Ahead of tonight’s first candidate debate, IL-07 Congressional candidate Anabel Mendoza is calling on City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin to resign from her post and withdraw her campaign for Congress following an ethics complaint that she misused her official government office to advance her political campaign for Congress.

“I'm running to go into Congress with bold, unapologetic action to bring our taxpayer dollars to invest in our neighborhoods.”

“We've seen that being a Democrat doesn't actually mean that you'll have courage in Congress. You have to be a force, and you have to be the right force for this moment.”

While families across Chicago’s South and West Sides are being crushed by spiking property taxes, soaring grocery bills, and skyrocketing health care costs, Donald Trump’s regime is preparing to waste tens of billions of taxpayer dollars on turning warehouses into detention centers.

Both Melissa Conyears-Ervin’s and Jason Friedman’s willingness to sell this seat to outside interests is exactly what’s broken with our political system.

My progressive pick is Anabel Mendoza. The youngest candidate in the race, and the one actually doing the work…she understands that hardship isn’t a personal failure, it’s the result of systemic neglect by a government that refuses to prioritize livable wages, robust education, and affordable housing.

According to Muslims United PAC, Data for Progress polling shows Anabel has the highest voter conversion rate in this race — when voters hear her message, they move.

 Catch Fire Movement, a national organization dedicated to advancing a foreign policy rooted in peace, diplomacy, and human rights, praised Anabel’s leadership, values, and unwavering commitment to working people.

The endorsement comes amid growing concern about the flood of outside political spending in the IL-07 race, with special-interest donors seeking to shape the outcome of a district they do not live in or represent.

Up to 400,000 Chicagoans could lose SNAP under these new rules. Broken leadership continues to punish hardworking families for failures they never created. In Congress, I will fight to make sure no family in our district is forced to go hungry because politicians chose cruelty over basic human rights and common sense.

The killing of Alex Pretti by a federal agent in Minneapolis yesterday was a brutal execution. Footage shows Alex was killed while protecting a woman being harassed by federal agents — killed while caring for others and doing exactly the work he devoted his life to as an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. Nurses are essential caregivers, and I join them in grieving for one of their own.

Trump and his army of terror must be held accountable. DHS, ICE, and CBP, must be defunded, abolished, and destroyed at its roots. I refuse to play nice with terror. I will not compromise with brutality. I will not legitimize state violence or collaborate with systems built to kill our people. And I can assure you one thing: I will use every ounce of power if elected to Congress to shut this machinery down.

Sending even one more penny to an agency that is murdering people in our streets, ripping families apart, and kidnapping preschoolers like 5-year-old Liam Ramos is not just immoral; it is unconscionable. There is no plausible excuse for enabling state-sanctioned terror with taxpayer dollars. If you cannot recognize that funding an agency that shoots mothers and fathers and detains children is an unacceptable use of public funds, you do not deserve to serve.

This MLK Day, Illinois’ 7th Congressional District candidate Anabel Mendoza and Rev. Robin Hood stood alongside community leaders and more than 20 tenants from Harrison Courts Apartments in East Garfield Park, calling for immediate action from the Department of Housing and Urban Development following months of unsafe and unlivable conditions in the building.

These weekly meet-and-greets have helped power a competitive people-powered field program that includes daily door-knocking across the district, phone banking, participation in candidate forums, a weekly church tour every Sunday, and ongoing mutual aid events that provide direct support to families while strengthening community ties.

Tonight, Anabel Mendoza, a lifelong Chicagoan, immigrant rights organizer, and the youngest candidate for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, led over 100 community members, advocates, and faith leaders in a powerful vigil honoring lives stolen by ICE violence.

“My heart is with this woman, her family, and a community that continues to be brutalized by ICE and CBP. What happened in Minneapolis was not an accident. It is the inevitable outcome of a federal administration that continues to operate with total impunity. When armed agents are unleashed to hunt immigrant communities, from Chicago to Minneapolis, violence and death are inevitable."

"We cannot continue down the same path we have seen play out in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen and more. If elected to Congress, I will fight to impeach the President for his brazen violation of the U.S. Constitution, uphold and strengthen international law and diplomacy, and use every lever of power possible to make sure our taxpayer dollars go to ensuring communities have access to housing, healthcare, and food."

In the leadup to the March primary election, Anabel Mendoza — a lifelong Chicagoan, immigrant rights organizer, and the youngest candidate running for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District — is taking her campaign directly into Black churches across Chicago’s South and West Sides, meeting voters where they are, and listening to their hopes, concerns, and priorities for the future of their communities.

This moment demands federal leadership with the courage to act. Anabel Mendoza is that leader. She understands that progress doesn’t happen in silos; it happens when federal leaders work hand in hand with county boards, city councils, and community organizations to deliver results in the neighborhoods that need it most.

Families in this district deserve relief, not reckless policies that make health care a luxury only the wealthy can afford. In Congress, I will prioritize fighting to lower health care costs for working people because no one should have to choose between putting food on the table and going to the doctor.

I’m running for Congress because our communities deserve leaders who understand our health is not up for debate and will do everything possible to protect us from this reckless dysfunction. Health care is a human right, and it’s outrageous that millions of lives are being jeopardized by political games.

