Harold 2.0?
Can Jesus "Chuy" Garcia put together a rainbow coalition of the 21st Century?
By Michael Romain
A lot has changed for Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia in the few weeks since forcing Mayor Rahm Emanuel into an April 7 runoff election.
A poll conducted by the firm Ogden & Fry in early March showed the two candidates in a "dead heat," with Emanuel drawing about 43 percent, and Garcia drawing about 39 percent, support among roughly 1,000 likely voters. An unscientific poll conducted by the African American publication N'DIGO magazine showed Garcia with about 64 percent support and Emanuel with about 36 percent support among roughly 440 respondents.
Garcia's name recognition has increased both in Chicago and throughout the country. He's been profiled by publications such as the New York Times, the Nation, the International Business Times and USA Today. The Daily Beast dubbed him the "Rahm Slayer." He's appeared on left-leaning cable shows, such as MSNBC's the "Ed Show" and "Democracy Now!"
Garcia has also experienced a significant bump in campaign revenue. He's raised more than $365,000 between Feb. 24 and March 7—that's about a quarter of the money he raised throughout his entire campaign leading up to election night. Much of that money has come in the form of $1,000 contributions from donors whose listed occupations include doctor, homemaker, company president, software engineer, truck driver and professor. But most of it is owing to two donations—$250,000 from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and $25,000 from Yusef D. Jackson, the beer distributor and son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., who officially endorsed Garcia last week.
A race that was once mostly about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's first term has now turned into a contest of two wills and one dark horse.
As much as Rahm Emanuel's team has mounted attacks against Garcia's political resume, they've been much less inclined to touch his deep connections to historical populist figures such as Cesar Chavez, Jesse Jackson, Sr. (a la 1984 and 1988) and Harold Washington. That's because if Emanuel's team focuses too much attention on this aspect of Garcia's history, they only risk playing into what could be the political equivalent of an uncontrollable brush fire.
"People haven't recovered from the Emanuel administration's 50 school closures," said Jackson during an interview last year with In These Times. "That was one of the most devastating blows. Banks were charged with targeting and clustering black and brown families and found guilty of pushing subprime mortgage loans on minority communities, but not a single person was charged with a crime. That compounded the sense of alienation. And it is this alienation that amounts to dry chips, ready to ignite."
Garcia's brand of populism may have the potential to ignite a genuinely populist, multiracial, movement-based campaign in the mold of Jackson's two presidential bids in 1984 and 1988, or Washington's successful run for mayor in 1983. And Garcia himself—who served as one of Jackson's delegates during his '88 run and was a key figure in Washington's reformist administration—is the only candidate in the race who can claim ownership of such a movement with any kind of sincerity.
If that were to happen, Mayor Emanuel wouldn't be able to co-opt it by changing his pitch or making last-minute policy adjustments. The key to victory for Garcia is how effectively he can mobilize that sort of movement-based coalition. The key to victory for the mayor is how effectively he can stop this Harold 2.0? | Articles | News | AustinWeeklyNews.com:
