Hi, I’m Susana Mendoza and I’m running for mayor because the future of our city is at stake. I’m concerned about the next generation, not just the next four years. This is no time for a caretaker mayor or someone who represents the status quo.

I love this city -- it’s got a lot of challenges, but nothing we can’t overcome together. The issues that impact Chicagoans – violence, high property taxes, under-resourced schools – these aren’t just issues to me, they’re personal.

When I was 7 years old growing up in Little Village, there was a murder on my block and my parents thought the only way to protect us was to move us out of our neighborhood. No family should have to leave their neighborhood because they’re afraid of violence.

It wasn’t my choice to leave but it was my choice to come back to Little Village and try to make a difference.

My husband and I have a 6-year-old in kindergarten at our neighborhood CPS school in Portage Park. We’re going to be proud CPS parents for the next 13 years. So we have some major skin in the game in improving the public school system in the city.

That’s why I’ve proposed my 50NEW Initiative, which would take under-enrolled and underutilized schools and turn them into community hubs. This would create opportunity in neighborhoods that for too long have been left behind, and attack the root causes of violence.

It’s time we have a mayor who is from the neighborhoods, understands the neighborhoods, and puts our neighborhoods first.

The next mayor will have to tackle serious fiscal challenges without adding to the burden of already hard-pressed homeowners. As Comptroller, having successfully led the state through the worst fiscal crisis in its history while saving taxpayers billions, I feel well qualified to lead that effort.

My Future Now Plan starts with my vision to make our streets safer, improve schools in every neighborhood, create economic growth across the city, and lay out a fiscal path that moves away from taxing seniors and families who can least afford it.

Chicago is the greatest city in the world, and I hope you join me in shaping Chicago’s future, together.

Read my Future Now plan at susanamendoza.com. Let me know what you think because the future starts now.