La Shawn Ford

La Shawn K. Ford is an American politician who is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 8th District since 2007.

La Shawn Ford
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives
from the 8th district
Assumed office
January 2007 (2007-January)
Preceded byCalvin Giles
Personal details
Born1971/1972 (age 48–49)[1]
Chicago, Illinois, US
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceChicago, Illinois
Alma materLoyola University (B.S.)
ProfessionReal estate broker, teacher

Ford was a candidate for Mayor of Chicago in the 2019 election.[2]

Early life, education, and career

Ford was born in Chicago's Cabrini–Green housing project.[3] He grew up in the Austin community of Chicago.[3] His family moved to the Austin community when he was two years old.[4] Ford never met his father.[4] His mother was an unwed teen, and he was adopted by his grandmother at birth.[4]

Ford grew up poor.[4]

Ford attended Lady Help of Christians Catholic Elementary School and graduated from Weber High School.[4]

Initially, after high school, Ford attended the Niles College Seminary at Loyola University in Chicago contemplating becoming a priest.[4] Ford ultimately received a bachelor of arts in elementary education from Loyola, with a minor in political science.[4] He played basketball while at Loyola.[4] He also received a degree from University of Illinois at Chicago.[4]

Ford became a history teacher and basketball coach for Chicago Public Schools. Later he became a licensed Illinois real estate broker, and became the founder of Ford Desired Real Estate in 2001.[5][4] He has served as a member of the Chicago and National Association of Realtors, board member of the Austin YMCA, board member of Circle Family Care, board member of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, founding organizer of Zawadi Youth Group, and member of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church Parish Council and Finance Committee.[6]

Ford worked as a Democratic precinct captain in the neighborhood where he grew up.[4]

Legislative career

Ford was first election in the 2006 general election, defeating incumbent Calvin Giles in the Democratic primary with 83% of the vote.[5]

In the 100th Illinois General Assembly, Ford is the Chair two committees; Financial Institutions and Restorative Justice. Ford's committee assignments are: the Appropriations Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education; Appropriations Committee on Human Services; Higher Education; Insurance: Property & Casualty; Tourism, Hospitality & Craft Industries; and Veterans' Affairs.[6]

Ford is a member of the Medicaid Managed Care Oversight Task Force.[7] To monitor how the State approaches and manages a new form of health care delivery system based on managed care models, particularly for people with disabilities and the elderly.[8] He is also a member of the Violence Prevention Task Force.[9] The Violence Prevention Task Force seeks to increase awareness of resources, jobs, and opportunities to prevent violence and to assist violence prevention groups and other social institutions in providing safe places for those at risk of violence.[8]

From 2006 until 2012, Ford had received $16,350 in campaign contributions from labor unions. This included $3,000 from AFL-CIO, $2,650 from AFSCME, $200 from Illinois Education Association; $2,500 from the Illinois Federation of Teachers, $7,000 from the Chicago Teachers Union, $1,000 from Service Employees International Union.[10]

In 2020, Ford voiced support for the abolition of history classes in Illinois schools, claiming that "current history teaching practices overlook the contributions by Women and members of the Black, Jewish, LGBTQ communities and other groups" and "until a suitable alternative is developed, we should instead devote greater attention toward civics and ensuring students understand our democratic processes and how they can be involved".[11]

2019 mayoral campaign

Ford ran for mayor of Chicago in 2019. After giving notice of a possible candidacy in late-September,[4] Ford officially announced his candidacy on October 31, 2018, joining what was an already-crowded field of candidates seeking to replace Rahm Emanuel, who had announced in early September that he would not seek reelection.[12]

Candidate Willie Wilson challenged signatures on Ford's candidature petition, but the Chicago Board of Elections allowed Ford to remain on the ballot, finding that, "candidate Willie Wilson's objection to his petitions was not made in good faith."[13]

In the polls he was included in, Ford never placed higher than 2%, and most frequently received around 1% support.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

Ford placed eleventh out of fourteen candidates, receiving 5,606 votes (1.01% of the overall vote) in the initial round of the election.[22]

Personal life

Ford has a daughter named Tia.[4]

On November 29, 2012, Ford was indicted on charges of bank fraud, alleging he provided misleading evidence to obtain a $500,000 extension on a line of credit. The charges state he used the money for personal expenses rather than rehabilitating an owned property, as stated in the loan documentation.[1] On August 4, 2014, all 17 felony counts of bank fraud and false information against Ford were dropped by federal prosecutors in exchange for his pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor income tax charge, and Ford's trial was removed from the federal docket.[23][24][25]

