A Chicago public school teacher is launching an independent challenge in the first senate district to challenge a candidate who is said to be the son-in-law of incumbent Tony Munoz (D-Chicago). Muñoz withdrew from the race after Javier Loera Cervantes filed nomination petitions on the last day so nomination petitions could be filed in what appears to be a time-tested technique to ensure Cervantes would not face to no competition in the Democratic primaries.
Froylan “Froy” Jimenez, 46, says he’s running to give people a choice. Jimenez unsuccessfully challenged Muñoz in the Democratic primary two years ago.
“As a teacher who advocates for greater civic participation and tells my children to trust good government, I recognized the need to challenge the establishment and offer an alternative to politically connected candidates,” said Jiménez, who teaches civics at Hancock High School. south west side of chicago.
The redrawn 1st District runs from Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood west to Brookfield and includes the portion of Riverside south of the BNSF railroad tracks.
Jiménez recently filed nomination petitions with 4,686 signatures to get on the ballot as an independent, but his signatures have been challenged and the first hearing on the challenge is this week. Three thousand valid signatures are required. Jimenez said he expected a challenge to the petition.
“The machine doesn’t want people to have a choice,” Jimenez said.
No Republican candidates have entered the race.
Jimenez overcame a petition challenge when he challenged Muñoz two years ago.
“He did everything to get me off the ballot,” Jimenez said. “The political games that incumbent politicians play to get their own hand-picked candidates to succeed them are a mockery of the political process and an ugly way to circumvent our democracy that ultimately limits people’s choice.”
Jimenez is a member of the Hancock High School Local School Board and was elected to the Citywide Local School Board Advisory Board. He is a member of the Members First faction of the Chicago Teachers Union that unsuccessfully challenged the dominant faction of the CTU in this year’s union election and lost. Jimenez ran for a union position but was defeated.
Jimenez said he offers new leadership that is not tied to left-right orthodoxies.
“I want to empower the voters of the 1st District with a real choice and a candidate who is not connected to the privileged political establishment and more connected to the pulse of frustration and the dire need for new leadership and change in our state,” Jimenez said . said
Jimenez was born in Mexico and moved to Bensenville as a young child. He graduated from Fenton High School and won a Chick Evans Scholarship to Marquette University and now lives in Chicago.
Cervantes was born on the south side of Chicago. His mother had immigrated from Mexico. He graduated from UIC and worked for 12 years at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He has also served as an assistant alderman on the Chicago City Council.
