Election Day is coming up in Illinois, and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin is seeking a third term after losing a bid for governor
On April 1st, voters in Illinois' second-largest city will make their voices heard in a contentious mayoral election.
Current Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin is running for a third term in office, and he'll be opposed by Alderman-at-Large John Laesch.
Fresh off his run for governor, Irvin has aligned himself closely with President Donald Trump, but he said this mayoral race should stay non-partisan.
"I don't govern as a Republican or a Democrat. I govern as the mayor of the city of Aurora, making sure that every resident in this city gets all the services and the due that they need as residents of Aurora," Irvin said.
In July, Irvin hosted a Black Republican Mayor's event in Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention. Now, seven months later, the Illinois Democratic Party is reminding voters of Irvin's alignment with Trump with political fliers showing the two together.
Laesch ran unsuccessfully against Irvin four years ago, and also ran for Congress.
"Since I've been elected (for alderman), I've seen very clearly that there are two Auroras. There's one Aurora that works very well for the mayor's campaign donors, for developers and for the politically connected few. Then, there's the rest of us who have to play by the rules, wait in line and are paying higher taxes to subsidize the largess that the one Aurora is enjoying," Laesch said.
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Irvin is critical of Laesch’s resume, while Laesch has made a name for himself on the city council opposing Irvin’s agenda.
“I always say that you can’t win a fight if you don’t start a fight," Laesch said.
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"For somebody to come around and say, 'I worked at a gas station, I joined the military, and I organized protests' (and) say that they can do this job, well, I think that’s kind of silly," Irvin responded.
The $58 million in financial incentives to relocate Hollywood Casino from its location downtown Aurora to a site near the city’s popular outlet mall is one of the top issues Irvin is defending.
"When a company like that invests in Aurora, of course, they want our city to have skin in the game. Why wouldn’t they?," he said.
Laesch disagreed with the decision and has been critical of it.
"I’m certainly in favor of investing in small local business people who want to give it a go, but the multimillion dollar deals to bring big developers in and outside private capital is not necessary," Laesch said.
Aurora’s population is 42% Latino, and with the Trump administration’s increased deportation enforcement, Laesch favors making Aurora a sanctuary city, while Irvin is more hands off.
"The state of Illinois is a sanctuary state. If we need to work locally with the immigrant community, our legal team to pass our own ordinance that would make people feel more safe, I'm 100% in favor of doing that," Laesch said.
"Only the president of the United States has jurisdiction over ICE. So, what the president of the United States does is not relevant to the responsibility of a mayor," Irvin said.
Irvin has been mum on whether he will run again run for statewide office. With the Democratic Party concentrating on this local race, that’s a sign of Gov. JB Pritzker’s influence on wanting to defeat Irvin.
