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Bill Daley

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Bill Daley
Prior offices:
White House Chief of Staff

U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Elections and appointments
Last election
February 26, 2019
Personal
Profession
Venture Capitalist, Banking Executive
Contact

Bill Daley was the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Daley ran for election for Mayor of Chicago in Illinois. Daley lost in the general election on February 26, 2019.

Daley served as U.S. commerce secretary during the Clinton administration from 1997 to 2000 and was the White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama in 2011.[1] He is the son of former Mayor Richard J. Daley and brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Daley served as the U.S. commerce secretary during the Clinton administration and was the White House chief of staff under President Obama.[2]

Daley has served as president and chief operating officer of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, chairman of the midwest for JPMorgan Chase, and as head of JPMorgan Chase's Office of Corporate Responsibility.[3]

Daley received a bachelor's degree from Chicago's Loyola University and a law degree from John Marshall Law School.

Education

B.A. - Loyola University in Chicago LL.B. - John Marshall Law School

Elections

2019

See also: Mayoral election in Chicago, Illinois (2019)

General runoff election

General runoff election for Mayor of Chicago

Lori Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in the general runoff election for Mayor of Chicago on April 2, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Lori Lightfoot
Lori Lightfoot (Nonpartisan)
 
73.7
 
386,039
Image of Toni Preckwinkle
Toni Preckwinkle (Nonpartisan)
 
26.3
 
137,765

Total votes: 523,804
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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General election

General election for Mayor of Chicago

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Chicago on February 26, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Lori Lightfoot
Lori Lightfoot (Nonpartisan)
 
17.5
 
97,667
Image of Toni Preckwinkle
Toni Preckwinkle (Nonpartisan)
 
16.0
 
89,343
Image of Bill Daley
Bill Daley (Nonpartisan)
 
14.8
 
82,294
Image of Willie Wilson
Willie Wilson (Nonpartisan)
 
10.6
 
59,072
Image of Susana Mendoza
Susana Mendoza (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
9.0
 
50,373
Image of Amara Enyia
Amara Enyia (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
8.0
 
44,589
Image of Jerry Joyce
Jerry Joyce (Nonpartisan)
 
7.2
 
40,099
Image of Gery Chico
Gery Chico (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
6.2
 
34,521
Image of Paul Vallas
Paul Vallas (Nonpartisan)
 
5.4
 
30,236
Image of Garry McCarthy
Garry McCarthy (Nonpartisan)
 
2.7
 
14,784
Image of La Shawn Ford
La Shawn Ford (Nonpartisan)
 
1.0
 
5,606
Image of Bob Fioretti
Bob Fioretti (Nonpartisan)
 
0.8
 
4,302
Image of John Kozlar
John Kozlar (Nonpartisan)
 
0.4
 
2,349
Image of Neal Sáles-Griffin
Neal Sáles-Griffin (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.3
 
1,523
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.0
 
86

Total votes: 556,844
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

2014

See also: Illinois gubernatorial election, 2014

Daley was running for election as Illinois Governor in 2014. On September 16, 2013, under two months after formalizing his bid, Daley withdrew his candidacy.[4] Had he remained in the race, Daley would have faced incumbent Pat Quinn for the Democratic nomination in the primary election on March 18, 2014.

Campaign themes

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey

Bill Daley did not complete Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019.

Campaign website

The following themes were found on Daley's 2019 campaign website.

Safe Neighborhoods

As someone who loves Chicago deeply, raised his family here, respects and support our police, and wants to see all families thrive, Bill Daley is deeply concerned about the unacceptable levels of crime in Chicago. The cost, in human, social and economic terms is incalculable. Chicago currently experiences more murders and shootings than New York and Los Angeles combined. We have one of the lowest violent crime clearance rates in the country. We spend tens of millions of dollars every year settling lawsuits related to police abuse, and we have lost the trust and confidence of the community at the very moment when police need more support and cooperation. Chicago desperately needs to reform the police department to rebuild trust among people and better support our police with the training and tools to do their jobs.

Read Bill's comprehensive crime plan here.

Strong Neighborhoods

“You can’t be a great, global city without great neighborhoods. My priority will be extending prosperity to every community in Chicago.”

