Ald. Scott Waguespack Elected To 5th Term After Running Unopposed In 32nd Ward

BUCKTOWN — Scott Waguespack has been reelected to his fifth term as 32nd Ward alderperson.

Waguespack was unchallenged in the race.

The Bucktown and West Lakeview alderperson was first elected to represent the 32nd Ward in a close runoff election in 2007. He then won handily in 2011 and 2015 before running unopposed in 2019.

Waguespack said in an interview this week his priority for the next four years is improving public safety, including infrastructure projects around the ward and city.

“So, safety around our schools and pedestrians throughout the neighborhoods, and really focusing on infrastructure that makes the walkability and biking in the neighborhoods safer throughout, not just our ward, but you know, connecting it to other wards so that it’s a safer network,” he said.

For years a progressive voice in City Council who butted heads with former mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel, Waguespack has emerged in recent years as an ally of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Waguespack endorsed Lightfoot in her 2019 bid for mayor and was named chair of the powerful City Council finance committee when she took office. He has also backed Lightfoot’s 2023 reelection campaign.

Waguespack took over the finance committee from retiring Ald. Ed Burke (14th), who is currently facing federal indictment.

He said he’d “try to make the case” to keep his job as the committee’s leader if Lightfoot is not reelected, although admitted a new mayor would likely pick one of their supporters.

“I think we’ve done a pretty incredible job of taking [the committee] over from somebody who abused the office and misused taxpayers dollars to their own benefit,” Waguespack said. “That’s what I would make a case for, to continue to transform a lot of these institutions and programs and policies and try to keep going down that track to make it better for taxpayers.”

Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Under the new city ward map approved this year, the 32nd Ward boundaries will shift east and slightly north to include all of Bucktown, parts of Roscoe Village and Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Yards megadevelopment along the Chicago River.

Lincoln Yards controversially received $1.3 billion in city subsidies in April 2019 after a drawn-out City Council fight.

Waguespack voted against those subsidies, but this spring advocated for including the site in the 32nd Ward during the remap process.

Ultimately, the map supported by Waguespack and members of the council’s Black Caucus was approved by a 43-7 vote in May.

Waguespack said last year that while Lincoln Yards is moving forward, there’s still work his office can do to hold Sterling Bay and other partners accountable to the surrounding community.

“I think what we’re going to do is try to make sure that everything that’s done is transparent and as open to the public as possible,” he told Block Club in November. “And where there are things that we can do, that we respond appropriately with the neighborhood in mind, as opposed to just the developer.”

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