* The question about Mayor Johnson during the debate last night was a bit difficult to watch. Click here for the clip…
Q: Do you approve of the leadership of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and will you support his re election?
Raja Krishnamoorthi: Do you have another question? I’m just kidding.
Q: Congressman Krishnamoorthi, you’re first.
Raja Krishnamoorthi: I’m first. Okay. [audience laughs] Well, look, yeah, look, I think that. Let’s see. I want to see where Brandon Johnson is going to take us. As I said, look, we have tremendous potential in Chicago. We are an amazing city in the Chicago region and all of Illinois for that matter. And the question is, do we bring people together and try to find our boldest common denominators, or do we go a different direction? And I’m always fearful when we might be dividing more than uniting, because when we’re attacking each other, we can’t attack our common problems. And so what are some of those issues that we have to deal with? One is we have to continue to build upon the record that, for instance, Governor JB Pritzker has done at the state level with attracting jobs…
Q: I’m sorry, Congressman. The question wasn’t about the governor, it’s about the mayor. So without attacking specifically, do you approve of his job performance so far? Do you imagine yourself supporting him in a re election?
Krishnamoorthi: Yeah, let me get to that. So basically, what I’m trying to say is this, my support for him will depend on do we do more of building on consensus and bringing people together to tackle our common problems, attracting more economic development, especially the south and west sides of Chicago. Do we work together with business more and trying to find places where we can help them and we can create a win-win? Do we also deal, continue to deal with the public safety issues in a way that recognizes the long term concerns about criminal justice, while at the same time people’s legitimate fears about crime? I would also say this, which is we have tremendous potential. Brandon Johnson can preside over a renaissance in Chicago, but only if he takes the best parts of Chicago and amplifies them.
Juliana Stratton: I’m very grateful for the ways that we have stood together here in the city of Chicago and in the state of Illinois, especially in the wake of all of these attacks by Donald Trump and his administration. And you all might have seen when he was threatening to send federalized troops to our city, we all stood together, federal elected, the Governor and I, county and the city of Chicago to say that we don’t welcome Donald Trump here, that we don’t want his troops, and that we’re going to stand up for our neighbors. So that kind of collaboration must continue. I don’t know if he has announced that he’s running for re election, so I have no comment on that at this time.
Robin Kelly: Like any elected official, people would say this about me: There’s some things you agree with and some things you don’t agree with. I will give him a great compliment on how he handled ICE. And actually, I will give him a great compliment when Chicago was on stage with the DNC, Chicago did a fantastic job under his leadership, and when he had to, he was summoned to DC on the Oversight Committee, and you would be proud of how he stood up and defended Chicago and took a lot of heated questions, but he did a really, really good job. I don’t know if he’s running again. He hasn’t said that to me, but I think that in this next year, time will tell what happens with the budget, what happens with school, what happens with businesses coming in and out of Chicago, can you bring the council together?