Strong neighborhoods function like strong networks. They are families, small and large businesses, places of worship, and community organizations working together. Strong neighborhoods have economic vitality, strong schools, good housing and meaningful public spaces. An experienced leader, and a former private sector executive, Bill knows how to marshal a wide range of resources to bring our struggling neighborhoods to a tipping point where they grow organically. In close coordination with community organizations, aldermen, and local business leaders, Bill will focus on helping each neighborhood map a path towards a stronger, safer, and more affordable future.

Public Investment

Our neighborhoods have all received their share of public projects, but they don’t always provide the jumpstart needed to create a sustainable cycle of growth. For neighborhoods to grow, public investments must be coordinated. Whether it is a school, park, library, infrastructure project, or an affordable housing development, every project from the City and sister agencies under the Mayor’s control, must help drive growth. Every agency must work together.

Private Investment

There are many programs to incentivize private sector investment, but they often suffer from excessive bureaucracy and lack of alignment. Under a reformed Department of Planning, Bill will pull together existing incentive programs in order to get maximum impact from private investors. Tax credits, opportunity zone funding, the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, affordable housing dollars and tax-increment financing will all be aligned for developers and investors who invest in struggling Chicago communities. Bill will create a transparent, streamlined approval process to leverage these programs and work with the financial sector to make capital available to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Job Access and Creation

An underlying driver of economic inequality in our city is the access and availability of jobs to people living in low-income communities. As a board member of the Chicago Community Trust and a former banker overseeing corporate responsibility programs to improve cities, Bill has the relationships and the experience to convene major employers and press them to recruit from low-income communities. Bill will work closely with the business community and trade unions to provide access to sub-bachelor’s degree jobs with good wages and health benefits in fields like construction, logistics, utilities and manufacturing. Government can also play a bigger role in employing people from these neighborhoods.

Affordable Neighborhoods

To keep Chicago neighborhoods affordable for people of every income, Bill will focus on increasing the supply of affordable housing, managing government more efficiently, fighting for every new dollar from Springfield, reforming the pension system, and holding down taxes.

Increasing the Supply of Affordable Housing

With the percentage of Chicagoans renting on the rise since the mortgage meltdown of 2008, Chicago’s affordable housing market is tightening. By some estimates, to meet current need, the city needs at least 100,000 additional units of affordable housing while the city’s current five-year plan aims to create less than half of that amount. Bill believes we must do more, building new affordable units in all communities and stimulating economic development to raises wages.

Keeping Improving Communities Affordable

Across Chicago, families fear that they will be priced out of their homes as communities change. Bill understands we must drive economic growth and neighborhood improvements while ensuring existing residents can benefit from new development. Bill will enforce the Affordable Requirements Ordinance to ensure downtown development supports affordable housing in neighborhoods. He will work closely with developers using state and federal tax credits to build more affordable housing. And, he will work with community partners to maintain affordability for existing residents in improving neighborhoods.

Partnering with the City Council

Over half of the city rents and 50% of them are “burdened,” paying more than 30% of their income on housing. However, some wards have not approved any new affordable housing in years. Chicago needs market-based solutions to help low-income families access high-quality homes in neighborhoods of their choice. Bill will work with City Council members and developers to build more affordable housing in all of Chicago’s communities.

Expanding Homeownership

Chicago residents are still recovering from the recession. Our city has one of the highest rates of upside-down mortgages and slowest recovering housing markets in the country. Tens of thousands of families are locked out of the market entirely with no savings, even if they have enough income to support a mortgage. Bill will invest in programs that help working families get down payment assistance so they can realize the American Dream of homeownership.

Homelessness Prevention & Intervention

Nobody should have to sleep on the street. We need to address the root causes of homelessness beyond housing affordability, including lack of living wage jobs and mental health conditions. Bill believes people at-risk of homelessness should have access to the services and resources they need, including rental subsidy programs and emergency and transitional housing.

