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Pericles Abbasi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1984 (age 40–41) Aurora, Illinois, U.S. |
| Other names | Perry Abbasi |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Pericles "Perry" Abbasi (born 1984) is an American lawyer and online personality.
Pericles Abbasi was born in Aurora, Illinois, to a Pakistani father and a Greek mother. Pericles' father was a Muslim from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and belonged to the Dhund Abbasi caste. [1]
Abbasi attended the University of Chicago, earning his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees before moving on to Kent College of Law for a Juris Doctor degree. [2] At the University of Chicago, Abbasi was awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. He also filmed a local hip-hop show and competed in national quiz bowl competitions. [2]
After graduating and passing the bar exam, Abbasi worked as an elections attorney and won cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the Supreme Court of Illinois, the Illinois Appellate Court and various electoral boards. His legal practice also focused on zoning, property tax appeals and real estate closings.
Abbasi led a challenge to the signatures (nearly 3,200 signatures) collected by the Kanye West 2020 presidential campaign in Illinois. [3] Upon review, the Illinois State Board of Elections determined that the West campaign did not have the required minimum amount of signatures and did not qualify for the presidential ballot. [4]
In 2023, the City of Chicago held elections for 22 newly created police district councils, one for each of the city's police districts. Abbasi supported the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police in these elections, legally representing several of their preferred candidates. [5] [6]
In 2024, Abbasi represented candidates Casundra Hopson-Jordan and D'Nasha Lee Harrison of the Rebuilding Dolton Party. Demarkus Griggley, an ally of embattled Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard, attempted to have both candidates removed from the elections ballot due to the party's failure to meet certain requirements in the Illinois Election Code. Abbasi argued that the requirements cited by Griggley were ruled unconstitutional in the case Libertarian Party of Ill. v. Scholz. Additionally, he criticized Mayor Henyard for "trying to prevent an opponent from being on the ballot and giving the voters a choice," and that her actions sought to undermine the democratic process in Dolton. [7] Griggley would drop the objection on December 16, allowing both candidates to have a spot on the ballot. [8]
Between 2020 and 2023, Abbasi posted prolifically on Twitter, averaging roughly 70 tweets per day. He went from under a thousand followers in 2020 to 24,000 in January 2023. His posts were described by Malcom Kyeyune as often "bizarre and unseemly" and as having "little grounding in reality". [9] Abbasi described one ongoing Twitter gag where he posed as an "alpha male" who was also a "closeted homosexual." [10]
Abbasi was a candidate in the 2023 election for one of the three seats on the newly formed Grand Central (25th) Police District Council. He was paid $10,000 by the Fraternal Order of Police, and unsuccessfully challenged progressive candidates' ballot petitions on the FOP's behalf. The police union also endorsed Abbasi's candidacy, attempting to run him as a spoiler against abolitionist candidates. [11]
During his campaign, the Chicago Reader highlighted Abbasi's social media activity, including multiple posts with racist and misogynist content. In one tweet, Abbasi referenced a criminal stereotype of African Americans, writing, "I've said in spaces that the horrible black american diet is the reason for 13/50!" [10] In another, he wrote that a bar owner he’d helped with liquor licensing had provided him with "Polish girls" who may have been "trafficked." Abbasi admitted to the Reader that he wrote the posts, but said they were trolling. In response to the Reader's reporting, the Chicago West Side chapter of the NAACP called for Abbasi to be disbarred, and several campaign committees Abbasi had worked for disavowed him. [12]
Abbasi came in fifth out of five candidates, securing just 8.6 percent of the vote. [10]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Angelica Green | 12,568 | 28.1 | |
| Nonpartisan | Saúl Arellano | 11,433 | 25.6 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jacob Arena | 9,008 | 20.2 | |
| Nonpartisan | Edgar Esparza | 7,837 | 17.5 | |
| Nonpartisan | Perry Abbasi | 3,828 | 8.6 | |
| Total votes | 44,674 | 100.0 | ||
Abbasi claimed his home was ransacked after the 2018 Christmas holiday. [13] He is engaged to a man.
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