This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling.(October 2023) |
Amara Enyia | |
---|---|
Born | Amarachuku C. Enyia 1982or1983(age 41–42) [1] Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Education | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BS, MEd, JD, PhD) |
Occupations |
|
Website | amaraenyia.com |
Amarachuku C. Enyia [2] is an American strategist, politician, community organizer, and municipal consultant. She is the policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives; the chairwoman of the International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; and a senior advisor to the Institute On Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. She has also worked as the director of Chicago's Austin Chamber of Commerce; the interim village manager of University Park, Illinois; and chief executive officer of ACE Municipal Partners, a municipal consulting firm. Enyia was a candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2015 and 2019, receiving 8% of the vote in the first round of the latter election.
Enyia is regarded to be a political progressive. [3]
Enyia's parents were born in Nigeria and migrated to the United States in the 1970s. [1] She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in University Park, Illinois, where she attended Crete-Monee High School. [4] [1] Her father was a professor at Governors State University. [5] She attended graduate school and law school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received a Master of Education in 2008, a J.D. in 2009, and a PhD in Educational Policy Studies in 2010. [1] [6] At the University of Illinois, Enyia worked as a reporter, development editor and editor-in-chief for Illini Media. [7]
Enyia worked in the policy department of the Chicago mayor's office from 2009 until the end of Mayor Richard M. Daley's term in May 2011. [1] [4] In this fellowship she worked on a variety of matters, including ones related to transportation and ecumenic development. [8]
After her fellowship in Daley's office, she worked as a community organizer in Chicago's West Side. In April 2011, she was hired as the executive director of Austin Coming Together, an umbrella organization that promotes coordination and collaboration between community and nonprofit organizations in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. [9] [4] [10] She spent roughly a year in this position. [8] During her time as executive director of Austin Coming Together, she was also part of the Community Action Councils, which assisted the Chicago Public Schools to develop an educational strategy in the city's communities. [11] She also founded ACE Municipal Partners, a consulting firm that works with municipal officials. [4] In 2013, Enyia began working as the director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. [12] She held this position until 2019, when she stepped down amid her second campaign for mayor of Chicago. [13] Enyia also blogged about local government affairs under the pseudonym "The Municipal Maven." [8] [14]
Having aborted a campaign for mayor of Chicago months earlier, in September 2015, Enyia formed an exploratory committee to look at launching a possible primary election challenge to longtime incumbent Democratic congressman Danny Davis in 2016. [15] [16] In November 2015, she announced that would not challenge Davis and that she would instead partner with Davis to establish a new youth initiative called the "Bridge program". This program partnered local youth with elected officials and community stakeholders with expertise, [17] with the aim of increasing youth engagement in political organizing. In late-2015, the initiative was launched in the Austin neighborhood. [18]
Enyia was one of eight co-authors of the 2016 book Chicago Isn't Broke: Funding the City We Deserve, the main author of which was former Chicago alderman Dick Simpson. [19] Enyia also worked as a policy director for the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. [20]
In May 2017, Enyia took a job as the interim village manager of University Park, Illinois. [21] Her brief tenure as interim village manager was later reported to have been troublesome, with a dispute taking place between her and the village surrounding what her salary should be, and some village trustees criticizing her during her tenure for doing what they regarded to be an insufficient amount of work. [21] [22] The village's mayor Vivian Covington praised the value of Enyia's legal expertise, despite critics in the village arguing it was limited in value by the fact she was not a practicing attorney. [21] In August 2017, her tenure ended. [21]
In September 2017, Enyia began consulting work for Kids First Chicago, a significant school choice advocacy group. [23] This came despite Enyia's stated political opposition to charter schools. [23] Enyia worked as a consultant on Chris Kennedy's 2018 Illinois gubernatorial campaign. [22] Enyia founded of the Institute for Cooperative Economics and Economic Innovation social lab in 2018, for which she partnered with the organization Blue1647. [24] [23] [25] However, the social lab never advanced beyond a nascent stage before Enyia abandoned it to pursue her second campaign for mayor, [24] at which time she also left her role as director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. [13]
