Chuy and the battle for Chicago

*Polls open in Chicago tomorrow morning. VL

By Maria Hinojosa, Latino USA

Latino USA visits the Windy City for a behind-the-scenes look at Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s campaign for Mayor of Chicago. Chuy has represented Mexican neighborhoods in Chicago in local government for over three decades, and on April 7th, he’s going up against national political star Rahm Emanuel in an election that has been electrifying Chicago.

Chuy Garcia is out-gunned, outspent and down in the polls, but a grassroots movement to elect him is growing, and if he can get his message out to enough voters in time, he just might have a chance.

In this episode: we follow Chuy and his staff on the campaign trail in the lead-up to the election as we ask the question: what does it look like when a Latino runs for mayor in one of America’s greatest cities?

This article was originally published in Latino USA.

Contributors

Marlon Bishop is a radio producer and journalist with a focus on Latin America, New York City, music and the arts. He got his start in radio producing long-form documentaries on Latin music history for the public radio program Afropop Worldwide. After a stint reporting for the culture desk at New York Public Radio (WNYC), Marlon spent several years writing for MTV Iggy, MTV”s portal for global music and pop culture. Marlon has also lived and traveled all over Latin America, reporting stories as a freelancer for NPR, Studio 360, The World, the Village Voice, Billboard and Fusion, among other outlets. He is currently a staff Producer for Latino USA.

CamiloVargas went from his native Colombia to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He joined Latino USA after a fellowship with Univision Noticias and Univision’s Investigative Unit. Before coming to the US, Camilo was a researcher for the Universidad de los Andes and the Colombian government, specializing in armed conflict and US-Latin America relations. He holds a BA and an MA in international relations from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota and an MS from Columbia’s Journalism School. He’s reported on the drug war, national politics, and same-sex salsa.