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Felix Cardona Jr.
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2019 - Present
2027
6
Felix Cardona Jr. is a member of the Chicago City Council in Illinois, representing Ward 31. He assumed office on May 20, 2019. His current term ends on May 17, 2027.
Cardona ran for re-election to the Chicago City Council to represent Ward 31 in Illinois. He 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 31
Incumbent Felix Cardona Jr. defeated Esteban Burgoa Ontañon and Patrick Gibbons II in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 31 on February 28, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Felix Cardona Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 81.0 | 5,113 | |
| Esteban Burgoa Ontañon (Nonpartisan) | 18.7 | 1,181 | ||
| Patrick Gibbons II (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.3 | 20 | ||
| Total votes: 6,314 | |||
 = 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 31
Felix Cardona Jr. defeated incumbent Milagros Santiago in the general runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 31 on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Felix Cardona Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 54.3 | 3,584 | |
| Milagros Santiago (Nonpartisan) | 45.7 | 3,017 | ||
| Total votes: 6,601 | |||
| = 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 31
Incumbent Milagros Santiago and Felix Cardona Jr. advanced to a runoff. They defeated Colin Bird-Martinez in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 31 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Milagros Santiago (Nonpartisan) | 40.3 | 2,588 | |
| ✔ | Felix Cardona Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 33.2 | 2,132 | |
 | Colin Bird-Martinez (Nonpartisan) | 26.5 | 1,699 | |
| Total votes: 6,419 | |||
| = 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
- Renne Chavez (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Felix Cardona Jr. did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Felix Cardona Jr. completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cardona'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?
I am a firm believer in public education and at the same time giving parents a choice. I believe parents should have the opportunity to send their children to charter schools. I also believe in an elected school board and collective-bargaining agreements for teachers within the charter school system.
How would you address inequality within and between schools?
The first thing I would do is lobby our legislators in Springfield for a new school funding formula. And secondly, I will advocate for performance standards for teachers.
How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
I believe the answer to this question is a sense of accountability. And I believe that an elected school board will take us in the right direction. It will hold teachers accountable as well as the Chicago Teachers Union, the parents, the students and the community at large.
What do you believe are the greatest needs of kids in school today? How would you prioritize these needs and address them?
The biggest need of children in Chicago Public Schools today is to have them be prepared for one of two things upon graduation from high school: a job or entry into college. To that extent, I am a firm believer that we should bring back vocational training at all public high schools and offer students an alternative to college.
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
I am a big supporter of the Headstart Program and would love to see neighborhood children enrolled in some form of preschool education around the age of 3 or 4. I also support a strong before-school program for elementary, junior high, and high schools that would involve having tutors available to address students' needs such as homework and test preparation. In regard to after-school programs, After School Matters and extra-curricular activities, such as sports or arts programs, are great resources for our children to expand their learning beyond the typical school day.
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?
Without a doubt, I believe there are pay-to-play politics at work within our public school system. This is evident from the number of no-bid contracts that are awarded along with seeing the same contractors getting public school business year in and year out without any competitive bidding. I would work to bring an end to those practices. I would insist on competitive bidding for every contract, including those to provide professional services, and to pour the savings into the classrooms.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
The first thing I would do to make city policies more accountable to the community is to eliminate aldermanic prerogative. Alderman have been acting like feudal lords over their communities long enough and several have gone to prison for it. Getting rid of aldermanic prerogative in the areas of zoning, liquor license awards, special use permits, etc., would go a long way in restoring public confidence in our elected officials.
How would you handle the “recurrence of unaddressed racially discriminatory conduct by officers” identified in the U.S. Justice Department’s investigative report of the Chicago PD published in 2017?
I believe the answer here is pretty clear-cut. Re-train all existing officers in the dangers of discriminatory practices and racial profiling. And institute new effective training criteria for recruits coming into the department. Only then can we begin to restore confidence to our police in the various communities they serve.
What sort of proposals would help reduce police shootings and fatalities?
Better training in the art of de-escalation would go a long way in reducing police shootings and fatalities. Further, tasers should be the weapon a first response and not the officers service weapon.
What ideas do you have to reduce the availability of illegal or unregistered guns in Chicago?
Enforce the laws that are on the books now. We don’t need any more gun laws. We just need to enforce the ones that have already been put in place.
How will you help to rebuild trust in the police department and to encourage the community to work with police?
