Will the issue of illegals drive Chicago's black voters to the GOP?
Last week, several black Chicagoans showed up in City Hall wearing Donald Trump's MAGA hats to blast Mayor Brandon Johnson for taking resources away from black communities. They threatened to vote for Republicans in 2024 and railed against the Democrat Party.
The residents, some also wearing their own "Make Chicago Red" t-shirts, were angry at the millions being spent to give free housing, clothing, medical care, food, job training, legal aid and more to President Joe Biden's tidal wave of illegal aliens. Johnson has subsequently shut down neighborhood parks and schools and turned them over to the migrants and as he claws back funding for the programs residents have relied on for their communities.
Many of these residents have been pledging to vote for independents and even Republicans if those candidates promise to stop the spending on illegals and once again prioritize black neighborhoods.
In January, for instance, Chicago resident Cata Truss appeared on Fox News to urge her fellow Chicagoans to make a major change in how they vote.
"The Democratic Party has always neglected to pay attention to the Black community," Truss told Fox & Friends First host Todd Piro. "That is traditional, and because we have been so committed to supporting that party, they feel that they can continue to disrespect us, to marginalize us, to not hear our voices."
"If the Democratic Party is not going to listen to us, if the Democratic Party is not going to stand up for the people that have supported this party, then it's time for us to make a change," Truss added. "Now, let me just say this as well. The Republican Party is not spotless, but we do need to say at this point it's time to do something different."
"You can't keep doing the same old thing and expecting a different outcome, and so that is why it is so important for the citizens of Chicago to turn Chicago red," she said.
This writer spoke to Truss early in 2024 and she said one of her chief concerns at the time was Mayor Johnson's decision in November of last year to shut down Amundsen Park Field House and turn the community center over to housing migrants.
While Johnson later pulled back on those plans in that specific locale due to the public outcry, that was not the first local neighborhood facility he turned over to migrants. There had been many before that and always in Chicago’s black communities, never it its upper income areas.
The constant redirection of city finances and resources being turned over to the illegals has set many in Chicago's African American community on edge. All across the city's black-majority neighborhoods, residents are asking why they keep voting for Democrats.
This seminal question being asked all over the city by a growing number of people is sparking a grass roots movement, one that is far from being formally organized.
For example, the men hosting the podcast "Thinking Outside the Box" (TOTB) recently held a small event where local residents gathered to complain about Johnson's bowing to migrants.
One woman in particular went on an extended rant against the loss they are suffering, saying, "So, they bringing them in, you wonder where the money coming from? They taking it from the COVID fund that was here, that money. You talking about all the pro Housing Programs so when people pay rent, all the rental programs, that money. All the programs that we have in the city of Chicago they are bankrupting us."
"They are taking from all of these programs that we have and they are taking the money and they’re funding the migrants," she added. "Our taxpayers, we’ve already paid $32 million out of our taxes to house and take care of the migrants thus far."
"But here we’re going to be taking care of them for 5 to seven years while there’s paperwork floating on people’s desk and why?” she asked. “Send them home, send them back! But Venezuela already said ‘oh we’re not taking them back."
The woman was 100 percent right, of course. But one of the hosts of TOTB asked the stinging question: "Who did you vote for?"
She admitted she has always voted for Democrats, but she may be reassessing that tendency. She is far from alone among her peers.
Therein lies the dilemma. While many African Americans in the Windy City are currently claiming that they intend to stop fighting for Democrats spurred by the loss they are feeling thanks to Johnson's supplication to Joe Biden's migrants, the question remains, will they really do it?
The fact is, Chicago has been controlled by the Democratic Party for more than 90 years at this point. The last mayor who hailed from the GOP was William H. Thompson, who left office in 1931. In a mere seven years, that will mean Democrats have controlled the Windy City for a full century.
Chicago's black community most certainly has a reason to stop voting for Democrats. The Democratic Party has never done anything but take the black vote for granted. And for generations, the black vote has been a kneejerk supporter of the Democrats no matter how badly they are treated by that party. Chicago has the highest black unemployment in the state — far higher than the national average. Black people in Chicago continue to die by the dozens in neighborhood violence every month. Their graduation rate from Chicago's failed schools continues to fall. Every year fewer black students can read, write, or perform math at grade level. And yet, they continue to vote for the party of the Chicago Teachers Union that has done so much to destroy their health, welfare, and success.
But one can easily imagine that this current grass roots movement is just born of momentary pique and that even if they don't vote for Democrats this year, they will flock right back to the blue banner soon enough. And at some point, party bigwigs know this and they feel they can just wait out the anger and do what they want despite the outcry.
To be sure, Chicago's GOP has seen no material move from those in the African American community to drop their Democratic Party registration and to re-register as Republicans. However, there was a change in voting habits during the recent primary.
"What we saw across the city in every ward was an increase in Hispanic and black voters pulling GOP ballots. In some wards, the increase was 25-40 percent. In other wards, the number doubled," says a GOP political operative in Chicago.
Still, it seems most likely that if some black voters might pull the lever for a few odd Republicans in 2024, the bigger impact will be felt in how many just stay home and don't go to the polls at all. And in a city that rarely sees more than 20 percent turnout in black communities, anyway, that will leave a lot of Democrats getting into office with a tiny slice of votes and Republicans still making no headway.
While any sort of permanent movement away from the Democrats seems unlikely from our vantage point today, time will tell, of course. Perhaps we are on the cusp of a realignment. After all, more blacks are set to vote for Donald Trump than any GOP candidate in a century. Maybe Trump’s success with have staying power.
