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Solis Challengers: Six Candidates File for 25th Ward Race

By Stephanie Lulay | November 25, 2014 5:49am
 Six candidates have filed to run for alderman in the 25th Ward.
Six candidates have filed to run for alderman in the 25th Ward.
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Candidate websites; LinkedIn; Facebook

PILSEN — Six candidates, including veteran Ald. Danny Solis, have filed to run in the February election to represent the 25th Ward on the city's Southwest side.

The aldermanic candidates are:

• Incumbent Solis, who was first appointed to the post in 1996 by Mayor Richard Daley, is chairman of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards. An ally to current Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Solis formerly chaired City Council's Hispanic Caucus.

• Ed Hershey, a science teacher at Lindblom Math & Science Academy in West Englewood, is one of a half-dozen Chicago Teacher's Union educators that are running for alderman in February. Hershey challenged a decision to demolish the Whittier Elementary field house in Pilsen, and was arrested in a protest.

• Longtime community activist Jorge Mujica, a self-proclaimed socialist, is well-known as a champion of immigrant and labor rights movements. In 2010, Mujica ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat in U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski in the Democratic primary.

Troy Hernandez, a data scientist who holds a PhD in statistics from UIC, has campaigned against the Pilsen Metal Shredder project. Hernandez has also called for a study of the health effects of the existing metal shredder, Sims Metal Management.

• Financial advisor Roberto "Beto" Montano, who served as Solis' chief of staff from April 2005 to January 2008, also enters the race. Montano, a veteran, also served on the city's now defunct Latino Advisory Council, part of the Commission on Human Relations.

Byron Sigcho, lead instructor at UIC's Center for Literacy and Pilsen Alliance board member, moved to file an appeal to block the proposed shredder project.

Solis faced three candidates in 2011, and was ultimately re-elected with 53 percent of the vote. Solis, who has represented the 25th Ward for nearly two decades, has said he supports the shredder project.

The ward includes parts of Pilsen, Chinatown, the West Loop, Little Italy and Heart of Chicago.

The election is Feb. 24.

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