Alderman Ameya Pawar. | Alderman Ameya Pawar via Facebook Ameya Pawar weighs a run for governor

CHICAGO — Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar, who five years ago pulled off a historic upset with his against-the-grain aldermanic campaign to defeat a machine candidate, is now looking to do the same on a bigger platform.

The 47th ward alderman is now weighing a run for governor, he told POLITICO.


With $58,000 in his campaign account, Pawar, who would run as a Democrat, said he doesn’t fear taking on incumbent Republican millionaire Gov. Bruce Rauner, who reported $188 million in income last year.

“In 2011, I ran for office and people laughed at me. I took on the machine and I beat it,” Pawar said.

Pawar, 36, says this last campaign cycle inspired him to run in part to counter the divisive nature of politics in the state and nationwide. More than $60 million was spent on races in the state Legislature alone, with negative local ads blanketing the airwaves for months.

“We've had a set of politics pitting one group of people against another. I don't think that's productive,” he said. “I think it's time we have a progressive campaign for governor.”

Pawar said he plans to make a final decision soon, weighing the prospect of taking on a demanding job as he and his wife raise their nine-month-old daughter.

“I'm not ready to say I'm in, but I'm close. I feel I have to do my part and I have to stand up to the politics that are driving people apart,” he said. “I think that what we're missing is statesmanship.”

Pawar’s flirtation with higher office comes as Illinois Democrats scramble to find a candidate that will soon have to launch a campaign apparatus. Democrats are daunted by the tens of millions of dollars that Rauner and close allies have poured into races. They’re poised to do the same in 2018 as Rauner looks to win a second term in office.

Pawar said he has no allegiance to the Democratic power structure. He says he’s met Speaker Mike Madigan just once. Rauner and the Illinois Republican Party has spent millions of dollars on a campaign to demonize Madigan and Democrats associated with him.

Billionaire J.B. Pritzker has made phone calls gauging support for a run as a Democrat. Pritzker has not publicly expressed his interest in the job, but is privately having conversations about what a run for office might look like. Businessman Chris Kennedy has mulled the possibility as well.

Pawar admits he cannot compete with that tier of wealth, but he argues he won’t have to.

“When I won in 2011, four weeks before the election I had $2,000 left from the $7,000 to 8,000 we started with,” Pawar said. “We ran the most shoestring campaign you've ever seen. Since then, I've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. I feel I can raise money to be competitive. … There's a tendency to throw a bunch of money at the problem, throw money at the airwaves and crucify one another. There isn't a lot of going out and talking to one another.”

Pawar was elected in 2011 against the anointed candidate, Tommy O’Donnell. In his second run for office, Pawar won with 80 percent of the vote, the biggest margin in the city.

“I don't worship wealth and I'm not scared of wealth. There's always going to be people who have more money to people,” Pawar said. “You go talk to people. You tell them who they are and who they stand for.”

CORRECTION: The original version of this article said that Pawar is a member of the Council's Progressive Reform Caucus.