Electoral History
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2006[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford 8,241 52.81
Democratic Calvin Giles (incumbent) 6,104 39.12
Democratic Glenn L. Harris 1,260 8.07
Total votes 15,605 100
Illinois 8th State House District General Election, 2006[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford 21,057 83.60
Republican Glenn L. Harris 2,975 11.81
Green Nathan Paul Helsabeck 1,157 4.59
Total votes 25,189 100
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2008[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 18,724 100.00
Total votes 18,724 100
Illinois 8th State House District General Election, 2008[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 34,666 100.00
Total votes 34,666 100
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2010[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 10,355 100.00
Total votes 10,355 100
Illinois 8th State House District General Election, 2010[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 23,179 100.00
Total votes 23,179 100
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2012[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 8,889 100.00
Total votes 8,889 100
Illinois 8th State House District General Election, 2012[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 37,824 99.97
Write-in votes Elida M. Cruz 10 0.03
Total votes 37,834 100
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2014[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 6,340 100.00
Total votes 6,340 100
Illinois 8th State House District General Election, 2014[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 25,449 100.00
Total votes 25,449 100
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2016[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 24,131 100.00
Total votes 24,131 100
Illinois 8th State House District General Election, 2016[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 38,493 100.00
Total votes 38,493 100
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2018[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 15,419 100.00
Total votes 15,419 100
Illinois 8th State House District General Election, 2018[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 31,923 100.0
Total votes 31,923 100
2019 Chicago mayoral election
Candidate General Election[22] Run-off Election[27]
Votes % Votes %
Lori Lightfoot 97,667 17.54 386,039 73.70
Toni Preckwinkle 89,343 16.04 137,765 26.30
William Daley 82,294 14.78
Willie Wilson 59,072 10.61
Susana Mendoza 50,373 9.05
Amara Enyia 44,589 8.00
Jerry Joyce 40,099 7.20
Gery Chico 34,521 6.20
Paul Vallas 30,236 5.43
Garry McCarthy 14,784 2.66
La Shawn K. Ford 5,606 1.01
Robert "Bob" Fioretti 4,302 0.77
John Kolzar 2,349 0.42
Neal Sales-Griffin 1,523 0.27
Write-ins 86 0.02
Total 556,844 100 523,804 100
Illinois 8th State House District Democratic Primary, 2020[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic La Shawn K. Ford (incumbent) 18,036 100.00
Total votes 18,036 100

References
  1. Staff. "Rep. LaShawn Ford indicted on bank fraud charges". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  2. Preston, Charles (September 26, 2018). "An Interview With Rep. LaShawn K. Ford: Will He Run For Mayor". Chicago Defender. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  3. Blumberg, Nick (19 February 2019). "Mayoral Candidate Forum: Chico, Enyia, Ford, Lightfoot, McCarthy". WTTW News. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  4. "La Shawn Ford enters race for mayor | The Crusader Newspaper Group". Chicago Crusader. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. Miller, David R., ed. (November 15, 2006). "Biographies of New House Members" (PDF). First Reading. Illinois Legislative Research Unit. p. 3. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  6. "Representative La Shawn K. Ford (D) 8th District". Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  7. Wolff, Jonathan P., ed. (October 31, 2018). "47005 Medicaid Managed Care Oversight Task Force" (PDF). Expiration and Vacancy Report for the Governor of Illinois. Illinois Legislative Research Unit. p. 241. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  8. Gruber, Amanda (August 1, 2018). "Publication 425: State Board and Commission Descriptions" (PDF). Illinois Legislative Research Unit. p. 510. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  9. Wolff, Jonathan P., ed. (October 31, 2018). "43033 Violence Prevention Task Force" (PDF). Expiration and Vacancy Report for the Governor of Illinois. Illinois Legislative Research Unit. p. 390. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  10. "Candidate Summary - La Shawn K. Ford", National Institute on Money in State Politics, 2 Dec 2012
  11. "Chicago-Area Leaders Call for Illinois to Abolish History Classes". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  12. Bremer, Shelby (31 October 2018). "State Rep. La Shawn Ford Announces Run for Chicago Mayor". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  13. "LaShawn Ford to Remain on Mayoral Ballot After Petition Challenge". NBC Chicago. 12 January 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  14. "Polling" (PDF). static.politico.com.
  15. "Key Takeaways from New Survey of Likely 2019 Voters" (PDF). Chicago Teachers Union. January 4, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  16. Dr. Willie Wilson (February 1, 2019). "Dr. Willie Wilson on Twitter: "Victory Research Poll @nbcchicago @ABC7Chicago @cbschicago @fox32news @WVON1690 @wttw @WBBMNewsradio @wlsam890 @V103 @v103chicago @WGCI @1075wgci @WVON1690 @Power92Chicago @ChicagoPower92 @1063Chicago @B96Chicago @TheJamTVShow @GoodDayChicago @wsoeorg @Chicago_NC @WGNRadioNews‌"". Twitter.com. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  17. "Poll jam: Preckwinkle, Daley inch ahead as all 14 struggle to crack 13 percent". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  18. "Sun Times Chicago Mayoral Jan 2019 Draft | Opinion Poll | Margin Of Error". Scribd. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  19. Wilson, Dr Willie (February 16, 2019). "No bias. All the polls are "singing the same song" - Victory, Ogden & Fry, We Ask America and now Tulchin Research. And now that you know? You know what to do... punch 22 for Willie Wilson For Mayor! Everyone else is saying so! Click, read, like & share!pic.twitter.com/9CfzbfCoho". Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  20. Loria, Jane (February 24, 2019). "Three-Way Tie on the Eve of Chicago's Mayoral Election". Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  21. "5-Person Dash to Finish of Chicago Mayoral Race, Poll Shows". NBC Chicago. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  22. "TABULATED STATEMENT OF THE RETURNS AND PROCLAMATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS FOR THE FEBRUARY 26, 2019 MUNICIPAL GENERAL ELECTION HELD IN EACH OF THE PRECINCTS IN ALL OF THE WARDS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO" (PDF). Chicago Board of Elections. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  23. Janssen, Kim. "State Rep. La Shawn Ford pleads guilty to misdemeanor". Chicago Sun Times. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  24. Meisner, Jason. "Surprising plea deal in state Rep. Ford's bank fraud case". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  25. Marin, Carol. "Feds back off on ruining a good man's life". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  26. "Election Results". Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  27. "2019 Municipal Runoffs - 4/2/19". Chicago Board of Elections. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
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