Chicago City Wire

Matt Podgorski, founder of the Northwest Side GOP Club, is running on a "safe neighborhoods" and "lower taxes" platform in his campaign for Cook County commissioner.

"Local families deserve to live in a healthy community where they can afford to raise their families and not fear for their safety," Podgorski said. "I am running to lower taxes, bring down the cost of daily life and end Kim Foxx’s dangerous soft-on-crime policies. I am grateful for the outpouring of support to provide financial security and physical safety for our families."

For Chicago residents, Podgorski’s message on crime is likely to resonate given that increasing crime rates have been a regular source of concern.

In her first three years as Cook County State's Attorney, Kim Foxx dropped charges against 30% of the county's criminal defendants, according to the Chicago Tribune.

According to WTTW News, there were 43 homicides in Chicago in February, bringing the overall number of homicides in the first two months of the year to 92.

WTTW also reports that Chicago police officers have discovered 1,618 guns, which equates to more than 27 weapons every day on average.

According to the CPD, 306 carjackings have occurred thus far this year. 

Podgorski is running to replace Republican 9th District Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri, who has served 28 years in the role. In January, Silvestri noted he would not be running for re-election. 

Podgorski was a critic of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive orders that created the COVID-19 mandates and mounted a legal challenge to them with the Northwest Side GOP and Illinois Republican Party. 

He is the son of a retired Chicago police officer, and has two children who are Catholic school students in Park Ridge on the Northwest Side of Chicago.

Podgorski graduated from Holy Cross High School, Northeastern Illinois University with a bachelor's degree in political science, and from Pepperdine University with a master's degree in economics and public policy in 2004.

From 2004 until 2014, Podgorski was an adjunct professor of political science at Northeastern Illinois University.