Carlos Ramirez-Rosa

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (born February 18, 1989) is an American politician. He has served as the alderman for Chicago's 35th Ward since May 18, 2015, and 35th Ward Democratic Committeeman since 2016. Prior to his election to the Chicago City Council, he worked as a community organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and a congressional aide to U.S. Representative Luis Gutiérrez.[1]

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa
Member of the Chicago City Council
from the 35th ward
Assumed office
May 18, 2015
Preceded byRey Colón
Personal details
Born (1989-02-18) February 18, 1989
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA)
WebsiteOfficial website

He is a member of the Chicago City Council's Progressive Reform Caucus,[2] and was elected to serve as a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention as a Bernie Sanders supporter.[3] Elected at the age of 26 to the Chicago City Council in February 2015, he is the city's youngest alderman, and one of the youngest Aldermen ever elected.[4]

He is a self-described democratic socialist and a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Early life, education, and career

Ramirez-Rosa was born on February 18, 1989 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Chicago Public Schools and graduated from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, where he was his senior class president.[5] He then attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was an elected member of the Illinois Student Senate. As an elected student senator, he supported funding for women and LGBT student programs,[6] campus green energy policies,[7] and fair treatment of university employees.[8] He graduated from the University of Illinois in 2011.[9] After graduating, he served as a congressional caseworker in the office of Congressman Luis Gutiérrez.[10] After working for Congressman Gutiérrez, he worked as a family support network organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights until he ran for alderman in 2015.[9] He also served as an elected community representative to the Avondale-Logandale Local School Council.[11]

Chicago City Council
Ramirez-Rosa campaigning in 2015

He was elected the alderman of the 35th ward on February 24, 2015. He received 67% of the vote, defeating incumbent alderman Rey Colón.[12] He is the youngest current alderman and one of the youngest aldermen in the history of Chicago,[13] and one of the city's first two openly LGBT Latino councillors alongside colleague Raymond Lopez.[14] After a year as alderman, Crain's Chicago Business distinguished Ramirez-Rosa as a member of their 2016 "Twenty in their 20s" class.[15] He joined the Democratic Socialists of America in March 2017.[16] Ramirez-Rosa was easily re-elected to a second four-year term on February 28, 2019.

In May 2018, after casting the lone vote against the construction of a new police academy, Ramirez-Rosa was expelled from the Chicago City Council's Latino Caucus.[17] Ramirez-Rosa was later readmitted to the Latino Caucus after public outcry.[18]

In the 2019 Chicago mayoral election, Ramirez-Rosa endorsed Toni Preckwinkle, giving her his endorsement before the first round of the election.[19]

In November 2019, Ramirez-Rosa was one of eleven aldermen to vote against Mayor Lori Lightfoot's first budget.[20] He joined all five other members of the Socialist Caucus in signing a letter to Lightfoot which criticized her budget for "an over-reliance on property taxes" and "regressive funding models" that are "burdensome to our working-class citizens, while giving the wealthy and large corporations a pass."[21]

Electoral history
2015 Municipal General (Alderman 35th Ward)[22]
Candidate Votes %
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa 4,082 67.26
Rey Colon 1,987 32.74
2019 Municipal General (Alderman 35th Ward)[23]
Candidate Votes %
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (incumbent) 4,685 59.5
Amanda Yu Dieterich 3,194 40.5

Campaigns for higher office

Daniel Biss's selected Ramirez-Rosa as his running mate in the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial election on August 31, 2017.[24] Only six days later Biss dropped him from the ticket after his ally Brad Schneider rescinded his endorsement due to Ramirez-Rosa's support of the BDS Movement.[25] The BDS Movement seeks to impose comprehensive boycotts of Israel until it ends alleged human rights violations against the Palestinians.

After Luis Gutiérrez announced his retirement from Congress, Ramirez-Rosa announced his candidacy for Gutiérrez's seat, Illinois's 4th congressional district; he withdrew on January 9, 2018.

See also

Footnotes
  1. Vivaneo, Leanor (3 August 2015). "The rundown on Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa". DNAinfo Chicago. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  2. http://progressillinois.com/news/content/2015/05/19/progressive-caucus-details-priorities-new-chicago-city-council-term
  3. Glowacz, Dave (11 May 2016). "Delegates elected to Democratic national convention". CHIGOV.COM. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  4. Cox, Ted (9 January 2009). "Who Was Chicago's Youngest Alderman? A Famous Future Colonel Won at Age 23". DNAinfo Chicago. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  5. "Meet Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, the 26-Year-Old Who Stormed Onto City Council". DNAinfo Chicago. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  6. Maloney, Andrew (10 October 2008). "Debate over resolution stalls ISS vote". The Daily Illini. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  7. Maloney, Andrew (5 February 2009). "Illinois Student Senate passes energy resolution". The Daily Illini. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  8. McLoughlin, Kevin (6 April 2009). "Students rally to support labor". The Daily Illini. Archived from the original on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  9. "Carlos Ramirez-Rosa Candidate for City Council, 35th Ward". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  10. Jin, Hal (9 January 2009). "Chicago alderman candidate hosts Q&A at teach-in". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  11. "Meet the candidates: City Council, 35th Ward". WGN. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  12. Mihalopoulos, Dan (24 February 2015). "Carlos Ramirez-Rosa defeats Ald. Rey Colon in 35th Ward race". The Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  13. Cox, Ted (9 January 2009). "Who Was Chicago's Youngest Alderman? A Famous Future Colonel Won at Age 23". DNAinfo Chicago. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  14. "Carlos Ramirez-Rosa on Being a Young, Gay, Latino Alderman". Chicago Magazine, May 4, 2015.
  15. "Crain's Chicago Business Twenty in their 20s". Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  16. Smith, Ryan. "Beyond the 'Bernie bro': Socialism's diverse new youth brigade". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  17. Ahern, Mary Ann (24 May 2018). "Chicago City Council Latino Caucus Votes to Expel Ald. Ramirez-Rosa". NBCChicago.com. Retrieved 18 January 2019..
  18. "Latino Caucus Should Stop Being Anti-Black". Retrieved 25 January 2019..
  19. "35th Ward Alderman Carlos Ramirez Rosa Endorses Toni Preckwinkle for Mayor". Scapimag. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  20. Spielman, Fran (26 November 2019). "City Council approves Lightfoot's $11.6 billion budget — with 11 'no' votes". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  21. Bremer, Shelby (26 November 2019). "Chicago City Council Passes Lightfoot's Budget Proposal". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  22. "2015 Municipal General - 2/24/15 -- Alderman 35th Ward". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
  23. Chicago Board of Elections Summary Report
  24. Byrne, John (August 31, 2017). "Biss selects freshman Chicago alderman as running mate". Chicago Tribune.
  25. Pearson, Rick (September 6, 2017). "Dem gov hopeful Biss drops running mate Ramirez-Rosa over Israel views". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 6, 2017.

Further reading
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