Gery Chico - Democrat

He grew up in Back of the Yards on Chicago's South Side. He majored in political science at the University of Illinois and earned his J.D. from the Loyola University School of Law in 1985. He attended law school while holding down a job and raising a family.

Chico spent several years working in the Daley administration, serving as deputy chief of staff and general counsel to Chicago Development Council and later as the Mayor’s chief of staff. In 1995, he was appointed president of the Chicago Board of Education and reappointed in 1999. In 1997, he was named outstanding school board president by the Illinois State Board of Education for bringing sweeping reforms to the Chicago school system, the third largest in the nation.

Chico is vice chairman of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, trustee for the Field Museum and the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, and past president of the Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce. Chico plays an active role in the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago. Chico was the chairman of the law firm Altheimer and Gray, which recently collapsed.

Chico has been campaigning perhaps longer than any other candidate in the 2004 Illinois senator race and in December reached the $1 million mark in fundraising. He estimates spending a total of $8 million on the primary alone.

If elected in 2004, Gery Chico would become the first Hispanic U.S. Senator in almost thirty years.

Selected Endorsements: Chicago Aldermen Ed Burke, Patrick Levar, Richardo Munoz, Mary Ann Smith and Bernard Stone.

For more information about Gery Chico, visit his Illinois senate campaign site at www.gerychicoforsenate.com or attend a Gery Chico MeetUp.

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