Chicago City Wire

Chicago businessman and former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson appeared with a group of Black clergy members at Providence Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday to endorse Paul Vallas in the upcoming April 4 mayoral runoff, a Chicago Sun-Times article said.

Wilson, who also is Black, had previously endorsed Vallas in early March. While he ran for mayor in the February 28 election, he failed to get enough votes to make it to the runoff.

“I’m asked a lot, why do I support a white man over a Black man?” Wilson said in the article. “My answer is simple: Paul and I have been on the same wavelength. I do not believe in defunding the police, nor does he. I do not believe in raising taxes on its citizens. ... Paul believes the same thing. We should not look at color. We have to look out for our best interest.”

The endorsement by Wilson and various Black pastors could potentially lead to Black voters being persuaded to vote for Vallas over Johnson. During the 2019 election season, Wilson's endorsement of Lori Lightfoot for mayor led to his older, church-based constituency voting for her over Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Lightfoot ultimately won precincts in all 50 wards.

The Rev. William Foster Jr., the church's senior pastor, first met Vallas in the 1990s before he became a preacher, the Sun Times reported. During that time, both men worked for Chicago Public Schools, with Foster as a business manager and Vallas as the CEO. Foster noted that Vallas created the business manager positions to separate CPS' business and education roles.

“The model that Paul developed was honestly probably the best model for Chicago Public Schools,” Foster was quoted by the Sun Times.

During the church event, Vallas briefly spoke about the importance of communal faith-based institutions in communities, commenting that they and schools can play a role in decreasing crime by providing children with counseling and mentoring.

“The biggest institutions in many of our poorest communities are the schools and the faith-based institutions," Vallas was quoted by the Sun Times. "We are irresponsible when we don’t take full advantage of those types of relationships."