This is a predominantly Latino district, covering all or parts of neighborhoods like Brighton Park, McKinley Park, Bridgeport and Gage Park. Yesenia Lopez won election to this seat in 2024 with the Chicago Teachers Union’s backing. She’s running for reelection without the union’s support.
Presumably, the reason for the union’s unusual turnabout is that Lopez, 38, who’s worked in the past for U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García’s organization, has refused to take orders from CTU and the mayor’s office at some key moments in the past two years. She opposed their push for the board to take on high-cost debt to balance its budget and pay $175 million toward a municipal pension plan the city government is legally obligated to support. And, despite their intense pressure in late July, she abstained on the unbalanced budget meant to put political pressure on the state.
She faces long-time Chicago Park District employee Erika Diaz-Chavez, 43, who reportedly attended private schools in Chicago and Oak Park as a child and sends her children to private schools as well.
Lopez doesn’t have children, but she’s a product of Chicago Public Schools, graduating from Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen. She is for sure to our left on some tricky CPS issues, but we admire the political courage and independence she’s shown. Yesenia Lopez is endorsed.
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