Chicago’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter has decided not to endorse two of the City Council’s founding socialist aldermen for reelection, even as the group backs a pair of challengers hoping to unseat sitting members in the 44th and 3rd wards. The decisions, unveiled as 2027 municipal candidates begin collecting nominating signatures, expose a widening rift between the chapter’s ideological demands and some of its longest-serving allies in City Hall.
Chicago DSA declined to endorse both 1st Ward Ald. Daniel La Spata and 20th Ward Ald. Jeanette Taylor, according to WTTW News. La Spata fell short of the chapter’s endorsement by just two votes, sources told the outlet, in a process that requires a two-thirds majority of members to approve any candidate. At the same time, the chapter backed 33rd Ward Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, 35th Ward Ald. Anthony Quezada, 46th Ward Ald. Angela Clay, and 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez for reelection, while also throwing its support behind two outside challengers: Kalen Luciano, a 26-year-old software engineer running to unseat 44th Ward Ald. Bennett Lawson, and Raheem Uqdah, a social investor and community organizer challenging 3rd Ward Ald. Pat Dowell.
Founding Socialists Fall Out Over Migrant Spending and Gaza
La Spata and Taylor were both among the five founding aldermen who launched the City Council’s Democratic Socialist Caucus on May 1, 2021, alongside Sigcho-Lopez, Rodriguez-Sanchez, and Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who has since become superintendent of the Chicago Park District. That bloc grew out of the 2019 election wave that expanded the council’s socialist presence from a single seat to six, according to Ballotpedia — the largest municipal socialist bloc elected in a major American city in modern history.
Taylor voted in favor of spending $51 million to care for migrants arriving in Chicago in May 2023 and, per WTTW News, voted against spending millions more in taxpayer dollars on migrant care between 2022 and 2024. She also opposed former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to convert a shuttered Woodlawn school into a migrant shelter. Taylor told WTTW News she is not interested in being part of an organization she considers anti-Black, though she added that she still considers herself a socialist and said she is running for what will be her final City Council term.
Anti-Zionist Questionnaire Draws Outside Criticism
The endorsement process also drew fire from outside City Hall. La Spata would not state that he considers himself anti-Zionist, and the chapter’s candidate questionnaire — which asks candidates directly whether they identify as anti-Zionist and whether they support municipal-level Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions measures — has been criticized by ADL Midwest as an ideological litmus test unrelated to aldermanic duties, according to Newsbusters. Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said requiring anti-Zionist positioning as a prerequisite for public office amounts to antisemitism.
La Spata was a lead sponsor of a City Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, which passed only after Mayor Brandon Johnson broke a tie vote. Rodriguez-Sanchez voted against a separate council resolution condemning Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which the council approved less than a week after the assault that WTTW News reports killed more than 1,300 Israeli civilians and soldiers and saw more than 100 people taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent bombing campaign and invasion of Gaza has displaced most of the territory’s two million residents, and Gaza’s health ministry says 73,000 Palestinians have been killed. Chicago police data show hate crimes motivated by religion targeted Jewish Chicagoans in 88% of cases in 2025, even as such hate crimes against Jewish Chicagoans dropped 40% that year after surging in 2024; Mayor Johnson, who is not a DSA member, created a Jewish engagement council in June.
Challengers Target Lakeview and Bronzeville Incumbents
In the 44th Ward, Luciano — who founded a group lobbying for more housing, improved transit, and safer Chicago streets — is running to unseat Lawson, who was elected in 2023 after nearly 15 years as chief of staff to former Ald. Tom Tunney and ran unopposed that year following Tunney’s retirement. Lawson later clashed with City Hall over zoning leadership, pausing committee meetings amid a resource dispute before Ald. Gilbert Villegas was confirmed as permanent zoning chair in April, a fight Hoodline previously reported put Chicago development projects at risk.
In Bronzeville’s 3rd Ward, Uqdah — a social investor, community organizer, and father of two — is challenging Dowell, who has represented the ward since 2007 and chairs the City Council’s Finance Committee. Dowell helped craft the 2026 city spending plan, which took effect over Johnson’s objections, and has split from the mayor on several key issues.
Reelection Bids and a Growing Membership Roll
Elsewhere on the endorsed slate, Quezada — who was appointed to replace Ramirez-Rosa and is now seeking his first full term — and Clay are both running for reelection with DSA backing, as is Andre Vasquez, who is seeking a third council term after previously leaving the chapter when it objected to his 2020 budget vote. Sigcho-Lopez, meanwhile, is fighting a separate legal battle: he filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections after being disqualified from the November 2026 ballot in his independent bid for Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, a case Hoodline covered in detail after election officials validated just 9,594 of the more than 17,000 signatures he submitted following challenges from Democratic opponents. In June, an unidentified individual detonated an explosive device outside Sigcho-Lopez’s home, shattering a window during the height of petition reviews, an incident he publicly condemned as potential targeted political violence.
Chicago DSA spokesperson Rachel Monk said the chapter’s membership has grown more than 25% since February and roughly 45% over the past 13 months, putting it at more than 3,100 members in good standing. The chapter, which describes itself as an anti-racist organization, has long been at odds with landlords and business groups and is now working to push City Council support for Johnson’s renter-protection law rewrite, which would add new tenant protections and scale back landlords’ power over a measure landlords and business groups oppose; a vote on competing renter-protection proposals could come as soon as this fall. Deana Corbitt, a DSA member, said the chapter still hopes La Spata and Taylor will be reelected despite the non-endorsements. The chapter did not endorse candidates in the 31st, 32nd, or 36th ward contests but encouraged candidates there to apply, and it will consider endorsing in two more races after candidates formally qualify for the ballot in late October. Notably, two of the three council challengers Chicago DSA backed in 2023 lost their races, and the chapter never endorsed Johnson himself in that cycle.
