Illinois primary results highlight rising political power of Asian Americans

josina-morita-theresa-mah

By Jenny G. Zhang Tuesday’s primary election proved a big win for Asian Americans, as candidates Theresa Mah, Josina Morita, Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi won their respective races in Illinois. Mah and Morita made history by becoming, respectively, the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly and the first Asian American elected […]

Clem Balanoff takes his bike parade on the roads of Illinois for Sanders

Clem Balanoff with Chuy Garcia and Bernie Sanders

By Misha Euceph The first time Clem Balanoff did something political, he was 10 years old. He organized his group of fifth grade friends on streamer-decorated bicycles and the boys rode up and down the street between their houses on the Southeast side of Chicago and the polling place. He arranged the parade in support […]

Unlike Trump, Sanders’ Chicago rally gave peace a chance

Sanders Chicago

By Caroline Kenny Despite four-hour lines and thousands of supporters being turned away, the Bernie Sanders rally on Monday night was a much more peaceful event than a Donald Trump rally that shook Chicago on Friday night. Speaking at the Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre in the Loop just eight hours before polls opened, Sanders invoked […]

Protesters inside shut down Trump rally, ‘take back’ Chicago

By Aryn Braun Four days before Tuesday’s primary election, Chicago dumped Donald Trump. Instead of the Trump rally at UIC Pavilion going as planned Friday evening, thousands of protesters went undercover, posing as Trump supporters to gain entrance and blindsiding those thousands who were excited to see their candidate speak. ‘We have a large city […]

Board of Elections addresses Chinese voter issues

By Colin Mo By the tenth day of early voting for Illinois’ March 15 primary, the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community alerted Chinese voters to possible election irregularities that might compromise the community’s vote. The alert came as part of voter information guides the CBCAC distributes before each election. The alert mentioned irregularities […]

Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife in Evanston

Bill Clinton Evanston

By Caroline Kenny Former President Bill Clinton says experience makes his wife the best choice for the Democratic nomination for president. He cites the programs she enacted as First Lady and her job with the Children’s Defense Fund right out of law school as points on her presidential resume. In a speech to a full […]

Chicago’s homeless discouraged from voting in primaries

Garland Arnold

By Harry Huggins While Chicagoans line up next Tuesday to vote in the presidential primaries, those who suffer from policy and market failures will be on the streets and in shelters. In 2013, former Governor Pat Quinn signed the Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless, which includes the right to vote, register to vote […]

Iraq Veteran Challenges Established Congressman

By Patrick Martin “The district has a 15 percent unemployment rate, three times the national average, and I just didn’t think it was appropriate for the people of this district to have to accept the status quo for yet another two years,” said Thomas Day, an Iraq War veteran and candidate for Congress. Day is […]

Columbia College students use art to fuel activism, voting

By Sophie Zhang While voters across the nation cast Super Tuesday ballots, Columbia College Chicago students merged their artistic talent with political activism through a free poster giveaway depicting candidates in the 2016 presidential election. The Art + Activism student group provided potential young voters with detailed voting information and tries to persuade people to register to […]

Advocacy groups leverage growing Illinois Hispanic voting bloc

Naturalization Ceremony

By Hannah Rank The consistently growing population of Hispanics in Illinois, paired with an unprecedented number of eligible voters, have local activists involved in Hispanic outreach looking for ways to engage this voting bloc. “This is something we’ve been anticipating for a very long time,” Celina Villanueva, who runs voter engagement programming at the Illinois […]