In 2019, after her mayoral campaign, Enyia joined the board of directors of the Chicago Community Loan Fund. [26] [27] By 2021, Enyia had begun serving as the policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives. [7] [28] Enyia also has served chairwoman of the International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. [29] [30] She also has served as a strategist for the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing (GCRH). [31] Enyia also worked as a leader in residence at the Atlantic Institute. [7] Enyia is a senior advisor to the Institute On Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. [32]
Amid the 2020 George Floyd protests and coinciding civil unrest, Enyia helped organize local organizations and block clubs to protect local businesses in the Austin neighborhoods from vandalism and looting. [33] She also penned an op-ed for Injustice Watch arguing that Chicago should "defund" its police department. [34] In March 2021, Enyia gave her endorsement to an ordinance introduced by Byron Sigcho-Lopez that would see the city of Chicago spend $180 million in federal stimulus funding on creating new sites to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and increase the staffing at the city's health department. [35]
Enyia announced her candidacy for the 2015 mayoral election on February 25, 2015. [14] [36] Alongside Robert Shaw, who announced the same day, she was one of the first two candidates to announce that they were going to challenge incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel. [14] [37] Enyia planned to run a grassroots campaign operation. [14]
Enyia's campaign failed to register in preference polls, and as a candidate she didn't disclose many specific plans. [38] She withdrew from the race on December 9, 2014 [39] and endorsed Bob Fioretti the next day. [40] Enyia dropped-out due to the fact that her candidature petitions were being challenged and her campaign lacked the resources to fight such a challenge. [37] [39] [41]
On August 28, 2018, Enyia announced that she would once again run for Chicago mayor in the 2019 election at a campaign launch event in the Bridgeport neighborhood. [42] [43] [44] Enyia expressed support for police reform, increasing budget transparency, investment in neighborhood development projects, and proposed the creation of a public bank and the use of Community Benefits Agreements for large development projects. [45] [46] Politically, Enyia described herself as an independent Democrat. [47]
On October 16, 2018, she was endorsed by Chance the Rapper, [48] garnering significant attention for her campaign in local media [49] [46] [50] and national media. [51] Chance later donated $400,000 to her campaign. [52]
On December 12, her campaign saw a high-profile departure, with her communications director quitting citing "troubling factors". [53] Enyia replaced her departing communications director with Camonghne Felix. [54] Some ultimately characterized Enyia's campaign as disorganized. [55]
On January 31, Dorothy Brown, whose own candidacy had ended after she was removed from the ballot due to issues with her petition, endorsed Enyia. [56] [57] Enyia embraced this endorsement, and praised Brown. [56] [57] There was speculation as to whether this endorsement would be of assistance or detriment to Enyia's candidacy. It was speculated that it might have helped Enyia by introducing her to Brown's base of support (which tended to be older African American churchgoing women), and might have elevated her to be considered more of a tip-tier candidate. [58] It was also speculated that it could have harmed her candidacy, as Brown was a longtime officeholder with significant ethics concerns, which could have undermined Enyia's efforts to present herself as an outsider candidate seeking to upend political corruption. [57] [58]
Due to her 2015 campaign not filing quarterly finance reports after it was suspended, she accrued $73,540 in debt that would have to be paid for her to appear on the 2019 ballot. [59] On October 22, 2018, Kanye West made a contribution of that exact amount to Enyia's campaign. [59] [60] The campaign released a statement that its debt to the Illinois State Board of Elections had been paid in full and thanking West for his "generous action". [60]
Enyia's campaign focused much of its efforts on the youth vote. [61] One of her efforts was a February 11 "Party to the Polls", which Enyia described as a key part of her strategy aimed at engaging college students. The rally bussed college students from seventeen Chicago-area campuses to the Richard J. Daley Center for a rally followed by early voting. It went poorly. Despite having been advertised to appear, Chance the Rapper backed out the day of the rally. Despite heavy advance advertising of the event on college campuses, only roughly forty people showed up to the rally. [62] [63] Ultimately, youth turnout in the election was low. [64]
