Mayor Lori Lightfoot picks Anabel Abarca, former chief of staff to ex-Ald. George Cardenas, as his replacement
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday selected Anabel Abarca, a former chief of staff to ex-Ald. George Cardenas, to replace him as alderman of the 12th Ward.
If approved by the City Council later this week, which is expected, Abarca would become the fourth alderman Lightfoot has seated on the council this year after having appointed none during her first three years in office. Those other three appointees, like Abarca, are running to retain their seats in the Feb. 28 municipal election, where they could see a slight incumbency advantage.
The influx of fresh faces to City Council is merely beginning, however. In addition to the new aldermen appointed this year, there will be 11 open seats up for election in February, underscoring the shifting makeup of Chicago’s aldermen who are seeing a rare moment of mass retirements.
Abarca, 37, would become the first new alderman of the 12th Ward since 2003. The ward includes the Brighton Park, McKinley Park and Little Village neighborhoods. The seat has been vacant since Nov. 30, when Cardenas, who was elected nearly 20 years ago, stepped down ahead of his term as a new commissioner for the Cook County Board of Review.
“I am really looking forward to the opportunity and thankful to the appointment committee and to the mayor for choosing me,” Abarca said in an interview with the Tribune. “The 12th Ward is so full of potential. And I really feel like it takes someone who knows City Hall, knows the legislative process, and who has the experience of running a ward office to be able to move the ward forward.”
Abarca said the prospect of a seismically different City Council beginning in May was “exciting,” noting that, if she’s approved Wednesday, she would be one of the few millennials on the body.
“There is a chance to really shape the makeup of the City Council and to bring new ideas forward,” Abarca said. “We (millennials) bring a different perspective. I think we bring youth and different energy. So it’s definitely exciting to see how the City Council is changing and going to be changing in the coming months.”
Abarca — who Cardenas endorsed to be his successor — attended DePaul University as an undergraduate and got a master’s degree in public administration from Arizona State University and a law degree from Loyola University Chicago. She was an aide to U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and worked on Tammy Duckworth’s campaign for Congress in 2012. Duckworth is now Illinois’ junior U.S. senator.
“Anabel Abarca is a pillar of the 12th Ward community,” Lightfoot said in a statement. “Her passion for public service and deep connection to her community makes her the best candidate to serve the residents of McKinley Park, Brighton Park and Little Village. I look forward to working with Anabel, and I thank the 12th Ward vacancy committee for their collaboration in this process.”
The mayor’s office touted Abarca’s experience, noting she is the child of working class Mexican immigrants who worked multiple jobs as well as her experience as an attorney who “supports the business goals of real estate and construction leaders by helping resolve disputes and negotiate contracts.”
From 2013 to 2016, Abarca was Cardenas’ chief of staff and then moved on to being a senior policy analyst for the city’s public health department. After that, she did legal work for the Chicago Board of Elections before moving into private practice.
In her free time, Abarca has competed as an amateur powerlifter.
The rules committee is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether to advance her appointment to the full council on Wednesday. By statute, the seat must be filled within 60 days.
Cardenas represented the ward since 2003 and proved to be a reliable ally for Mayors Richard M. Daley, Rahm Emanuel and Lightfoot. Cardenas led iterations of the council’s environmental protection committee since 2011 and was Lightfoot’s deputy floor leader responsible for whipping votes since last year.
Abarca’s potential appointment lasts until the end of May. A full-time alderman will be selected in the 2023 municipal election. Abarca was the only person to apply to be appointed to fill the remainder of Cardenas’ term and to be running for the open seat next year.
Other contenders in the 12th’s election race are Julia Ramirez and Joseph Mercado.
Lightfoot has appointed three other aldermen this year, as several aldermen already left the council. Eleven others are also not running for reelection.
In September, Lightfoot appointed Timmy Knudsen to replace Ald. Michele Smith in the 43rd Ward. In June, Lightfoot picked outgoing 24th Ward Ald. Michael Scott’s sister, Monique Scott, to replace him over 18 other applicants. Scott left the City Council to take a job in the private sector at the Cinespace film studio. Not long after, he became Lightfoot’s pick for a seat on the Chicago Board of Education.
In March, the mayor selected Nicole Lee, a United Airlines director with deep roots in the city’s Chinese American community, to be 11th Ward alderman. Lee, the first Asian American woman on the City Council, replaced Patrick Daley Thompson following a felony conviction in February for tax evasion and lying to banking regulators.
