Latino aldermen on Monday staked their claim to protecting and perhaps expanding their City Council representation in the upcoming ward remap based on new census numbers.
With the once-per-decade political fight over ward boundaries about to kick into high gear and set the racial makeup of the 50 wards heading into the 2023 elections, members of the Latino Caucus laid out their case.
Chicago’s Black population has been falling and Latino numbers having been on the rise for years. City Council Latino Caucus Chairman Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, said he and his colleagues will be calling for boundaries to the 50 wards that reflect “the population data and the Voting Rights Act.”
Though Villegas wouldn’t say he wants to see more Latino-majority wards than the current 13, census numbers will likely help him and his caucus colleagues make that case.
“We want to set our principles from the get-go, that it’s important that we follow the data and the law when setting this map,” Villegas said. “We just want to make sure the data will guide us, so that Chicagoans get fairly represented.”
It’s not as simple as pointing to the numbers, though. After the 2010 census, the remap reduced the number of majority-Black wards by just one in spite of a more precipitous Black population drop citywide.
The city won’t get official U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2020 count until late summer or early fall, months later than usual. But aldermen will be able to start submitting their proposals in the city’s map room later in this month.
That means the process to try to pass a map by the end of this year will be more compressed and frantic than usual.
If at least 10 aldermen vote against the remap plan presented by aldermen to the City Council, that triggers a referendum in which Chicago voters get to consider competing plans.
Prior maps have been crafted among aldermen in backroom deals. In early 2012, the council passed a map plan 41-8, less than two hours after council members put the finishing touches on a version that could get over the vote threshold.
Villegas said aldermen are also best positioned to work it out this time. “It’s part of the legislative process, and we’re confident we can get it done,” he said.
There are currently 20 Black aldermen in the council, and 18 majority-Black wards. Black Caucus Chair Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, said he expects to protect those majority-Black wards, and anticipates aldermen will be able to reach an agreement on a map.
“I think we’re all going to come together and figure something out,” he said.
The Chicago Ward Advisory Redistricting Commission has meanwhile set out to draw its own map. The organization is holding meetings around the city to get input from residents, saying citizens should dictate the way the map looks in order to ensure fair representation.
The group hopes to get at least 10 aldermen to vote for its plan and trigger the referendum.
Even if the council approves the map with enough votes to avoid the referendum, a group could still file a lawsuit challenging the boundaries on the grounds they don’t represent minority groups fairly or that differences in population from one ward to another violate the principle of one voter, one vote.
Ahead of ward remap, Chicago Latino aldermen stake claim - Chicago Tribune
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