Chicago 312: City Council Votes to Freeze Tipped Worker Wages, Just Because

Election night. City Council. LSC Elections.

All in 15 degree “psych it’s winter again” Chicago snow.

So many people worked so hard this election cycle — and while they did, more than $50 million in outside spending flooded Illinois primaries from AIPAC, crypto, AI, and gambling interests. In four of five open House races, outside groups spent more than all the candidates combined, potentially the most expensive primary ever, and well, you can tell that dark money made a difference when you look at who won yesterday.

In some ways, it could be worse, though I’m VERY reluctant to claim this as a ‘people powered victory’: only two of four AIPAC-backed Democratic House candidates won, despite their huge spending.

And it wasn’t all bad news electorally: congratulations to Miguel Alvelo-Rivera, who beat State Rep. Jaime Andrade Jr., even while outspent 4-to-1. And Demi Palecek in 13.

And to Drake Warren, who beat Bridget Gainer for Cook County Commissioner in the 10th — a first-time candidate who ran on, in contrast to Gainer, “actually showing up to meetings” and “campaigning at all”.

And, to Juliana Stratton, who won the Senate race, removing Raja Krishnamoorthi from power + the cash bar at his reception party.

Also Preckwinkle held, as she does, against Reilly, who will continue to do whatever he’s doing in City Council — oh, by the way, there was also a packed City Council this week. Let’s get into it:

3 Headlines:

1. City Council Votes to Freeze Tipped Worker Wages To Troll the Mayor

Tribune | ABC 7 The City Council voted 30-18 Wednesday to freeze the gradual elimination of the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers — the raises the same Council passed 36-10 in 2023. Johnson is expected to veto. The freeze coalition is four votes short of the 34 needed to override — and Ald Nugent is insistent they can find those votes.

Why it Matters: This Council bloc is organized as opposition, with strong coordination across blocs. During budget season, they built a counter-budget, overrode the mayor on revenue, and now forced a floor vote on a labor rollback with procedural precision nobody saw coming.

What does it mean for the bloc in opposition to the Mayor and progressives overall to be so well organized — organized enough to roll back wages for tipped workers on behalf of restaurant industry lobbyists and flex that power to ditch one of the main progressive claims + wins over the last few years for this progressive Mayor?

Looking to elections in 2027,

2. The Office That Saved Homeowners $2 Billion Just Got Handed Back to the Machine

Sun-Times | Tribune Pat Hynes is the next Cook County Assessor, ousting Fritz Kaegi.

As Soren Spicknall put it: Kaegi's team tried to make their piece of the tax system work right. In doing so, they became a target for the people who liked things better the old way.

Kaegi won in 2018 promising to end the pay-to-play corruption under Joe Berrios. He banned donations from property tax attorneys, put models online, and estimated his office saved homeowners $2 billion.

In contrast, Hynes worked for Berrios for eight years. Nearly half his fundraising came from property tax attorneys, appraisers, and developers — the exact people who benefited most from the old system. He was slated by the Cook County Democratic Party. He campaigned on "voter frustration over property taxes" — frustration mostly caused by the Board of Review handing massive cuts to commercial properties.

The assessor isn't the one sending that bill, but it made for an easier scapegoat.

Why it Matters: The interests that backed Hynes make money when the property tax system is broken. The people who lose are homeowners on the South and West sides. Kaegi's reforms were entirely about pushing back on that, and now they're gone if Hynes has his way. The assessor's office doesn't get the scrutiny that comes with congressional offices, but it touches every single property tax bill in Cook County — fixing this means putting real energy into prioritizing this in organizing, in a broader coalition kind of way.

3. Fuentes and Vasquez Just Made the Welcoming City Ordinance Real

Block Club | WTTW On Wednesday, City Council passed an ordinance that allows the investigation of CPD officers who violated the Welcoming City Ordinance by cooperating with ICE.

Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) and Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) just changed that, and it’s a big deal. Until this week, Chicago's sanctuary policy was lip service — strong on paper, with zero enforcement behind it. If CPD helps ICE, there's a formal process to find out and hold officers accountable.

