Politico Illinois Playbook reported that Precious Brady-Davis—a longtime trans-rights activist who currently is the associate regional communications director at the environmental organization Sierra Club—is expected to run to represent the 5th Ward in the Chicago City Council next year.
Brady-Davis, who lost a bid for a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District earlier this year, received more than 4,000 votes from within the ward during that race.
She would make history as the city's first transgender council member if elected.
Current 5th Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston is among several City Council members who will not seek re-election next year. Hairston has served on the council for 24 years. According to Block Club Chicago, she was elected to City Council in 1999 and re-elected in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.
She narrowly beat community activist William Calloway in a bitter 2019 election, winning by just 179 votes in the first runoff she faced as alderperson. Hairston's victory capped a long campaign marred by homophobia (Calloway's 2015 tweets after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality), accusations of money mismanagement and violence (shots fired at Calloway's campaign office).
The 5th Ward, on the city's South Side, includes neighborhoods/areas such as Woodlawn, South Shore and Hyde Park.
Windy City Times has reached out to Brady-Davis.
