To a lot of Chicagoans, Will Guzzardi's ongoing campaign against 39th Dist. State Rep. Toni Berrios is the story of the city itself: a young, white, bookish transplant faces off against a Democratic scion and community fixture.
A native of North Carolina, Guzzardi moved to Chicago after he graduated from Brown University. He left an editor position at the Huffington post in 2011 to run against Berrios.
Guzzardi's 2012 race represented a deep identity crisis for a historically Latino portion of Chicago's West Side. At just 24, Guzzardi bore the insult of a neighborhood gentrifier. Berrios, a five-time incumbent, faced criticism over her political connections, most notably to her father, Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios.
The race engulfed Chicago's LGBT community. Guzzardi accused Berrios of being soft on LGBT rights. LGBT advocates who had worked with Berrios rushed to defend her. Guzzardi lost the race by just 125 votes, and Berrios went on to vote in favor of marriage equality in November.
Since losing, Guzzardi has organized on a number of local issues. Now, he is throwing his hat back into the race against Berrios. Windy City Times sat down with him to talk about why.
Windy City Times: So what has happened in two years that made you want to run again?
Will Guzzardi: I'm running again because I think the fundamental issues that the folks in my district were concerned about two years ago haven't been addressed, and in many ways, things have gotten harder. You know, the economy in our state is still privileging the very wealthy and the big corporations, and working families are getting more and more of the burden put on their backs. The public-education system in our state is woefully underfunded. Our neighborhood schools are seeing more and more cuts. And we don't have elected leadership in Springfield that's fighting for these concerns. Our elected leadership is fighting for the entrenched political interests.
WCT: You have been characterized by some in this campaign as a young, white gentrifier. How do you respond to that characterization?
Will Guzzardi: I think what's more important than how I feel about it is how the voters of my district feel about it. Every night I go knocking on doors, talking to voters, and what I can tell you is that folks in this community are looking for something new. Folks in this community are fed up with the old school way of doing politics.
WCT: Everyone runs on a promise of change. Can one person change the culture of Springfield?
Will Guzzardi: I'm not going to tell you I'm going to single-handedly go down and fix Springfield. But I do think that an election like this has the chance to start something, that when we prove that independent, grassroots, progressive candidates can win these kinds of elections against opponents who are defended full-tilt by the establishment as my opponent is going to be, when we prove that that's possible, I think that's going to encourage more folks to run, to challenge the establishment legislators in their areas who aren't getting the job done.
WCT: What did you make of the push to pass marriage equality the past two years?
Will Guzzardi: It was a hard-fought battle, and I'm really proud of our state for having accomplished it. I think that living in a state where people are able to marry no matter their sexual orientation is really meaningful, and I'm proud to live in Illinois for that reason.
One of the most salient things to be about this whole debate is, I think it's important to remember that we have not achieved full equality for LGBT people in this state just because marriage equality is now the law.
WCT: But let's talk about the political process because a lot of people were frustrated by that.
Will Guzzardi: I think the fact that it is so difficult to pass good democratic legislation, like marriage equality in the state that is supermajority Democratic in the legislature and has a Democractic Governor, I think that fact speaks to the importance of Democratic primaries because we need to elect better Democrats. Right now the Democrats that we have in office aren't acting like Democrats.
WCT: What are LGBT issues that you see as pressing now that marriage equality has passed?
Will Guzzardi: I think there is still discrimination in the workplace that LGBT folks face, and I think also there's just the sort of subtle daily micro-aggressions, the sort of baseline of discrimination and bias that LGBT folks face every day. That's the kind of issue that you can't legislate away, but it makes it all the more important for us to not let go of this fight.
But the other thing is, I think it's unfair of us to pigeonhole the LGBT community as only focused on issues of LGBT equality. I talk to LGBT folks in this district all the time. They're just as concerned as everybody else about the neighborhood school that they're going to send their kids to… to pigeonhole folks as interested in one issue and one issue alone does a disservice to that community.
WCT: Right, but they can read about your stance on other issues in nearly every other publication. This is perhaps the only place they can learn about your understanding of LGBT issues. Both you and Toni Berrios describe yourselves as allies. So it is very important to ask, what issues, in Illinois specifically, do you think are pressing for LGBT people other than marriage?
Will Guzzardi: I think workplace discrimination is an issue that we need to tackle, and we need stronger laws and better enforcement to protect LGBT from discrimination in the workplace. I think that's the next front in this struggle for us. ( Reporter's note: Illinois has what is considered to be one of the strongest anti-discrimination LGBT laws in the country, and this law includes workplace protections. )
To answer your other question, my opponent has been really strong on LGBT issues. She helped get marriage equality passed. I can't criticize my opponent on those issues. What I would say to the community is, if you're a single-issue voter on LGBT rights, then this election is a toss-up. But if you also care about any of those other issues that I mentioned … then all of the sudden we've got something to talk about.
See www.willguzzardi.com .
