Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot got about $280,000 of the $1.2 million she raised in the second quarter for her reelection bid from donors with ties to the real estate industry, including developers, construction firms, realtors and engineers.
Among the largest real estate contributions were $25,000 from Rockwell Construction and $20,000 from commercial real estate company EQ Office. Also kicking in $10,000 apiece were Sauk Development, LG Development CEO Brian Goldberg and Robert Kohl, president of his eponymous real estate company.
While Lightfoot received thousands of dollars from across the real estate industry, contributions to challenger Paul Vallas came from golf course developer Michael Keiser, who gave $500,000 and leaders of the private equity and investment firms. Vallas, the former CEO of Chicago public schools who ran for mayor in 2019 and didn’t advance to the runoff, raised a total of $836,500 in the quarter, the bulk of it from donors tied to business and real estate.
Luxury real estate developer Noah Investment Member gave Lightfoot $5,000, as did private equity real estate investment firm R2 Companies CEO Matt Garrison, realtor Lucas Alvarado and Texas-based real estate services firm Centex. Construction executive David Sensibar and Brad Serot of CBRE each gave $3,000, while real estate services firm Blue Star Properties contributed $2,500 and other small donations came from realtors, developers and engineers.
Boasting strong support from Chicago’s trade unions, Lightfoot’s campaign haul also included $100,000 from the Carpentry Advancement Political Action Committee and $10,000 from the Engineers Political Education Committee Separate Education Fund. The Finishing Trades of Chicago Coop Political Action Committee also kicked in $2,500.
She also received an in-kind donation valued at $23,864.81 from the Ivy Room, an event space owned by Friedman Properties. Albert Friedman, the firm’s CEO, is also the owner of Medinah Temple, which will serve as a temporary casino site as Bally’s develops the permanent one in River West.
Lightfoot, who is running for a second term, wasn’t initially a preferred candidate of the real estate lobby when she ran in 2019 as a progressive reformer who promised to change the city’s relationship with developers. She had proposed restricting the use of tax increment financing for development and limiting aldermen’s unilateral powers over zoning approvals in their own wards.
Leading into the 2019 runoff that pitted Lightfoot against Toni Preckwinkle, developers and brokers poured more than $800,000 into Lightfoot’s campaign, with her backers including Equity Group founder Sam Zell and his wife as well as top leaders at Exelon.
Other candidates in the crowded 2023 mayoral race include Alderman Ray Lopez, Alderman Roderick Sawyer, Chicago businessman and philanthropist Willie Wilson, State Rep. Kam Buckner and police officer Frederick Collins.
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Sam Zell leads post-election burst of donations to Lightfoot campaign fund