Mayor Brandon Johnson named Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada Wednesday to succeed Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa on the City Council.
Johnson’s choice to represent Logan Square and other Northwest Side neighborhoods that make up the 35th Ward is scheduled to be considered by the council at a special meeting Monday.
“The 35th Ward deserves a progressive champion with a proven track record to lead in this moment,” Johnson said in a release announcing the pick. “Anthony is a lifelong Chicagoan who embodies the values of the 35th Ward, and I have no doubt that he will be a tremendous advocate for his community.
Quezada getting the nod is no surprise.
He previously worked for Ramirez-Rosa, who resigned this month to accept a gig running the Chicago Park District.
United Neighbors of the 35th Ward, the organization both belong to, endorsed Quezada. So did the five-person committee Johnson named to choose among six applicants for the position.
“Our neighborhoods deserve bold, principled leadership, and I am ready to continue building a ward and city that prioritizes working families, strengthens public services, and empowers our neighbors,” Quezada said in the mayor’s release.
The appointment will be Johnson’s first as mayor and requires a simple majority of the council to approve. The vote is typically a formality where council members rubber stamp the mayor’s selection.
Daniel Tobon, one of the six applicants, said he had little confidence in his appointment prospects last month. An Army veteran and former attorney who now works in the cannabis industry, Tobon said that when the selection committee interviewed him last weekend, he aired concerns about the group’s close relationships with Quezada.
Two members came from Palenque LSNA, which has worked closely with Ramirez-Rosa’s office on affordable housing in the ward.
“’It does seem like this was hastily put together for you all to recommend Anthony,’” he said he told his interviewers. The group’s questions were “hostile,” and the process itself was “anti-democratic,” Tobon said.
Johnson should have simply appointed Quezada if that was always the pick, he added. Only two weeks passed between Ramirez-Rosa’s appointment to the Park District and the due date for applications for the role.“They were clearly there just to create the facade of propriety. It is really sad,” Tobon said. “The whole process was basically engineered to give it an air of legitimacy it doesn’t deserve.”
Asked Tuesday why Chicagoans should believe the process wasn’t a rubber stamp, Johnson said “Every mayor has enjoyed the responsibility of appointing someone that reflects the values of that particular community. I will do the same.”
While Quezada would theoretically have a leg up on challengers if he runs for a full term representing the 35th Ward in 2027, some recent aldermanic appointees have found ties to unpopular mayors troublesome come election time.
The son of a father who immigrated to the U.S. without legal permission, Quezada is familiar with ward politics: his first experience in elected office came in 2015 as an intern for former 1st Ward Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno.
He quit the gig over what he said was Moreno’s too-cozy relationship with real estate developers, he previously told the Tribune. After meeting Ramirez-Rosa during U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, Quezada went on to work in the 35th Ward office on constituent services from the summer of 2016 until 2022.
That year, Quezada won a seat on the Cook County Board, becoming the county’s first openly gay Latino commissioner, defeating incumbent Democrat Luis Arroyo Jr. in a five-way 2022 primary to represent the county’s 8th District, which stretches across the city’s Northwest Side.
Quezada won 54% of the 35th Ward vote in that election and went on to become a Johnson ally during their brief overlap on the County Board. While there, he helped pass the county’s paid leave ordinance and worked to ensure the county public defender could provide legal representation to undocumented people in immigration court.
Quezada’s otherwise strong appointment bid was briefly challenged by the spread of a decade-old social media post he made using a racial slur. But Black aldermen signaled their willingness to forgive him after he apologized.
To lay out how he might legislate in City Hall, the Democratic Socialist has pointed to his past.
“I have dedicated my life to uniting people, building working-class coalitions and fighting for a government and economy that works for all of us, not just the ultra-wealthy,” Quezada told the crowd at the United Neighbors endorsement meeting.
Quezada’s successor on the County Board will be chosen by Democratic committeepeople that span his district. Ramirez-Rosa, whose ward makes up the biggest portion of the district, will carry the largest weighted vote and chair the selection committee. Ald. Ruth Cruz, the committeeperson for the 30th Ward, carries the next largest chunk, followed by Ald. Jesse Fuentes in the 26th Ward.
The entire County Board is up for reelection in 2026.
