Chicago City Wire

CHICAGO – First-time political donations are among the hundreds of recent contributions to mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, who on March 17 alone, received more than $1 million in amounts of $1,000 or more from 212 individuals and businesses.

Chief executive Bob Habeeb of Maverick Hotels and Restaurants had never given to a campaign until his business gave $2,500 in support of Vallas. In an interview on March 22, he said businesses in the city need a leader who can turn things around.

Maverick owns and operates 30 hotels including three in the city.

“We generally are apolitical as it relates to city politics, but the stakes are high," he said.  

“Hospitality has been hit by corona, crime, and everything in between.”

He said he attended events of Vallas and candidate Brandon Johnson and decided Vallas was “the better pick to turn around the city of Chicago.”

“They are night and day and the business environment of Chicago is in tough straits.

“There’s such a contrast that we decided we should contribute some of our treasures.”

He said Illinois Hotel Association gave Vallas its first endorsement ever.

The race has caught national attention and people ask him about it everywhere he goes, Habeeb said.

By contrast, on March 17, Johnson received $13,000 in contributions of $1,000 or more from nine individuals and businesses.

Johnson depends almost entirely on the teacher federation and the service employees union, but after the Feb. 28 primary they didn’t keep him even with Vallas.

From March 1 to 17, Vallas received more than $5 million in contributions of $1,000 or more from 622 individuals and businesses.  

Johnson received about $3.6 million from the teachers and the service employees, and $130,000 in contributions of $1,000 or more from 75 individuals and businesses.

The numbers don’t paint a complete picture because the campaigns won’t report contributions less than $1,000 until after the runoff.