Thompson's ward could be redrawn as majority Asian American in the new City Council map.
Leaders in Chicago’s Chinatown and beyond clamored Tuesday for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to appoint an Asian American successor to 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, whose federal tax fraud conviction this week could pave the way for the Near South Side enclave to have its first City Hall representative of Asian descent.
The possibility of the 11th Ward being redrawn to represent mostly Asian Americans hinges on the increasingly acrimonious fight over the decennial remapping process, but it is also a rare point on which the main blocs generally agree. In the wake of Thompson’s Monday conviction, Latino Caucus chair Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, released a statement calling on Lightfoot to select a nominee of Asian descent to finish the deposed alderman’s term, which runs until early 2023.
Latino Caucus chair Ald. Gilbert Villegas, shown Dec. 14, is calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to select a nominee of Asian descent to finish the term of deposed alderman Patrick Daley Thompson, whose tax fraud conviction Monday forces him off the City Council. Should Lightfoot heed the calls for an Asian American alderman in the 11th Ward, she will have to contend with the. On a national level, most of Chicago’s Chinatown supported Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, but Trump’s share of the vote increased significantly over 2016 in several precincts, according to records from the Chicago Board of Elections.