Education

Supporting Educators and Reducing Bureaucracy

Bill Daley’s three sisters and one of his daughters taught public school. He understands that teachers have a tough job and deserve our support and respect. His commitment to educational equity prompted his role as founding co-chair of Advance Illinois, a non-profit that led the successful fight to reform education funding in Springfield and pushed for other needed changes to improve public education. Bill believes school administrators should help recruit and support great principals and teachers, set a high bar for success, and mostly stay out of their way. To increase the availability of quality educators, counselors, technology, and other investments, Bill will cut CPS bureaucracy and put more dollars and decision-making at the school level.

Strengthening Neighborhood Schools in a Changing System

Parents and students need strong educational options close to their homes. Our challenge is to balance a commitment to neighborhood schools while honoring the right of parents to find the local public school that is best suited to their children. Given shrinking enrollment, Bill will not propose any new schools in the short term, but instead will work with communities to manage changing enrollment in a way that is equitable and focused on student achievement. As Mayor, Bill will launch a community-driven process to rethink neighborhood boundaries so that parents and students have good options close to home.

Post-Secondary Education and Training:

As a business and civic leader, Bill is well-positioned to build a path straight to work for high school graduates who choose not to attend college. He will bring together educators and industry leaders from fields that offer higher wages for non-college-educated workers such as manufacturing, transportation, construction and public utilities, to help young people without college degrees find meaningful work that can support a family. For those who want to continue to college, Bill will work with public and private two and four-year colleges and philanthropists to make higher education affordable to every single student in Chicago who pursues higher education. This plan will include free community college for high-performing CPS students and college scholarships for qualifying low-income students.

Budget & Finance

“We cannot just tax or cut our way out of our financial problems. Any sustainable solution requires growth.”

The City of Chicago faces a difficult and unprecedented financial situation requiring tough choices. Our current $28B in unfunded pension obligations requires Chicago to find over $1B in more funding per year by 2021 and that number will keep rising in the following years. Chicago taxpayers are also on the hook for another $14B in pensions for sister agencies, primarily the Chicago Public Schools. If we stay the current course, we won’t be able to provide essential city services: educating our kids, protecting our families, and strengthening our neighborhoods.

Pensions:

There are two ways to approach our pension problem: find more money year after year by raising taxes and cutting services or fix the system so that funding and benefits are secure, predictable and adequate without squeezing taxpayers or breaking our promise to retirees. To address the pension issue, Bill will look at all options for more state revenue. Bill will also convene all stakeholders to consider pension reforms, revisit the annual cost of living increases and explore benefits changes for future employees. Finally, Bill will only consider a temporary borrowing plan if it’s accompanied by an iron-clad commitment to reforms. More local taxes are the last resort.

City Budget:

Recent efforts to balance City budgets have come at a steep cost in higher property taxes. Moreover, the city is not prepared for major costs like our expired police and fire contracts and rising debt service. To make Chicago safe, strong and affordable for all, Bill will launch a top-to-bottom modernization program to bring every city agency into the digital age, drive efficiencies and reinvest savings in neighborhoods.

Debt Service

Almost all of the $1.4B collected in property taxes each year for the City of Chicago helps pay down our $28 billion in unfunded pensions and $10 billion in debt. Our property taxes can’t be used to pave streets, plant trees, put roofs overhead, or make our neighborhoods safer. Simply put, Chicago is living beyond its means. As Mayor, Bill will limit borrowing and put an end to the “kick the can” budgeting that has reduced Chicago’s credit rating and has created instability and uncertainty year after year.

Climate Plan

With the help of VP Gore's team the Daley's policy team has developed a set of commitments around climate change, building on the work of previous mayors and models in other cities. A summary is below, followed by Chicago’s climate legacy, a summary of Chicago’s current emissions inventory and detailed policy proposals.

Read Daley's full climate plan here.

Leading for the Future

Whether as Secretary of Commerce to President Bill Clinton, Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama, or as a business and civic leader, Bill is no stranger to high-stakes, difficult situations. Bill knows that sustainable solutions require everyone to come to the table – business, labor, city, state -- and unite around bold compromises so we can all succeed together. Bill understands Chicago’s unique role in the region and will continue to lead the city and the region into the new century with confidence and a bold vision for growth.

Watch Bill's speech on vision for Chicago here.[5]

—Bill Daley's 2019 campaign website[6]

See also


External links

Footnotes