WASHINGTON — Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson will be in Selma, Ala., on Sunday to mark “Bloody Sunday,” the 58th anniversary of marches and violent clashes that led to Black citizens in the U.S. winning voting rights, his spokesman said.
Johnson, a staffer for the Chicago Teachers Union and a Cook County commissioner, makes the trip as he is looking to boost Black voter turnout in his campaign for mayor against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, with the runoff vote on April 4.
A high point of the annual Selma gathering — which draws a who’s-who of the U.S. civil rights community — is a re-enactment in the afternoon of a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
President Joe Biden will attend the 58th anniversary event; Vice President Kamala Harris was at the observance last year.
Johnson campaign consultant Bill Neidhardt said Saturday Johnson is making the trip to “recognize the civil rights leaders who came before him and pay tribute to the giants on whose shoulders he stands.” He will be at the commemoration with the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
On “Bloody Sunday” on March, 7, 1965, Alabama state troopers attacked voting rights demonstrators en route to the state capitol in Montgomery and brutally beat them as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the main street in Selma.
REP. DANNY DAVIS TO ENDORSE JOHNSON
Johnson and Vallas are seeking the support of current and former Black elected officials as they battle for crucial support from Black voters.
On Monday, Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., who backed Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the first round of balloting, will endorse his West Side neighbor, Johnson.
Tumia Romero, Davis’ chief of staff, said Saturday that Davis and Johnson discussed the endorsement on Thursday, two days after Lightfoot’s third-place showing. The runoff is between the two top candidates in the Tuesday balloting.
Davis vouching for Johnson “means that many of the individuals who actually come to vote will be looking for Congressman Davis’ recommendation and confirming their choice,” she said.
On Saturday, Vallas won the endorsement of Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) at an event at the 27th Ward Democratic Organization headquarters, 1601 W. Grand Ave. Former Secretary of State Jesse White, who endorsed Vallas several days ago, was at the session.
