This browser does not support the Video element.
Chicago mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia opens up about son having been in gang
Should he become mayor of Chicago, Chuy Garcia says he'll use his own family's painful experience to show others that young men can be persuaded to quit the gang life.
CHICAGO - Candidate for Chicago mayor Chuy Garcia spoke Monday about the fear he felt while his son, Sam, was involved in a street gang.
Many young people get caught up in that. And for some it ends up with death," Garcia said.
In a new tv spot that also responds to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's attacks on him, the congressman references the fear he felt when he realized his son, Sammy, was running with a local street gang.
"I’ve lost friends and neighbors to gun violence. I nearly lost my son to the gangs. We can't afford to lose one more kid," Garcia said in the ad.
VOTER GUIDE FOR CITY'S HIGHEST OFFICE
Should he become mayor, Garcia says he'll use his own family's painful experience to show others that young men can be persuaded to quit the gang life.
"It's tough and it hurts. But, in the end, it's how you heal. And the city needs a lot of healing right now. We're hoping this will help other people heal," Garcia said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Lightfoot cast an early ballot on Monday. She was asked about the racially divisive comments she made Saturday, when she declared Black voters must support her or see someone of another race become the next mayor.
"If I said anything other than anybody everywhere needs to vote, then I misspoke in the heat of a campaign rally," Lightfoot said.
But close Lightfoot allies, including west side Ald. Jason Ervin, have been telling voters since last summer that Lightfoot’s six Black challengers are, "dividing the vote."
SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 32 CHICAGO ON YOUTUBE
And, in the south side eighth ward last August, Lightfoot warned an all-black audience of "false prophets" dividing the community.
Today, the mayor accused Paul Vallas of racializing the campaign.
"He's saying to certain audiences we have to take our city back," Lightfoot said. "To what time? And take our city back from whom?"
The Vallas campaign responded: "Four years of failure are catching up to Lori Lightfoot and she’s desperate...Paul Vallas is…running to put crime reduction and public safety first....Mayor lLightfoot...(will not) distract him from that work."