Neal Runs For Mayor

The plan for Neal's campaign launch event was to give remarks for around 10 minutes and then take questions. But nerves took over and 85 long minutes later, it was clear that something had gone wrong. In this episode, we unpack what happened in the launch event and what Neal learned from the experience.

Show Notes

• Chicago Tribune reporter Bill Ruthhart's tweets (2:46)
• Ruthhart's story about Neal's campaign, published a day before the launch event (2:53)

On September 4, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unexpectedly announced he was not going to run for a third term. Not too long before that, Rahm and Neal met one-on-one for over an hour. What did they talk about, and what does Neal's campaign look like now that the race's incumbent and most well-funded candidate has dropped out? Neal stops by the studio to discuss.

Show Notes

• Rahm's announcement coincided with the start of the murder trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014. Follow the Chicago Tribune's updates on the trial. (4:07)

• Rahm had raised over $10 million, more than the other candidates combined. (4:34)

• Bill Daley's father and brother have served as mayor of Chicago. He used to be Commerce Secretary and White House Chief of Staff, a position he took over from Rahm. Bill Daley has announced he's running for mayor. (4:42)

• Kurt Summers is Chicago city treasurer. As of this episode, he has not announced a mayoral bid. (4:44)

• Neal released this video after Rahm's announcement. (5:45)

• In August, a 15-year-old boy was killed and a 14-year-old boy was injured during a shooting at a Chicago basketball tournament. (7:56)

• Toni Preckwinkle is the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and expected to announce a run for mayor. (10:57)

• Lori Lightfoot is the former president of the Chicago Police Board. Paul Vallas is the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Garry McCarthy is the former Chicago Police Superintendent. (11:01)

• Ja'Mal Green is a local activist. Amara Enyia is the director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and has run for mayor before. (11:23)

• Voter turnout in the 2015 mayoral election was 32.7 percent.

We're Shaun and Wailin, two audio producers in Chicago who were surprised and excited to learn our friend Neal Sáles-Griffin was running for mayor of Chicago. We had lots of questions about what it takes to run a campaign at this level as a political outsider, so we started a podcast to follow along with his journey. In our first episode, we talk to Neal about the importance of the beginner's mindset, the tools he's building for his campaign that he plans to make available for other first-time candidates, and how documenting his process is part of a bigger plan to be mayor with term limits. (Note: We produced this episode before incumbent Rahm Emanuel made the surprise announcement that he's not running for a third term. Neal will address the news in a bonus episode coming next week!)

Show Notes

• Neal and his friend Mike McGee founded a coding school called Code Academy, later renamed Starter League. Read Mike's account of how they launched their business. (1:24)
• Abner Mikva's obituary in the Chicago Tribune (1:47)
• The Campaign Manager: Running and Winning Local Elections by Catherine Shaw (6:46)
• Neal talks about the Questionnaires app, which you can find at OurPlatform.com (14:48)