Chicago Decides: Ald. Gil Villegas, Lori Torres Whitt face off in Northwest Side's 36th Ward
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Voters in 14 of the city's 50 wards will cast their vote for alderman in runoff elections.
One of those is the 36th Ward on the Northwest Side. The ward has an odd shape after being redrawn – crawling northwest up Grand Avenue from West Town to Montclare.
CBS 2's Marie Saavedra spoke to both candidates – incumbent Ald. Gil Villegas and his challenger, Lori Torres Whitt.
Villegas was elected in 2015. Saavedra asked Villegas why he is seeking another term.
"I have a career and a life of public service – whether it was serving in the Marines, serving as a union steward – shop steward for the Teamsters – serving nearly a decade in state government in senior positions or as an alderman for the past eight years, I've always had this urge to serve; make sure that we're representing working families," Villegas said, "and now with a new mayor coming in, I want to make sure that we have experienced leadership that has the ability to deliver for working families."
Whitt is 23-year veteran Chicago Public Schools teacher, and said she is running because she feels some people do not have a voice in city government.
"I'm a born and raised Chicagoan who wants to see our communities invested in, and wants to see and hear the voices of people like mine be represented in City Council – and I don't believe that exists just yet," she said, "and so I am as a CPS teacher and a mother of three and a community activist, somebody who is going to take with me the voices of the working families here in Chicago."
Watch the full interviews with each candidate above.
The runoff election is April 4. Early voting starts Monday.