Editor’s note: Ahead of the March 17 primary, Growing Community Media is profiling the candidates running in the 7th congressional district in Illinois. Whoever wins the November election will succeed Rep. Danny Davis, who is retiring after nearly 30 years in the position. This week, GCM talked to Anthony Driver Jr.
Anthony Driver Jr. is a lifelong Chicagoan whose career as a political strategist and organizer has led him to drive change across municipal, state and federal levels of government.
Driver is former executive director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest labor council in the Midwest, and former president of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, where he is now a commissioner so that he can give his community his all in running for Congress.
A Bronzeville resident — who is buying a home in the Back of Yards neighborhood, down the street from where he grew up — Driver was inspired to run to improve daily life for his community. He was further motivated after running ground operations for Operation Swing State to mobilize Democratic voters. Driver lived in Milwaukee for five months ahead of the last presidential election, leading door knocking and phone calling efforts.
“I saw how we missed the average working-class voter,” Driver said. “That’s the same thing that’s happening in the state of Illinois, where I think we’re missing people.” So, Driver is running to unite the 7th congressional district, which stretches from Englewood, along the Eisenhower, to the western suburbs.
“I’m a labor organizer. I build coalitions. I bring people together,” said Driver, who was political coordinator of SEIU and the executive director of the SEIU Illinois State Council, where he led policy initiatives, legislative and political strategy for the common good. “I’ll be a person who brings the rest of the Illinois delegation together and fights for things that are going to move the needle for the average person.”
Currently, SEIU is working on reversing the freeze that the Trump administration has put on child care funding in Illinois, pushing state legislation that would help unionize 100,000 rideshare drivers, and that which would provide basic protections to workers in extreme heat.
As SEIU’s political coordinator, Driver helped successfully advocate to raise Chicago’s minimum wage to $15 an hour; create the Fair Work Week ordinance that requires certain employers to give workers predictable schedules and compensation; pass a paid leave ordinance that requires Illinois workers to get at least an hour of paid leave for every 40 hours working; pass the Workers’ Rights Amendment that updated the Illinois Constitution to guarantee workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain in the public and private sector; and create Chicago’s first civilian oversight structure of the Chicago Police Department.
“I was a big part of that, so much so that, once the ordinance passed, I was tapped to become the inaugural president,” Driver said of his role at Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. CCPSA works to increase police accountability and violence prevention by advocating for policing reforms.
As president of CCPSA, Driver led the effort in residents having a say in the next Chicago Police Department superintendent, Larry Snelling. He also successfully fought to eliminate the Chicago Police Department’s gang database. He said the database had about 130,000 people in it — many who were wrongfully included, like his own father — who would be denied employment at a government agency. The list was also shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which the CCPSA is aiming to restrict from joining municipal police forces with future reforms.
Driver would have similar public safety initiatives if elected to congress. He promises to pass meaningful gun legislation, expand expungement and reentry services, and increase funding for community-based safety initiatives, like violence intervention and trauma recovery services.
When it comes to housing, Driver has been fighting to lift the ban on rent control, and for equitable development and transparency in how public money is spent. As a congressman, he would aim to increase federal funding for affordable housing, public housing and homeowner programs for first-time owners.
And he’d advocate for free, universal and robust health care, capping the cost of prescription drugs and increasing investments in mental health and Black maternal health. He’ll do this following his successes in expanding public health resources and challenging policies that undermine access to care in Illinois. Driver added that those in the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries should be banned from donating to campaigns, or at least have a cap on how much they can donate.
“The only way we ever get to universal health care is if we ban people from buying our politicians,” Driver said.
If elected, Driver plans to have three district satellite offices and bring together a council of community leaders, mayors and elected officials to help push forward legislation. He also aims to bring the 7th district congressional office into the digital age.
“We are missing young people in large swaths,” Driver said. So, he aims to make the office more accessible and have a portal for residents. “There needs to be a constant feedback loop that doesn’t just consist of lobbyists and special interests, which is kind of how things go in D.C. right now.”
Driver’s endorsements include SEIU, Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia, state Sen. Lakeisa Collins and nine aldermen — nearly 40 community leaders from all across the district.
Other Democratic candidates who have thrown their hats in the ring for Davis’s seat include Richard Boykin, Kina Collins, David Elrich, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, Dr. Thomas Fisher, La Shawn Ford, Jason Friedman, Rory Hoskins, Danica Leigh, John McCombs, Anabel Mendoza, Jazmin Robinson, Reed Showalter, and Felix Tello. Republican candidates are Chad Koppie and Patricia Easley.
