Sophia King
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Sophia King was a member of the Chicago City Council in Illinois, representing Ward 4. She assumed office in 2016. She left office on May 15, 2023.
King ran for election for Mayor of Chicago in Illinois. She lost in the general election on February 28, 2023.
In April 2016, King was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fill the Ward 4 vacancy left by the resignation of William D. Burns. King won the special election on February 28, 2017.
Elections
2023
See also: Mayoral election in Chicago, Illinois (2023)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Mayor of Chicago
Brandon Johnson defeated Paul Vallas in the general runoff election for Mayor of Chicago on April 4, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brandon Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 52.2 | 319,481 |
 | Paul Vallas (Nonpartisan) | 47.8 | 293,033 | |
| Total votes: 612,514 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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General election
General election for Mayor of Chicago
The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Chicago on February 28, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Vallas (Nonpartisan) | 32.9 | 185,743 |
| ✔ | | Brandon Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 21.6 | 122,093 |
 | Lori Lightfoot (Nonpartisan) | 16.8 | 94,890 | |
 | Jesus Garcia (Nonpartisan) | 13.7 | 77,222 | |
 | Willie Wilson (Nonpartisan) | 9.1 | 51,567 | |
 | Ja'Mal Green (Nonpartisan) | 2.2 | 12,257 | |
 | Kambium Buckner (Nonpartisan) | 2.0 | 11,092 | |
 | Sophia King (Nonpartisan) | 1.3 | 7,191 | |
 | Roderick Sawyer (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 2,440 | |
 | Johnny Logalbo (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 15 | |
| Keith Judge (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 5 | ||
| Stephen Hodge (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 4 | ||
| Ryan Friedman (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 3 | ||
 | Stephanie Ann Mustari (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 1 | |
| Bridgett Palmer (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 1 | ||
| Total votes: 564,524 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Montelle Gaji (Nonpartisan)
- Raymond Lopez (Nonpartisan)
- Frederick Collins (Nonpartisan)
2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 4
Incumbent Sophia King defeated Ebony Lucas in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 4 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sophia King (Nonpartisan) | 66.1 | 9,178 |
 | Ebony Lucas (Nonpartisan) | 33.9 | 4,708 | |
| Total votes: 13,886 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2017
Incumbent Sophia King defeated Ebony Lucas, Gregory Livingston, Marcellus Moore Jr., and Gerald McCarthy in the special election for the Ward 4 seat on the Chicago City Council.[1]
| Chicago City Council, Ward 4 Special Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Sophia King Incumbent |
63.77% | 4,286 |
| Ebony Lucas | 17.54% | 1,179 |
| Gregory Livingston | 6.55% | 440 |
| Marcellus Moore Jr. | 6.10% | 410 |
| Gerald McCarthy | 6.04% | 406 |
| Total Votes | 6,721 | |
| Source: Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, "Election Results," accessed February 28, 2017 | ||
Endorsements
King received endorsements from former President Barack Obama and the Chicago Sun-Times.[2][3]
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sophia King did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Sophia King completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by King's responses.
Low-income families do not have the same choices, options, or alternatives when it comes to public school. How can this be addressed?
Creating strong vibrant neighborhood schools that all families would choose would help mitigate disparity. Putting more resources into these neighborhood schools and their communities would not only impact education but would also stimulate economic growth. Families choose communities because of strong schools. Density brings neighborhood amenities and stimulates economic development. Residents with options are leaving the city and seeking better public safety and better resourced public education.To stem this tide, we must aggressively focus investment in traditionally disinvested areas including our schools. And make sure that our neighborhood schools are strong so that those with and without options choose them.
How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
Schools can better support teachers with good salaries, small class sizes and ongoing professional development. They can provide before and after school programs to help meet the needs of students and families alike. They can work with the unions to help negotiate the needs of teachers.
What do you believe are the greatest needs of kids in school today? How would you prioritize these needs and address them?
Jobs, good neighborhood schools and public safety are among the most pressing concerns we face as a community. Mental health, how we engage our youth and elders, are also important to a strong ecosystem. We need to make sure that we continue to bring jobs and economic development to under-resourced communities. And we must continue to find opportunities to hire and train our most vulnerable populations. I am mindful of local hiring as development comes into the community. I am also committed to true parity and opportunity in contracting and senior level positions.
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
A strong viable neighborhood school would have a strong co-curricular (after school) component that would help keep students engaged in positive activities and curtail negative behavior. We need more co-curricular programs that engage our children and keep them off the streets.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
Campaign finance reform would help
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
We should make sure that we create enforceable agreements between the City and the developer, and make sure we protect the interests of the community.
How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
In order to distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods. We must assess where we are now and prioritize needs and redistribute resources where needed.
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
We need more co-curricular programs that engage our children and keep them off the streets.
What’s your opinion on tax increment financing (a program that funds development using any additional property tax revenue that results from an increase in appraised property values)? What, if any, changes would you make to the use of TIF?
While TIF can be a smart and effective investment tool, the City of Chicago has a history of failing to ensure that TIF money goes to projects and developments in areas that need it most. I strongly support TIF reform efforts, including the Progressive Caucus’ “Back to Basics” ordinance and initiatives to codify a process by which TIF will automatically be surplussed and funds be directed into CPS when CPS is in financial distress. I also support the TIF surplus reform that would ensure TIF surplus dollars are automatically directed to funding CPS when the school district is considered to be in financial distress.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2017
King's campaign website listed the following themes for 2017:
| “ |
Economic Development Alderman King firmly believes that because unemployment among African-Americans, particularly males, remains exponentially higher than that of all other racial groups, the incontrovertible link between poverty and violence simply cannot be ignored, nor can the clear relationship between economic development and safe, affordable housing. Alderman King is excited about the future of the 4th Ward and about its slow, but steady push towards the entire Ward’s economic revitalization. She has a uniquely keen understanding that real economic development requires the expansion of opportunity for local small businesses, companies owned by women and people of color, and workers who want good paying jobs. As Alderman, she will continue to be committed to using any and all resources to spur that growth. Education As a Chemistry teacher and administrator at the Latin School of Chicago, Alderman King helped to recruit one of the most diverse freshmen classes in the school’s history. Because she believed in equal access for all students to premier education, she worked tirelessly alongside other volunteers and staff to create the Ariel Community Academy, a public school in North Kenwood-Oakland. There she could see first-hand, how a strong school supports development of young minds and instills hope among those generations, in addition to serving as a hub for the community. Public Safety Alderman King believes that all citizens have a role to play in addressing negative forces that impact our communities and affect our quality of life. She continues to appeal to the community with a strong belief that improvement comes with engagement, identifying and addressing the root causes of local crime, and a willingness to roll-up-one’s-sleeves to work on behalf of neighborhood safety. The safety of all Chicago starts with its communities.[4][5] |
” |
| —Sophia King (2017) | ||
See also
2023 Elections
External links
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Footnotes
- ↑ Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, "Candidate Filings for the February 28, 2017 Municipal Election," January 3, 2017
- ↑ CBS Chicago, "Former President Obama Endorses King In 4th Ward Special Election," January 30, 2017
- ↑ Chicago Sun-Times, "Editorial: Sophia King for 4th Ward alderman," February 10, 2017
- ↑ Friends of Sophia King, "Issues," accessed February 16, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Chicago City Council Ward 4 2016-2023 |
Succeeded by Lamont Robinson Jr. |
| |||||||||
