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Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez
2019 - Present
2027
6
Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez is a member of the Chicago City Council in Illinois, representing Ward 33. She assumed office on May 20, 2019. Her current term ends on May 17, 2027.
Rodriguez Sanchez ran for re-election to the Chicago City Council to represent Ward 33 in Illinois. She won in the general election on February 28, 2023.
Elections
2023
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2023)
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 33
Incumbent Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez defeated Samie Martinez and Laith Shaaban in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 33 on February 28, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (Nonpartisan) | 54.7 | 5,814 |
| Samie Martinez (Nonpartisan) | 33.9 | 3,604 | ||
| Laith Shaaban (Nonpartisan) | 11.4 | 1,212 | ||
| Total votes: 10,630 | |||
 = 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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2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 33
Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez defeated incumbent Deb Mell in the general runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 33 on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (Nonpartisan) | 50.1 | 5,754 |
 | Deb Mell (Nonpartisan) | 49.9 | 5,741 | |
| Total votes: 11,495 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 33
Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez and incumbent Deb Mell advanced to a runoff. They defeated Katie Sieracki in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 33 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (Nonpartisan) | 42.0 | 4,598 |
| ✔ | | Deb Mell (Nonpartisan) | 41.3 | 4,515 |
| Katie Sieracki (Nonpartisan) | 16.7 | 1,822 | ||
| Total votes: 10,935 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joel Zawko (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rodriguez Sanchez's responses.
Low-income families do not have the same choices, options, or alternatives when it comes to public school. How can this be addressed?
A quality neighborhood school should be the right of every child in Chicago. Our neighborhood schools, though, have had resources siphoned from them for years to support the city's aggressive charter school scheme. Charter schools were pushed by past administrations as a semi-privatization scheme aimed at lowering wages, undermining educators’ collective bargaining strength, and turning one of the nation’s largest school systems over to a collection of business-backed interests. I support a moratorium on new charter schools. So does a majority of my ward. In 2016, my home organization, 33rd Ward Working Families, placed a referendum on a charter school moratorium on the ballot, and the measure won decisively, and across every single precinct. I support an elected school board for Chicago.
Do you believe that there is corruption in Chicago politics, such as pay-to-play practices when the city awards bids? If so, how would you address it?
As Ald. Ed Burke shows us, corruption in this city continues to be a major problem. The old machine politics continues to be a source of corruption. Part of the solution is promoting initiatives and policies to change the culture and operating rules in City Council. There are a number of proposals I am willing to fight for, such as strengthening conflict of interest rules and enforcement; I agree with the Progressive Caucus that we should expand Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s subpoena and investigative powers and strengthen Rule 14 to require a written explanation of aldermanic conflicts of interest. At the root of this problem are the rich and well-connected gaining access to our elected officials through undemocratic decision-making in Chicago. The other part of the solution to encourage ethics reform is taking decision-making out of the backroom of the alderman’s office and putting them out to the community through transparent and democratic processes.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
I would expand opportunities for democratic engagement in the 33rd Ward and put power into more hands through implementing a participatory budgeting process, establishing community-driven processes for development and zoning, and setting up dedicated space for community organizing.
What sort of proposals would help reduce police shootings and fatalities?
I support a Chicago Police Accountability Council.
What ideas do you have to reduce the availability of illegal or unregistered guns in Chicago?
Chicago’s abundance of illegal firearms is a product of much deeper issues plaguing our city. I worked last year as a teacher at an alternative high school and taught students who had been affected in various ways by violence. Many of my students were in gangs because they could not find jobs. I do not believe that there’s a way to make safe communities that does not include deliberate and substantial investments in those communities—with fully funded public schools, living-wage jobs, vocational training, community-building projects, after-school and youth engagement programs, arts and sports offerings, access to mental health services, access to housing, and support services specifically aimed at helping families.
How would you address the displacement of people of color and long-term residents from their neighborhoods?
Displacement for lower-income people and people of color is a major issue facing the 33rd Ward. Since our alderman took office in 2013, the ward has lost more than 5,000 Latinos and some 600 school-aged children. Like some its neighboring wards, the 33rd is threatened with a shortage of affordable housing and is coming under the pressure of gentrification. In the 33rd Ward, half of renters are “rent-cost burdened,” meaning that more than 30% of their income goes to paying rent. In most of the ward, rents have risen at a faster pace than wages. Our incumbent alderman has facilitated this process by ushering in luxury development (and re-development of previously lower-cost housing), adhering to the bare minimum required by the ARO, and siding with developer campaign donors against longtime residents facing eviction; the alderman is personally credited by developer-donors with helping to expel residents. I believe that bold action is needed to maintain the diverse composition and character of our ward’s neighborhoods, keep people in their homes, and prevent local rent costs from spiraling out of reach for working-class people. I support implementing rent control measures and was a community leader in the Lift the Ban coalition, which won a referendum in the ward supporting the repeal of a state law banning rent control. I support putting forward strong affordability standards, implementing just-cause eviction laws, and adhering to the aims of the Keeping the Promise ordinance. And I would implement a community-driven zoning process and measures to demystify the process to make proposals for change accountable to the needs and wishes of the affected communities; in this, I support targeted efforts to engage renters, non-English speakers, and lower-income residents—groups that are typically under-represented in conversations about development.
How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
I believe that vulnerable populations should not just be "cared for," but should be engaged to play an active role advocating around the issues that matter to their lives. I would open a community organizing space so that tenants unions, immigrants rights organizations, and other groups of constituents have the resources to come together, discuss ideas, and propose solutions.
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
I am running on a “No Developer Dollars” pledge and will not accept campaign donations from developers seeking to come into the ward. I will implement a community-driven development and zoning process to make proposals understandable to regular people and let residents decide on the ward's future.
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
When managed properly, pensions benefit not only employees but the city as a whole, as they attract quality, dedicated people to city jobs and create stable work environments that produce a better quality of service for residents. I do not support cuts to public pensions. To put the burden of years of mismanagement of pension funds by city leaders on the backs of pensioners is not only unconstitutional but destructive to their quality of life. I believe the city should look toward ending the massive subsidies for corporations and developers and advance progressive revenue solutions, such as those described below.
What’s your opinion on tax increment financing (a program that funds development using any additional property tax revenue that results from an increase in appraised property values)? What, if any, changes would you make to the use of TIF?
I would abolish the TIF program.
How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
I support progressive taxation initiatives including a LaSalle Street Tax and a real estate transfer tax, reinstating the corporate head tax, and I support a progressive property tax increase that places the burden on those most able to pay.
How will you address public health concerns such as contaminated drinking water, rat infestation, and lead poisoning?
City Council must address this issue without delay. This requires holding hearings to commission studies to fully understand the scope of the contamination, from there moving to implement a master plan with the required funding to repair / replace contaminated systems.
How would you make Chicago a cleaner city with less waste and pollution?
We should reopen the Department of the Environment that was closed under Rahm Emanuel. We need to continue the cleanup of the Chicago River and address the dangerous issue of lead-contaminated drinking water. The city needs to ban petcoke that is polluting communities on the Southeast Side. On a larger scale, the city should look at a community solar program (such as the one suggested by Illinois Solar for All) and should strive to become a national leader in environmentally sound public works projects by signing on to the Green New Deal.
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See also
2023 Elections
External links
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Officeholder Chicago City Council Ward 33 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Deb Mell |
Chicago City Council Ward 33 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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State of Illinois Springfield (capital) |
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