As press coverage of Enyia increased towards February, the increased scrutiny included some bad press. At the start of February the Chicago Tribune reported that in 2018, Enyia had failed to report a third of her income, including the $21,000 she received or her work on Chris Kennedy's gubernatorial campaign. [24] In mid-February, the Tribune reported that Enyia had allegedly failed to pay a former campaign spokesperson $24,000 for four-month of work. [65] Additionally, Enyia's campaign website was criticized for claims on her website and in past media appearances that she was an Ironman competitor, despite never having competed in an Ironman-branded event. [66]
In the preliminary election on February 26, 2019, Enyia placed sixth in a field of fourteen candidates, winning about 8% of the vote. [67]
Enyia opted against endorsing either Lori Lightfoot or Toni Preckwinkle in the runoff, arguing that neither of the two candidates were truly "progressive". [68]
In July 2019, Enyia's campaign was sued by 24 former campaign staffers alleging wage theft. [69] Enyia's campaign responded by saying that the campaign was in debt, and that it planned to continue holding fundraisers to pay off the debt and unpaid wages. Enyia and Gray are defendants in the lawsuit, along with campaign operations director Pilar Audain, field director Marcus Ferrell and treasurer and finance director DeAnna Gran. [70] Enyia's campaign manager, Joshua Gray, accused her of making promises to pay the staff in question, alleging that she promised them, "she could get the money from her celebrity donors who were giving her money at the time." On October 24, 2022, the Illinois Department of Labor's Law Division found that Gray had been responsible for the operations and involved in talks about expenditures. [71]
Enyia's campaign received significant coverage in the 2020 Steve James documentary series City So Real , which centers on the mayoral election. [72] [73] [74]
At the time of 2019 mayoral candidacy, Enyia was residing in the Garfield Park neighborhood in Chicago. [75] She has five siblings, including a twin sister. [44]
She describes herself as fluent in Igbo, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. [20]
In 2020, her cousin Chibuike Enyia was elected to the village board of Oak Park, Illinois. [76] [77] [78]
Her brother, Chimaobi Enyia, was formerly the director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission and formerly an aide to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. 2023 Chicago mayoral election runner-up Paul Vallas, after his 2023 election loss, filed a lawsuit against Chimaobi Enyia for allegedly defrauding his campaign of $680,000 while working as a vendor hired for Black voter outreach. [79] [80]
Enyia was one of the contributors to political scientist and former Chicago alderman Dick Simpson's 2016 book Chicago is Not Broke: Funding the City We Deserve. [81]
2019 Chicago mayoral election | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | General election [82] | Runoff election [83] | ||
Votes | % | Votes | % | |
Lori Lightfoot | 97,667 | 17.54 | 386,039 | 73.70 |
Toni Preckwinkle | 89,343 | 16.04 | 137,765 | 26.30 |
William Daley | 82,294 | 14.78 | ||
Willie Wilson | 59,072 | 10.61 | ||
Susana Mendoza | 50,373 | 9.05 | ||
Amara Enyia | 44,589 | 8.00 | ||
Jerry Joyce | 40,099 | 7.20 | ||
Gery Chico | 34,521 | 6.20 | ||
Paul Vallas | 30,236 | 5.43 | ||
Garry McCarthy | 14,784 | 2.66 | ||
La Shawn K. Ford | 5,606 | 1.01 | ||
Robert "Bob" Fioretti | 4,302 | 0.77 | ||
John Kolzar | 2,349 | 0.42 | ||
Neal Sales-Griffin | 1,523 | 0.27 | ||
Write-ins | 86 | 0.02 | ||
Total | 556,844 | 100 | 523,804 | 100 |
{{cite thesis}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun, also sometimes Moseley-Braun, is an American diplomat, politician, and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. Prior to her Senate tenure, Moseley Braun was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1979 to 1988 and served as Cook County Recorder of Deeds from 1988 to 1992. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 after defeating Senator Alan J. Dixon in a Democratic primary. Moseley Braun served one term in the Senate and was defeated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald in 1998.
The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and recommendations to the Chicago City Council, is active in the enforcement of the city's ordinances, submits the city's annual budget and appoints city officers, department commissioners or directors, and members of city boards and commissions.
William Michael Daley is an American lawyer, politician and former banker who served as the 24th White House Chief of Staff from January 2011 to January 2012, under President Barack Obama. Prior to this, he served as the 32nd U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997 to 2000, under President Bill Clinton.
Paul Gust Vallas Sr. is an American politician and former education superintendent. He served as the superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut and the Recovery School District of Louisiana, the CEO of both the School District of Philadelphia and the Chicago Public Schools, and a budget director for the city of Chicago.