I am a big proponent of foot patrols and having officers specifically assigned to commercial strips within their districts. Only when the citizenry at large knows the police officers responsible for their safety and for keeping the peace will good police and community relations be reestablished.
How would you address criminal justice issues such as prison reform and the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons into city life?
The issue of prison reform is an issue for our state representatives and our state senators. However, the re-integration of formally incarcerated persons into city life is indeed a responsibility of the elected officials within the City of Chicago. I believe job training, vocational training and educational opportunities in general would go a long way in re-integrating ex-offenders into normal city life. Chicago’s Department of Human Services should institute a program designed to help these individuals in the areas mentioned. They have paid their debt to society. Now they need to be re-integrated into society.
How would you address the displacement of people of color and long-term residents from their neighborhoods?
The displacement of people of color and long-term residents in our neighborhoods is directly attributable to hire real estate taxes. Stabilizing those taxes and encouraging people to stay within their communities would be a priority of mine. Having worked in county government directly addressing the issues of property assessments, I believe I know what needs to be done to stabilize our communities.
How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
The care for the most vulnerable residents of the city of Chicago should be a combined effort not only by the city, but also by state and federal agencies. We are all responsible for our seniors and our handicapped residents. However, this kind of comprehensive care is expensive, and the burden should not be solely on the residents of the city of Chicago and should be augmented by state and federal funds.
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
The first thing I would do is eliminate the TIF program. It is nothing but a slush fund being used by the mayor to help his favorite developers and pet projects. Once we have done that, we take our development opportunities away from the powers-that-be downtown and put them squarely where they belong, with the neighborhood residents.
How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
The first thing I would do is eliminate the TIF program. The second thing I would do would be to make sure that all 50 words got their fair share of government funds in order to stabilize and promote local businesses within their communities. Too much money is going downtown and not enough into our neighborhoods. I will look to reverse that trend.
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
It is well known by now that we need new sources of revenues if we want to attack the issue of the under funded pension plan for city employees. The first thing I would do is to eliminate defined benefit pensions to all new city workers. The city should move to have employees pay into a 401(k) plan. The second thing I would do is look to expand gaming within the city limits so long as every new gaming dollar is earmarked for shoring-up the pension fund. After we have accomplished the goal of fully funding our pension funds then and only then would I like to see gaming dollars poured into the corporate fund.
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?
This will be a very short answer for me. I will be the biggest proponent of eliminating the TIF program that ever existed within the Chicago City Council.
How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
I would consider increased revenues from all the sources that are available to the city, including new revenue streams that could come from video gaming and marijuana in order to relieve the oppressive cost of living in the city for the majority of our renters and homeowners.
Would you be in favor of freezing property taxes, at least for low-income households, so that people can stay where they are living?
I would be in favor of freezing property taxes, at the very least for residents in low-income households.
How would you increase access to quality food and urgent care in all parts of the city?
To increase access to quality food and urgent care in at-risk/struggling parts of the city, I would offer tax incentives for organizations like food pantries and health clinics for providing affordable services to all parts of the city, with a particular focus on under-served and low-income communities.
How will you address public health concerns such as contaminated drinking water, rat infestation, and lead poisoning?
Public health concerns such as the contamination of our drinking water, rat infestation and lead poisoning should be the responsibility of one agency within the city of Chicago instead of having those responsibilities spread across the board of six or seven departments. I believe that consolidation is the key to providing the kinds of services needed in order to address these problems.
How would you make Chicago a cleaner city with less waste and pollution?
I believe a comprehensive approach by a singular department is the answer to making Chicago cleaner and greener. Working with the existing oversight committees and regulatory bodies to accomplish that goal is worth exploring in order to increase accountability at the bureaucratic level.
What would be your first steps for improving the transit system in terms of affordability, accessibility, and safety?
I believe we should bring back the old CTA police force and bring back conductors in the middle of every train. Right now, the only CTA employee on any given train is the train operator or motor man. We need a conductor walking up and down the various trains to ensure customer safety and cleanliness. Once we have done that, I believe ridership will increase as will corresponding revenues. Further, I believe the city should apply for a grant from the Department of Homeland Security to provide these kinds of security services to the CTA.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Milagros Santiago |
Chicago City Council Ward 31 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| |||||||||
 |
State of Illinois Springfield (capital) |
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