Sen. Daniel Biss Names Chicago Alderman As Running Mate

CHICAGO, IL — At a rally in Logan Square Thursday evening, Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) announced Chicago Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa would be his choice for lieutenant governor and running mate in next year's race for governor. Ramirez-Rosa has represented Chicago's 35th Ward, which includes Logan Square, Hermosa, Avondale and Irving Park, since 2015.

With the pick, Biss, along with fellow gubernatorial candidate Ald. Ameya Pawar, is seeking to win over the progressive wing of the Democratic party against the deep pockets of Chris Kennedy and J.B. Pritzer, who Thursday morning received the endorsement of a coalition of downstate unions.

"In this election, we have the chance to change the fundamental direction of our state by putting middle class and working families first," Ramirez-Rosa said at the rally. "But if we're going to transform our state, we can't replace one billionaire with another billionaire." Ramirez-Rosa is a former staffer for U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez, former community organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the first openly gay Latino elected to the Chicago City Council.

Biss said Illinois needs a leader who understands that grassroots politics is not just for campaigning but a valuable model for governance as well. He said he represents a new generation of Democrats prepared to "throw out the old machine playbook."

"And most importantly," Biss said, the state needs "someone who is a progressive in their core. Someone who is unafraid to take on power, and unashamed to stand with the middle class and working families of Illinois." (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Evanston — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Ramirez-Rosa, the grandson of immigrants and the son of educators, said Biss was the best candidate to represent working and middle class families "because he lives their lives...[and] has a proven record of fighting for them every year, not just in election years."

Republican Jeremy Hynes, who is seeking to represent the North Shore's 10th District in Congress, described Ramirez-Rosa as "an avowed Socialist and far-left Chicago political activist" and called on incumbent Rep. Brad Schneider to rescind his endorsement of Biss, the "socialist-hugging governor candidate."

_{Top photo: Daniel Biss, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa | Illinois Senate, Northeastern Illinois University}