Robert William Fioretti is an American attorney and politician who served as an alderman in the Chicago City Council for the 2nd Ward, which included portions of Bronzeville, East Garfield Park, Illinois Medical District, Little Italy, Loop, Near West Side, Prairie District, South Loop, University Village, Westhaven, and West Loop. Fioretti first won election as alderman in 2007 and was re-elected in 2011. He also served as 2nd Ward Democratic Committeeman for two terms, which is a position in the Cook County Democratic Party.
Toni Lynn Preckwinkle is an American politician and the current County Board president in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was elected to her first term as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the executive branch of Cook County government, in November 2010, becoming the first woman elected to that position.
Dorothy Ann Rabb Brown Cook, also known as Dorothy Brown is an American lawyer and politician affiliated with the Democratic Party who served as the clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County from 2000 through 2020.
The city of Chicago, Illinois held a nonpartisan mayoral election on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Incumbent Mayor Richard Michael Daley, a member of the Democratic Party who had been in office since 1989, did not seek a seventh term as mayor. This was the first non-special election since 1947 in which an incumbent mayor of Chicago did not seek reelection.
Garry Francis McCarthy is the Chief of Police in Willow Springs, Illinois and previous Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. He was a candidate for mayor of Chicago in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election.
Chancelor Johnathan Bennett, known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, he released his debut mixtape 10 Day (2012) during one of his college suspensions. He gained mainstream recognition in 2013 following the release of his second mixtape, Acid Rap. His third mixtape, Coloring Book (2016), was released to further critical acclaim and commercial success, peaking at number eight on the Billboard 200. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Bennett won Best New Artist and the mixtape became the first streaming-only album to win a Grammy Award—Best Rap Album—while it spawned the single "No Problem", which won Best Rap Performance. His debut studio album, The Big Day (2019), peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and saw moderate critical reception.
An election took place on February 24, 2015, to elect the mayor of Chicago. The election was non-partisan and no candidate received a majority. A runoff election was held between the top two finishers on April 7, 2015, and resulted in the reelection of incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel. The elections were concurrent with the 2015 Chicago aldermanic elections.
Jesús G. "Chuy" García is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 4th district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, as well as in the Illinois Senate and on the Chicago City Council before his election to Congress. He was also a candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2015 and 2023. Throughout his career in Chicago and national politics, he has been described as a progressive.
Willie Wilson is an American businessman and perennial political candidate from Chicago, Illinois. He unsuccessfully ran in the 2015, 2019, and 2023 Chicago mayoral elections, the 2016 United States presidential election, and for the United States Senate in 2020.
Michelle A. Harris is an American politician who is the alderman of Chicago's 8th ward and the chair of the Chicago City Council's rules committee.
The 2019 Chicago mayoral election was held on February 26, 2019, to determine the next Mayor of the City of Chicago, Illinois. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election was held on April 2, 2019, between the two candidates with the most votes, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle. Lightfoot defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff election to become mayor, and was sworn in as mayor on May 20, 2019.
The 2019 Chicago elections took place in two rounds on February 26, 2019, and April 2, 2019. Elections were held for Mayor of Chicago, City Clerk of Chicago, City Treasurer of Chicago, and all 50 members of the Chicago City Council. The candidates who won in these elections were inaugurated on May 20, 2019. Four ballot referendums were also voted on in certain precincts. The elections were administered by the Chicago Board of Elections.
Andrea Marie Valencia is an American politician who serves as the City Clerk of Chicago. She was appointed to the position vacated by Susana Mendoza, and took office in 2017. She was elected to a full term as City Clerk in 2019. Although unsuccessful in her run for Illinois Secretary of State in 2022, she won reelection to City Clerk in 2023.
Lori Elaine Lightfoot is an American politician and attorney who was the 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown and held various government positions in Chicago. She served as president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. In 2019, Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election for Chicago mayor. She ran again in 2023 but failed to qualify for the runoff, becoming the city's first incumbent mayor to not be reelected since Jane Byrne in 1983.
Chicago has held regularly-scheduled popular elections to select the city's mayor ever since it was incorporated as a city in 1837.
Brendan Reilly is an American politician who has served as alderman of Chicago's 42nd ward since 2007, when he unseated septuagenarian incumbent Burton Natarus. He served as Vice Mayor of Chicago, being elected to that position by the Chicago City Council, from 2015 to 2019. From May 2019 to May 2023, he served as President pro tempore of the Council, which means that he presided over council proceedings in the mayor's absence.