"With working families in Chicago struggling to pay for rent, gas, and groceries, allowing individual stock trading by Members of Congress is not only morally corrupt but also an abuse of power. I’m calling on Rep. Davis to join members of the Illinois delegation and sign on to the discharge petition to ban individual stock trading by Members of Congress and their families"

“As the youngest and only candidate in IL-07 who brings deep expertise in the immigrant rights movement, I’m deeply disappointed to be excluded from this health care forum —not for myself—but for the voters who deserve a full, honest conversation about their future. It is not lost on any of us that the deliberate exclusion of this perspective from this forum comes at a time when our communities are experiencing a full-scale assault on our access to health care and against immigrants.

“Kristi Noem’s appearance in Chicago is a slap in the face to working families already stretched thin while her administration pours more than $200 million of taxpayer money into flashy ads.  Here in Illinois’ 7th District — from the West Side to the South Side — our story is written by immigrants, laborers, organizers, and families who built this city block by block."

“This moment demands leaders who are going to confront the status quo and won’t back down when it matters the most,” Anabel told attendees. “I understand the consequences of losing at this moment; it’s parents going hungry, families being ripped apart. Those are consequences I'm not comfortable sitting on the sidelines and accepting,” Anabel shared with attendees.

“I was raised by two extremely, extremely courageous and hard working people who instilled in me that fighter energy. It is quite literally in my DNA. It's in my blood. No matter where I go, I'm going to fight for the people who I love and care about."

What we are seeing unfold in the streets of Chicago, a city that I love dearly, is extremely personal to me, as I know it is for so many of my neighbors. Immigrants make not only Chicago strong, but our entire country. And what we are seeing right now, is absolutely atrocious. We are seeing a total overreach by the Trump administration, blatantly unlawful actions by ICE agents and CBP agents who are arresting people without warrants and without due process.

The conditions as described at Broadview are disgraceful, and no human being should ever be treated this way. With threats of at least 1,000 more federal agents returning to Chicago in the coming months, we cannot let our guard down. We need courageous leaders in Congress who will use every tool available to protect our communities and hold accountable those who have acted with reckless abandon. In Congress, I will be that leader.

Following reports that major funders of the real estate industry, American Israel Public Affairs Committee PAC, and its super PAC, United Democracy Project, have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Jason Friedman’s campaign in an attempt to buy the Illinois 7th Congressional seat, Anabel Mendoza, issued the following statement: "Before he’s even been elected, Jason Friedman has proven he will sell out our communities at the first opportunity he gets..."

In a new op-ed in Courier Newsroom and in a 'Letter to the Editor' for the Chicago Sun-Times, Anabel Mendoza, a lifelong Chicagoan and candidate for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, lands an urgent message about how our communities can resist and survive the escalating political crises bearing down on us. This moment, she argues, offers an opportunity we cannot miss to bring together historically divided communities and create an unbreakable movement rooted in unity.

Chicagoans across Englewood, Garfield Park and North Lawndale have already endured decades of deliberate disinvestment and are now being punished with extreme hikes in property taxes. In Congress, I will fight to protect families all across the 7th District by championing legislation that protect homeowners, increases federal oversight so that Chicagoans are not deliberately priced out, and funding to keep families in their homes.

"We here at Cook County Latino Dems seek leaders who are committed to serving their communities and ensuring that their voices are actively heard. Anabel exemplifies the strong, effective leadership we need in Congress. Young, vocal, and passionate, she understands that her community deserves representation and is unafraid to stand up to political figures like Trump to advocate for their needs."

Broadview has long been a site of cruelty and trauma for immigrant families, and ICE continues to operate with impunity, tearing apart lives and sparking violence in our city without consequence. What we witnessed today was peaceful people of faith calling for dignity and freedom for every single person who continues to be detained inside Broadview, only to be met with force.

Last night’s vote represents a profound failure of leadership. Chicago doesn’t need more party loyalists protecting their own careers and wallets. We need fighters who understand that every day Trump is dismantling our rights and consolidating power for himself.

Federal agents entered the Rayito del Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in Roscoe Village and violently detained a preschool teacher in front of staff and children. Anabel Mendoza, a lifelong Chicagoan, immigrant rights organizer, and the youngest candidate running for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, issued the following statement in response.

When restaurant owners here in Chicago say, ‘We are dying a slow death,’ they are describing the deliberate financial consequences of Trump and ICE’s violent agenda. Our campaign is fighting for a future where immigrants are protected, workers are paid living wages, and small businesses thrive.

Starting tomorrow, November 1, nearly two million people across Illinois will lose access to SNAP — including nearly a quarter of Chicagoans living in the 7th District. In response, Anabel Mendoza, a lifelong Chicagoan and the youngest candidate running for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, released the following statement.

In a show of people power stretching from Englewood to Bellwood, from Chinatown to Broadview, Anabel Mendoza, a lifelong Chicagoan and the youngest candidate running for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, announced today that her campaign has surpassed the number of petition signatures required to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot!

"We need a fighter in Congress, someone who isn’t going to take ‘No’ for an answer, someone who is going to fight just as hard as this government often fights to fund a genocide abroad and bring that funding here. Because if we have the money to fund a genocide abroad, if we have the money to give ICE and Customs and Border Protection $170 billion of our taxpayer dollars, then I know we have the money to fund our communities.” 

This campaign will always put people over profits. The disparate impact that pollution and environmental crises have on Black and brown communities on the South and West side of Chicago are evident. We see the consequences in lower life expectancies, chronic diseases and cancer risks, unsafe housing and communities that are still impacted by historical racist policies of redlining, segregation and infrastructure decisions. Signing the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge is a no brainer.