Why it Matters: Federal enforcement is going to escalate again — soon. Whether residents feel safe calling 911, whether immigrant communities trust local police, whether Chicago's sanctuary status means anything at all, that all runs through what Fuentes and Vasquez just got passed. And the question is the one moderate Ald. Bill Conway asked before voting yes: do we believe in enforcing the laws on the books, or don't we? We will write more about this.

1 Big Question:

I can’t imagine any candidate in 09 isn’t thrilled this race is over, no matter the outcome.

I wrote on Election Day about how Kat Abugazaleh’s campaign in 09 was a model fundamentally different from the progressive playbook in Chicago. I was inspired and impressed by it even before last night, when she came incredibly close to winning this race, losing less than 4,000 votes in a 15-candidate field, even with lots of opposition from local institutions. But you know, the AIPAC-affiliated groups spending $1.2 million to counter her, and the PAC "Democracy Unmuted" paying influencers $1,500 to post against her was pretty consistent. And as The Intercept reported, as it became clear that Laura Fine was a non-starter, AIPAC spent money boosting other candidates in the race — including Bushra Amiwala, who finished sixth with just over 5% of the vote, a share larger than the gap between Biss and Kat.

Again, considering how many rules about what works in Chicago politics her campaign broke (not “being online” but taking action that reached people who usually don’t care much about local government, even a Congressional race), it’s wild to me how close she came to winning.

And it wasn’t because she was making memes, oh my god: it was because she was authentic in how fed up she was, had spent years building narrative skills as a national journalist reporting on the Right (including real support for trans rights beyond lip service in contexts that were polarizing), and was clear about her campaign values. Because she made paying campaign staff well a priority. Because she reached a previously unorganized group of people, a significant one that hasn’t been attracted to other affiliations in the city.

I spent the wrong amount of time reading the ‘hot take’ machine for this race, and I cannot say it was effective for me, the organizing I want to do, or my own analysis. And at this point, I’m not interested in dissecting the idea that Kat ‘wasn’t from here,” or micro-critiquing her campaign or the campaigns of others in this race, many of whom are great organizers + good at governing.

What matters most to me is that is what happened in 09 feels like foreshadowing for the 2027 municipal elections — hell, for many local races in the next few years.

Unless something changes, every race for municipal office, no matter how small, will be plagued by disproportional spending, a fractionalized left that can’t reach major audiences with no one backing down and no ability to gain ground. All while the corporate class (unusually united, even for the corporate class!) does what they want.

I don’t have a solution, but it feels important to admit it, and to acknowledge that least locally, there is a bit of a progressive existential crisis when it comes to broader coalitions (even more so than, you know, the whole history of Chicago).

There is a gap between where grassroots energy landed in this race and institutional endorsement — and it’s not going away.

2 Red Flags:

🚨 Robot Dogs Guard Data Centers Now

Fortune Boston Dynamics robots are patrolling data centers across the country, replacing human security guards. Companies are so excited about this new dystopia that they’re spending $700 billion on AI infrastructure buildout — a sum that rivals the GDP of Sweden (but don’t worry, Boston Dynamics says the robots pay for themselves within two years)!

🚨 "The Movement — That's the Hero"

The New York Times published a devastating investigation this week into Cesar Chavez — interviews with more than 60 people, documenting allegations that the iconic labor leader sexually abused multiple women over decades, including two girls who were 12 and 13 when the abuse began, and Dolores Huerta, his co-founder of the United Farm Workers. She kept the secret for 60 years. Chavez Day celebrations across the country have been canceled.

Kelly Hayes on Bluesky pointed out a devastating line from the piece — from a woman who fended off advances from a 60-year-old Chavez at 19, and offered a frame I needed to read today: "It makes you rethink in history all those heroes. The movement — that's the hero."

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Tell me what I missed in the comments and replies — there's no way I got everything.

If you worked on this election — or if you were at yesterday's council meeting — I hope you get some rest. Remember: the sun is coming. 

See you next week.

-H