Chicago City Council

The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It is made up of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms.^[1]

Chicago City Council Chambers in 2012

The city council since the 2019 elections:

  Democrats

  Independent

Background

The Chicago City Council is set into session regularly (usually monthly) to consider ordinances, orders, and resolutions whose subject matter includes traffic code changes, utilities, taxes, and many other issues. The presiding officer of the Chicago City Council is the Mayor of Chicago. The secretary is the City Clerk of Chicago. Both positions are popularly elected offices.

The Chicago City Council Chambers are located in Chicago City Hall. Also located in the building are the downtown offices of the individual aldermen and staff.

List of aldermen

Current composition of the Chicago City Council

Ward	Name	Took Office	Party[lower-alpha 1]	Main community areas[lower-alpha 2]	Map of Ward
1	Daniel La Spata	2019	Democratic[2]	West Town, Logan Square	Map
2	Brian Hopkins	2015	Democratic	West Town, Near North Side, Lincoln Park	Map
3	Pat Dowell	2007	Democratic[3]	Grand Boulevard	Map
4	Sophia King	2016[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[3]	Kenwood, Douglas	Map
5	Leslie Hairston	1999	Democratic[3]	Hyde Park, South Shore, Woodlawn	Map
6	Roderick Sawyer	2011	Democratic[3]	Greater Grand Crossing, Englewood, Chatham	Map
7	Gregory Mitchell	2015	Democratic[3]	South Chicago, South Shore, South Deering	Map
8	Michelle A. Harris	2006[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[3]	Avalon Park	Map
9	Anthony Beale	1999	Democratic[3]	Riverdale, Roseland	Map
10	Susan Sadlowski Garza	2015	Democratic[3]	South Deering, Hegewisch	Map
11	Nicole Lee	2022[lower-alpha 4]	Democratic[4]	Bridgeport, New City	Map
12	George Cardenas	2003	Democratic[5]	South Lawndale, Brighton Park, McKinley Park	Map
13	Marty Quinn	2011	Democratic	West Lawn, Clearing	Map
14	Edward M. Burke	1969	Democratic[3]	Archer Heights, Gage Park	Map
15	Raymond Lopez	2015	Democratic[3]	West Englewood, Brighton Park, New City	Map
16	Stephanie Coleman	2019	Democratic[3]	West Englewood, Chicago Lawn, Englewood	Map
17	David H. Moore	2015	Democratic[3]	Chicago Lawn, Auburn Gresham, West Englewood	Map
18	Derrick Curtis	2015	Democratic[3]	Ashburn	Map
19	Matthew O'Shea	2011	Democratic[3]	Beverly, Mount Greenwood, Morgan Park	Map
20	Jeanette B. Taylor	2019	Democratic[6]	New City, Woodlawn, Englewood	Map
21	Howard Brookins Jr.	2003	Democratic[3]	Auburn Gresham, Washington Heights	Map
22	Michael Rodriguez	2019	Democratic[3]	South Lawndale, Garfield Ridge	Map
23	Silvana Tabares	2018[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[7]	Garfield Ridge, Clearing	Map
24	Michael Scott, Jr.	2015	Democratic[3]	North Lawndale	Map
25	Byron Sigcho-Lopez	2019	Democratic	Lower West Side, Near West Side	Map
26	Roberto Maldonado	2009[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[3]	Humboldt Park, West Town	Map
27	Walter Burnett, Jr.	1995	Democratic[3]	Near West Side	Map
28	Jason Ervin	2011[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[3]	Near West Side, East Garfield Park	Map
29	Chris Taliaferro	2015	Democratic[3]	Austin	Map
30	Ariel Reboyras	2003	Democratic[3]	Belmont Cragin, Portage Park	Map
31	Felix Cardona Jr.	2019	Democratic[8]	Belmont Cragin, Hermosa	Map
32	Scott Waguespack	2007	Democratic[3]	Logan Square	Map
33	Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez	2019	Independent[9]	Irving Park, Avondale, Albany Park	Map
34	Carrie Austin	1994[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[3]	West Pullman, Roseland, Morgan Park	Map
35	Carlos Ramirez-Rosa	2015	Democratic[3]	Logan Square, Avondale	Map
36	Gilbert Villegas	2015	Democratic[10]	Belmont Cragin	Map
37	Emma Mitts	2000[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[3]	Austin, Humboldt Park	Map
38	Nicholas Sposato	2011	Independent[11]	Dunning, O'Hare, Portage Park	Map
39	Samantha Nugent	2019	Democratic[12]	North Park, Forest Glen	Map
40	Andre Vasquez	2019	Democratic[13]	Lincoln Square, West Ridge	Map
41	Anthony Napolitano	2015	Independent[14]	O'Hare, Norwood Park	Map
42	Brendan Reilly	2007	Democratic[3]	Loop, Near North Side	Map
43	Michele Smith	2011	Democratic	Lincoln Park	Map
44	Thomas M. Tunney	2002[lower-alpha 3]	Democratic[3]	Lake View	Map
45	Jim Gardiner	2019	Democratic	Jefferson Park, Portage Park	Map
46	James Cappleman	2011	Democratic[3]	Uptown, Lake View	Map
47	Matt Martin	2019	Democratic[15]	North Center, Lincoln Square	Map
48	Harry Osterman	2011	Democratic[16]	Edgewater	Map
49	Maria Hadden	2019	Independent[17]	Rogers Park	Map
50	Debra Silverstein	2011	Democratic[18]	West Ridge	Map

