Chicago Mag: Red Wave

By, EDWARD ROBERT MCCLELLAND, Dec 12, 2022

Illustration of houses cut and paste style sit in the background on a paper texture. In front of them 4 people in low saturation colors are situated. From left to right: a man behind smiling, a man at front looking off to the distance, a women behind speaking, and a man off to the side speaking into a microphone.

Democratic socialists see the upcoming City Council elections as a chance to build an influential bloc.

Mueze Bawany, who is running for alderman of the 50th Ward, is a high school teacher, a son of Pakistani immigrants, and a Muslim who keeps a prayer rug in his campaign office, a converted used-car showroom on Western Avenue. If he succeeds in his campaign to unseat Alderman Debra Silverstein, though, it may not be because of any of those qualities, but because he has the support of the Chicago chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. Every Sunday, in a tactic borrowed from the machine, a dozen socialists from around the city knock on doors in West Ridge for Bawany.