Chicago City Wire

Chris Butler said the origins of his campaign for Illinois’ 1st Congressional District seat can be traced to his childhood when he and a group of students organized to save their principal’s job. 

“I gained my leadership in community organizing and in ministry," Butler told Chicago City Wire. "My community leadership started all the way back in sixth grade. I was involved with helping to protect the job of my principal. When I was in sixth grade, the local school council was going to throw her out and we thought she should stay. And so myself and some of my friends got involved in interrupting local school council meetings, and eventually, I learned a little bit more [about] how to put some method to that madness and really engage with our parents and other community folks with meaningful conversations." 

The experience, Butler said, gave him "a real desire to work in the community, to lead in the community.” 

“And so from that time, I've helped do so many projects, and I led the Chicago peace campaign that organized churches all over the city to occupy spaces of violence in the community with positive activities, you know, singing and sailing, climbing, training flights in the middle of the night and we did gardens and cleanups and we filled up with positive space,” he said.

Butler is one of 21 Democratic candidates hoping to succeed Rep. Bobby Rush. Five Republicans will be running in their primary. The primary will occur on June 28.

Butler was an organizer for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He has organized churches against violent crime as a member of the Chicago Peace Campaign. He's also worked for school choice advocates A+ Illinois and New Schools for Chicago as an organizer. Butler is a pastor and operates a public affairs consulting firm.

According to Beverly Review, Butler said that he is being asked to run to end the "demonization" of each other by people on the extremes of both parties. “We can’t build on separate coalitions if we refuse to talk to each other, if we demonize each other over every little issue,” he said.