Notes

1. Aldermanic elections are officially nonpartisan; party affiliations are informational only.
2. Main community areas overlapping with the ward. Only community areas that make up 20% of the area of the ward or more are listed.
3. Year of appointment, not of first election.
4. Lee was appointed mid-term after incumbent Patrick Daley Thompson was removed due to a federal conviction that made him ineligible to hold the office.

References

1. "65 ILCS 20/ Revised Cities and Villages Act of 1941". Illinois General Assembly – Illinois Compiled Statutes. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
2. LaSpata, Daniel (December 10, 2018). "2019 IVI-IPO Chicago Aldermanic Questionnaire" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
3. Sandvoss, Steven S., ed. (September 18, 2019). "State of Illinois Central Committees" (PDF). Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Board of Elections. pp. 75–78. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
4. Thompson, Patrick (October 10, 2012). "Patrick Thompson: Candidate Profile Metro. Water Reclamation District (Democrat)" (Interview). Interviewed by Daily Herald Editorial Board. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
5. Kapos, Shia; Hurst, Adrienne (September 23, 2019). "CARDENAS v. MUNOZ REMATCH — 'PUMPKIN QUEEN' for SHIMKUS' seat? — QUINN SUBPOENAED". Politico Illinois Playbook. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
6. Taylor, Jeanette (December 10, 2018). "2019 IVI-IPO Chicago Aldermanic Questionnaire" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
7. Spielman, Fran (June 15, 2018). "Mayor Emanuel taps Mike Madigan ally Silvana Tabares for 23rd Ward seat". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
8. "2019 IVI-IPO CHICAGO ALDERMAN QUESTIONNAIRE" (PDF). IVI-IPO. December 11, 2018. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
9. Rodriguez, Rossana (December 10, 2018). "2019 IVI-IPO Chicago Aldermanic Questionnaire" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
10. Cherone, Heather; Nitkin, Alex (November 1, 2019). "Villegas says he wants to replace Arroyo as 36th Ward Democratic committeeperson". The Daily Line. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
11. "'Independent' Sposato To Step Down As Dem Committeeman, Stay On As Alderman". DNAinfo.com. 2017-10-10. Archived from the original on 2018-01-27. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
12. Nugent, Samantha (January 27, 2019). "39th Ward candidate for alderman: Samantha 'Sam' Nugent" (Interview). Interviewed by Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
13. Vasquez, Andre (December 11, 2018). "2019 IVI-IPO Chicago Aldermanic Questionnaire" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
14. "As Napolitano runs for a second term, unions that powered his 2015 run fall silent". The Daily Line. 4 February 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
15. Martin, Matt (December 21, 2018). "2019 IVI-IPO Chicago Aldermanic Questionnaire" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
16. Byrne, John (January 26, 2011). "Candidates line up in 48th Ward". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
17. Hadden, Maria (January 3, 2019). "2019 IVI-IPO Chicago Aldermanic Questionnaire" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
18. Meadows, Jonah (September 13, 2019). "Ousted State Senator Ira Silverstein Seeks Cook County Judge Job". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 1, 2019.