Ed Burke’s reign ends as 14th Ward elects Jeylú Gutiérrez 1st new alderman in 54 years

CHICAGO (WLS) — A Latina woman will represent the 14th Ward on the city’s Southwest Side for the first time ever.

For the first time in more than 50 years, the alderperson representing the ward will not be Ed Burke, who was the longest serving representative at City Hall.

Jeylú Gutiérrez, who immigrated from Mexico when she was 15, won decisively with 65% of the vote and got emotional talking about how her time in office will mean a big change for her largely Hispanic constituents.

“It’s gonna be clear. We’re gonna serve every single resident the same. We’re bringing equity to this ward,” Gutiérrez said. “Every single resident is going to see the good type of quality service that they deserve. I migrated to this country full of dreams and I’m a mama, too. And a former educator.”

She ran against Raul Reyes, a longtime employee of the Chicago city clerk’s office, who was running with Burke’s backing.

“It is the people that ask me to run, they tell me they don’t want to start new,” Reyes said.

Reyes spent years volunteering for the former alderman’s political organization delivering services to Southwest Side residents. But it’s the way that organization distributed services that inspired Gutiérrez to enter the race to replace Burke.

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“To this day they still pick and choose who to serve that needs to end because we owe the same type of services,” Gutiérrez said.