U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley says he'll launch a mayoral run, and fix a 'city in crisis'

Portraying Chicago as a “city in crisis,” U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley said Wednesday he’s running for mayor and will stay in the race no matter who jumps in — so that he can make the tough choices he says Mayor Brandon Johnson has avoided.

From closing half-empty schools and right-sizing a bloated city government to confronting Chicago's $36 billion pension crisis, Quigley described himself as the tough-love leader the city needs.

He also acknowledged being a Green Bay Packers fan who'll be rooting for Jordan Love and the men in green when the Packers square off against the Bears Saturday at Soldier Field in the first round of NFL playoffs.

“I grew up with my father being a Vince Lombardi fan and you got to stay loyal,” Quigley said. “You have to be honest with yourself and the public. We are what we are, in large part, because of our parents and our family…If I was to tell you something otherwise, I’d lose respect for myself and from others as well.”

Quigley considers that kind of bluntness part of his appeal. He said the “quintessential problem” with politics is that it’s filled with people who “don’t want to offend.”

“For decades now, mayors have kicked the can. They have said, `I don’t want to deal with his issue.’ That’s how we got pension holidays... We sold assets. Stupid mistakes because leaders were so worried about just getting elected and re-elected,” he said. “With all the tough powers I’ve taken on, I was honest… I’m going to tell people the truth.”

Quigley applied that same candor to the myriad problems facing city government. He vowed to demand the union concessions needed to stave off bankruptcy at all four city employee pension funds, and right-size a city workforce that “exploded” with the avalanche of pandemic relief funds.

“Everything from picking up garbage to how police respond and how they’re appropriated across the city — if we could start over, what’s the most efficient way to do that?” he said.

Quigley also offered to work with the city's elected school board and community leaders to sensitively close "wildly underpopulated" Chicago public schools.

“When you’re talking about a high school that has… a hundred students — it would be cheaper to have those students go to a private high school,” Quigley said.

“What the school board’s going to have to do is approach those communities and talk… There’s a way to balance those resources. That means that some of those schools aren’t used in the way they are now. They’re used in a way that’s productive and efficient.”

Quigley said his courage and candor makes him the antithesis of Johnson.

“This is a mayor who’s frankly been afraid to lead and doesn’t want to make choices… That’s the bottom line,” Quigley said. “Our toughest choices are our fiscal ones. He doesn’t want to make those tough choices. The example... is the most recent city budget where the City Council had to grasp the rein and do it virtually on their own. Pass it over his objections.”

Until now, Quigley has been the Hamlet of Chicago politics. He has flirted with the idea of running for mayor for the last three or four cycles, but never pulled the trigger.

This time, Quigley said he’s in it to win it — even if Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias uses the $6.2 million in his campaign war chest to enter the race and retiring State Comptroller Susana Mendoza also runs.

“I raised $250,000 in just about a month and a half… I’m going to run. I’m in this race. I’m fully committed,” Quigley said.

“When I ran for County Board, I ran in a crowded field. I didn’t have the most money and I won. When I ran in a special election for Congress [in] a very crowded field, I was outspent 10-to-1 and I won… I’m the best campaigner of people who are thinking about running for mayor. The number one vote-getter among members of Congress in general elections. I’m ready to roll.”

During a City Hall news conference Wednesday, Johnson refused to discuss the race for mayor. Nor would he even say definitively that he would be a candidate for re-election.

“The people of Chicago are not thinking about mayoral elections. When I’m in the community, no one says, no one says, `Mayor Johnson, are you passing petitions?’ You know what they do ask? How can we invest more on young people?” Johnson said. “My focus is on doing the thing that I was elected and charged to do… I’m focused on lives — not the politics right now.”