As Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration details his process for picking a new alderman to represent Logan Square and other Northwest Side neighborhoods, all signs point to one politician: Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada.
The progressive 29-year-old walked into the United Neighbors of the 35th Ward endorsement meeting Sunday alongside outgoing Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, his former boss. An hour later, the frontrunner walked out with the group’s unanimous blessing after some in the crowd had chanted his name.
“I want to make sure that the mayor and the city of Chicago hear it loud and clear,” Quezada said to the over 100 people gathered at the meeting.
Johnson’s administration said Sunday the mayor is starting his selection process by tasking a five-person committee with vetting and evaluating candidates, who have until next Monday to apply.
Johnson’s committee will then give him a formal recommendation, and he will pass his nominee to the City Council for a vote. The council vote has long been seen as a formality, with aldermen overwhelmingly approving recent mayors’ picks for open council seats, though Johnson has had a particularly rancorous relationship with the body. Less certain is whether Chicago voters would support the election bid in a couple years of an alderman who came with the backing of an unpopular mayor who appointed him.
Quezada’s otherwise strong candidacy is challenged by the spread of a decade-old social media post he made using a racial slur. But as Black aldermen signal their willingness to forgive after Quezada’s apologies, the Logan Square native appears poised to ride his close alignment with Ramirez-Rosa and election-winning history into a City Council seat of his own.
To lay out how he might legislate in City Hall, the Democratic Socialist pointed Sunday to his past.
“I have dedicated my life to uniting people, building working class coalitions and fighting for a government and economy that works for all of us, not just the ultra-wealthy,” Quezada told the crowd before they voted.
The son of an undocumented father, Quezada’s first experience in an elected office came in 2015 as an intern for former 1st Ward Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno. He quit the gig over Moreno’s “pay-to-play politics” with real estate developers, he told the Tribune.
In 2022, Quezada won a seat on the Cook County Board, becoming the county’s first openly gay Latino commissioner after working as a constituent service director for Ramirez-Rosa, who he met during Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential run. Quezada defeated incumbent Democrat Luis Arroyo Jr. in a five-way 2022 primary to represent the county’s 8th district, which stretches across the city’s Northwest Side.
That election — in which Quezada won 54% of the 35th Ward vote — shows he already has the backing of voters, he argued. He is also aligned with Johnson, who ultimately holds all the power in picking a nominee. Quezada allied himself with Johnson during their brief overlap on the Cook County Board and campaigned for him.
“The mayor is somebody who I think holds those deep values of compassion and solidarity,” Quezada said. “I know that the mayor has our best interests at heart, and I’m proud of the work that he has done so far.”
However, Johnson’s decision could be complicated by the resurfacing of a post on X in which Quezada used the N-word. In a post he made in 2014 and deleted in 2023, Quezada and another user posted the word in an apparent attempt to refer to others as friends. He has spoken with most Black aldermen to apologize for the post he made as an 18-year-old high school student, he said.
“This is something that I deeply regret,” Quezada said. “This isn’t a reflection of my values, of my character, and it also isn’t a reflection of my record as an organizer, as a leader and as a legislator.”
While some Black aldermen declined to publicly share their thoughts on the post, others called for Quezada to be forgiven and instead judged by his adult actions.
“He’s shown himself to be a mature, competent leader,” Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, told the Tribune Friday. “We have all done things in our young years that we are not proud of. It should not affect our ability to lead today.”
Ald. Jason Ervin, who called for similar forgiveness, added that it is too early for aldermen to take a side on Quezada’s potential nomination, because Johnson has not yet nominated him. Anything else is “planning for a funeral without a body,” Ervin, 28th, said.
“Somebody may be on life support, but we don’t know what the mayor is going to do,” he said.
At Sunday’s United Neighbors meeting, Quezada’s name was the only one on a ballot passed out to attendees, alongside options to write-in and abstain. Organizers said he was the only candidate who had filled out the organization’s questionnaire in time, despite two other candidates showing up to seek the group’s endorsement.
The group’s leaders gave Quezada’s responses top marks in an analysis shared with the crowd. Quezada previously served as the organization’s chairperson and refers to it as his “political home.”
Ramirez-Rosa, picked by Johnson last month to lead the Chicago Park District, carefully avoided mentioning Quezada ahead of the vote and promised to endorse whoever the group selected. “The next 35th Ward alderperson has to live our progressive values,” he said after touting accomplishments from his 10 years in office.
Quezada won every vote cast by a United Neighbors member and 86% of the larger vote that included members of the public who attended the meeting. Ramirez-Rosa said afterward he will recommend the mayor appoint Quezada.
Geary Yonker, one of the two other candidates who spoke at the meeting, conceded after losing the vote that even he expects Quezada to get the City Council seat. Still, he praised the “open process” of United Neighbors and said he was “happy to come and put ideas out there.”
“Previous mayors would have just gone ahead and just named somebody,” Yonker said. “I just want to make sure that we are getting input from outside of that room too, from people out on the street and hearing what they’re saying.”
