With ‘major’ announcement today, Chuy Garcia is set to put mayoral rumors to rest

What to watch: Garcia’s big splash and aldermen grill CTA chief, by Marcus Gilmer

Photo: Bloomberg

8 A.M. UPDATE: It’s official: U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is entering the crowded Chicago mayoral race. While he plans to make an official announcement later this morning at an event, he confirmed his plans to the Sun-Times. READ MORE HERE.

Election Day has come and gone but there’s no time for rest. Later this morning, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (fresh off his congressional re-election) is slated to make a “major” announcement, widely expected to be his entry into the race for mayor after months of speculation that’s grown to a fever pitch.

Lest there be any real doubt Garcia’s throwing his hat in the ring, the press release alerting the media to today’s 11 o’clock event goes so far as to note that it’s happening on the 40th anniversary of the late Harold Washington’s announcement that he was running for mayor. Garcia, who served in city government alongside Washington during the “Council Wars” of the mid-1980s, has called Washington “a true mentor and a dear friend.” 

This would be Garcia’s second run for the Fifth Floor office. He previously ran in 2015, when he lost the runoff to then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Garcia’s entry into the mayoral race—if that’s what this morning’s to-do truly amounts to—will immediately change the dynamics of an already crowded mayoral field. He would, for one thing, be expected to draw heavy support from the city’s various Latino constituencies. Complicating matters further, however, are Garcia’s progressive bona fides. As a longtime member of the House Progressive Caucus, Garcia would enter the race positioned leftward of Mayor Lori Lightfoot—turf that’s now occupied by Brandon Johnson, who has been spending the weeks ahead of Garcia’s expected entry assiduously garnering union endorsements—but more on that in a bit.

RELATED: Here’s who is running for mayor of Chicago

Elsewhere, CTA president Dorval Carter will finally face a long-awaited grilling by the City Council’s Transportation Committee. The committee has long been trying to get Carter down to City Hall to express concerns over issues including security, staff shortages, and constituents dealing with buses and trains that never show up. But, like so many of those buses, Carter has ghosted the committee—until today. That meeting will get underway around 11 a.m. 

Follow Crain’s later today for more on these two big stories. 

What a GOP U.S. House could mean for an unpopular tax deduction cap, by Greg Hinz

Photo: Bloomberg

Would a GOP takeover of the U.S. House—likely, but not quite certain as of this writing—be good for ending that nasty $10,000-a-year cap on deductions for state and local taxes that have clobbered Illinois taxpayers in recent years?

In the strange and wondrous ways of Washington, maybe.

If you recall, the limit on such deductions, known as SALT, was enacted at the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency. Among the chief architects of the move was then-Illinois-congressman Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton. He argued that allowing unlimited deductions forced taxpayers in other states to pay for excess Illinois spending. Voters here didn’t buy it; Roskam lost his job in the next election. But, by then, the measure had passed.

To enact the bill, however, House Republicans had to limit its cost and impact on the federal budget. So they added an expiration date for the end of 2025. So the question now is whether or not that expiration date will be extended.

RELATED: SALT negotiations zero in on multi-year suspension of limit

Enter yesterday’s elections. If the GOP takes control of the House, it will do so because the party picked up several seats in relatively high-tax New Jersey and New York state. So it wouldn’t be very politik for GOP leaders to force those folks to vote for something that could well be received poorly back home.

At least, that’s the theory.

Reports the Wall Street Journal, “At least four Republicans who won House races in the New York City suburbs—Mike Lawler, Anthony D’Esposito, George Santos and Marc Molinaro in New York—and one who is leading in his House race—Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey—have expressed opposition to the current cap.”

We’ll see whether this actually comes to pass.

But to local Democratic lawmakers who have been unable to move the ball much—including Reps. Brad Schneider, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Sean Casten—any help they get on the other side of the aisle would be most welcome.

Mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson snags another major union endorsement, by Marcus Gilmer

Photo: WTTW 

Another union is lining up behind progressive mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson even as previous union favorite, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is preparing to enter the race. 

The Service Employees International Union Local 73 officially announced its endorsement of Johnson yesterday, giving the Cook County Board commissioner another big feather in his endorsement cap alongside the Chicago Teachers Union.

Johnson has also received backing from the influential socialist party United Working Families and four Northwest Side progressive independent political organizations that hosted a mayoral forum in September.

Making sense of the fallout from the 2022 Midterm Elections, by Greg Hinz

Gov. J.B. Pritzker lays out some short-term priorities. Chicago’s hopes to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention get a big boost. DuPage County changes its political loyalty. And a controversial workers’-rights amendment hangs in the balance. Those are among the stories that counted a day after Illinois voters largely backed Democratic candidates and causes while setting up a battle for control of the state House’s Republican Party.

Check out Greg’s full story here for more about all the fallout from Election Day 2022, including what Gov. Pritzker has to say about that rumored 2024 White House run.

City Council committee votes down added CPS oversight, by Justin Laurence

Photo: Newscom

An attempt to make Chicago Public Schools more accountable to the City Council, using funding as leverage, fizzled out Wednesday amid fears from aldermen it would jeopardize school projects in their wards.

The Education Committee voted down the ordinance in a 7-7 tie; an ordinance is only advanced out of committee if it has majority approval. The vote followed a fierce debate and a late amendment that attempted to assuage the fears of aldermen who approved of the attempt to hold regular meetings with CPS leadership but balked at using funding as the stick to force CPS into compliance. 

The ordinance, crafted by Ald. Sophia King, 4th, would have required quarterly meetings with CPS leadership—including CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, if desired—in the Education Committee and would have forbidden any city funding for CPS projects from being approved in the following quarter if Martinez or other CPS brass failed to attend. 

Read Justin’s full story here for more on the committee’s debate and what’s next.