After losing other campaigns over two decades, the former Chicago Public Schools CEO is closest he's ever been to being elected to public office.
Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, right, poses for a selfie with Alex Lambert on a CTA Red Line train on March 30, 2023.
He spoke of making sure “every single child” in the New Orleans system he rebuilt after the hurricane was in a new or renovated school and how the district “led the state in academic improvement for seven consecutive years.” Then he paused to soak in the audience’s cheers before going back for more. Although Vallas has run for public office only as a Democrat, he’s been blasted for past affiliations with conservative radio talk show hosts, Republican political donors, the anti-LGBTQ activist group Awake Illinois and pro-Trump Fraternal Order of Police local President John Catanzara.
“I’m probably going to tell a few stories, because I go way back,” Vallas said before turning to Jones. “I’m so glad you stopped smoking. I was never a smoker, but I used to come down to the Senate president’s office and steal his cigarettes. Remember that? I know I owe you big time.
A founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party and a friend of 1960s activist Fred Hampton, who was assassinated in a police raid, Rush has likened the Chicago FOP to “kissing, hugging, and lawbreaking cousins” of the Ku Klux Klan. He explained his support for Vallas by denouncing street crime and arguing that it’s “rank-and-file” officers who are behind Vallas.
“If I win, we will make our city safer by prioritizing the filling of police vacancies and the returning of police to the local beats,” Vallas said. “The stakes in this race could not be higher.”It was inside the Pullman Community Center on the Far South Side where Vallas unexpectedly encountered another fault line in his efforts to prove that he’s not too conservative for heavily blue Chicago.
In 2009, he said he was personally pro-abortion rights but also that he was “fundamentally” opposed to abortion. Critics have pounced on that comment to argue he opposed reproductive rights, which he brushes off by saying his words are being taken out of context.Vallas has routinely invoked family to humanize himself. He talks about his wife, Sharon, who lives in Palos Heights and takes care of Vallas’ mother while he stays in Bridgeport.
Vallas is an occasionally awkward speaker and is known to overexplain, a trait that has harmed him in past runs for office and that he has worked to quell.Growing up, Vallas struggled with a speech impediment, which he said led to bullying and isolation.
Vallas also said he won’t be a successful mayor if he can’t address broader issues, like disinvestment on the South and West sides, another common refrain. “Yes, I’m kind of a wonkish guy. I’m an issues guy. I try to answer questions. I try to explain how I will fix the problems and how I will address them,” Vallas said.
But Vallas has faced questions of his own about his education record. As he rode the Red Line to a Cubs game last week, a woman asked, “What’s your stance on public schools?”“Sorry?” she asked. Vallas repeated the question.Advertisement
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