Linda Hudson unsuccessfully ran for alderman in the 8^th Ward in 2019 and also ran unsuccessfully for 8^th Ward Democratic Committeeman in 2016. She was also one of the lead organizers of the campaign to get the Cook County Board of Commissioners to repeal the county’s sugary beverage tax, the “Can the Tax” Campaign. Hudson is the founder and president of the Eighth Ward Accountability Coalition and former president of the Avalon Park Advisory Council.  

Elected: 1999

A south side native, Anthony Beale joined the City Council as one of the youngest elected officials in 1999, successfully unseating the deep Shaw family political dynasty. Beale ran his first election on a campaign of reforming the ward, and has handily won five re-elections since.

His time as alderman has been defined by his goal to drive business growth in the economically struggling ward. He called the flow of new development into his ward a “renaissance,” with the spike of development in the new Pullman Historic District.

Beale worked closely with David Doig and the Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives when they partnered with Ryan Companies to construct the sprawling Pullman Crossings development, a massive industrial project along 1-94 that could host businesses like Whole Foods distribution centers.

Though Beale was close allies to former mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel, he has been one of Mayor Lori Lighfoot’s chief critics.

Cleopatra Draper is a Chicago-area radio personality who has hosted a show on WVON 1690 AM, who earned a communications degree from Eastern Illinois University as an undergraduate and who later obtained a master’s in social work from University of Illinois at Chicago. Draper is endorsed by United Working Families Illinois. Draper founded a nonprofit during the pandemic called Roses in Roseland which distributes essential household goods to residents and groceries to food pantries and senior homes.

Cameron Barnes, a former National Youth Director of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, says on his website he’s passionate about activism. Barnes earned a marketing degree from Central State University and serves as an associate minister at New Faith Missionary Baptist Church. Barnes also works as a resident services coordinator for Capital Realty Group, according to his LinkedIn.

Yessenia Carreón campaigned in 2019 to be 10th Ward alderman but a challenge to her nominating petitions got her kicked off the ballot. Carreón worked as a staffer in former 10th Ward Ald. John Pope’s office. She has also served on boards such as the Metropolitan Family Services Board, South Chicago Artist Coalition and South Chicago boards focused on seniors, health and housing. Carreón has worked to help put on summer festivals as chief operating officer of media company ONT.

A longtime environmental activist and lifelong Southeast resident, Oscar Sanchez made headlines in 2021 when he joined a group of Southeast siders in a hunger strike against Southside Recycling’s (then General Iron) proposed metal scrapping facility in his neighborhood. Sanchez launched his campaign on platform of “clean air, equitable education, walkable and accessible communities, affordable housing, sustainable and resilient workforce development and collective community safety,” he said in an interview with Block Club Chicago.

Ana Guajardo is the daughter of undocumented immigrants and co-founded the Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, an immigrant worker advocacy group, according to reporting from Block Club Chicago. Guajardo, running to replace retiring Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), has praised the outgoing alderman’s advocacy for working families. Guajardo secured the endorsement of mayoral candidate U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

Jessica Venegas is a police officer in Chicago and also works as a private practice attorney specializing in family law, immigration and real estate. Venegas founded a nonprofit called Tia and Gramma Organization which assists families and youth who lack resources.

Peter Chico is a Chicago Police officer currently serving in the 4th District, according to his campaign website. He is also a community representative on George Washington High School’s local school council.

Appointed to the City Council on Sept. 21, Ald. Timmy Knudsen made history as the 43^rd 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.

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.

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.

Brian Comer, president of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, was one of the applicants who sought to replace former 43^rd 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.

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.