43rd Ward - 2023 Aldermanic Race
Steve Botsford - 2023 Aldermanic Candidate
Steve Botsford is a former Notre Dame football player with a master’s degree in economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Wendi Taylor Nations - 2023 Aldermanic Candidate
A longtime public relations executive, Wendi Taylor Nations previously threw her hat into the ring for the 43rd Ward shortly after then-Ald. Michele Smith resigned from the City Council. Though she ultimately wasn’t appointed, Nations is in the running again to head the 43rd Ward. Nations has pointed to her PR qualifications, her role in launching Obamacare in Illinois and her work as a “board member of the DuSable Museum of Black History and volunteer for various food insecurity and animal rescue organizations” as qualifications for her bid for the seat, according to her campaign website. Nations has the endorsement of Smith.
Steven McClellan - 2023 Aldermanic Candidate
Steven McClellan is a community organizer who says on his website he has served multiple neighborhood associations, created the Ogden Park Safety Committee and assisted with improvement projects for local parks and playgrounds. McClellan says on his website he is serving his fourth term on the local school council at LaSalle Language Academy.
Rebecca Janowitz - 2023 Aldermanic Candidate
A longtime attorney, Rebecca Janowitz got her start in Chicago politics working for then-Ald. Toni Preckwinkle as her special assistant, where she “focused on constituent services, public safety, housing, education, economic development, traffic and infrastructure,” according to her campaign website. She later went on to work for Chicago Public Schools and more recently, the Cook County Judicial Advisory Council as the special assistant of legal affairs. While there, “[s]he helped oversee the distribution of millions of grant dollars to community organizations working in the areas of violence prevention, recidivism reduction and restorative justice,” according to her campaign website. Janowitz’s 2022 bid for the 43rd Ward seat isn’t her first. She ran for the seat in 2019 but she was handily defeated in the election and garnered only 4.8 percent of the vote.
Timmy Knudsen - 2023 Aldermanic Candidate
Appointed to the City Council on Sept. 21, Ald. Timmy Knudsen made history as the 43rd Ward’s first openly gay alderman. Prior to his appointment to the City Council, Knudsen worked as chair of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals. “As Chairman, he ensure[d] local residents, neighborhood groups and stakeholders of all kinds are fully heard and fairly represented,” according to his campaign website. “Navigating complex real estate projects and government agencies has equipped Knudsen to be an effective problem solver, which he will take to City Hall.”
Knudsen worked on Lori Lightfoot’s 2019 campaign for mayor under her campaign finance team and as a partner at Fairchild Morgan & Beres before joining the city council. “As I have throughout my legal career, my public service chairing the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals and my time as a grassroots organizer, I will be an advocate and consensus builder as alderman,” Knudsen said in an interview with Block Club Chicago .
“I bring a passion for private sector results to public service and am honored to have a new way to give back to the community I call home.” He’s strongly campaigned on his community engagement efforts in his bid for re-election and prominent LGBTQ community members have echoed the sentiment.
Brian Comer - 2023 Aldermanic Candidate
Brian Comer, president of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, was one of the applicants who sought to replace former 43rd Ward Ald. Michele Smith after she abruptly announced her retirement in the summer of 2022. Mayor Lori Lightfoot ultimately chose Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43) for the job. Comer works as a consultant assisting businesses and organizations in growing their reaches both nationally and internationally.
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