March 10--Onetime political allies U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. are now trading barbs and accusations in a rancorous fight for the Democratic nomination to represent the 1st Congressional District in a campaign that has turned into a referendum on whether voters value experience or a different direction.
Rush has pulled no punches in his assessment of Brookins' decision to try to bounce him from the seat he has held since 1993.
"With friends like Howard, I don't need no enemies," Rush said after a debate this week on WTTW-Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight."
The congressman recalled supporting Brookins' past election efforts in the South Side 21st Ward and pitching in to help Brookins' failed campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination for Cook County state's attorney.
And Brookins, too, recounted his past backing of Rush. "We've always supported Bobby Rush. I supported Bobby Rush for mayor," Brookins said in an interview, referring to Rush's failed 1999 run against then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.
But Brookins argues Rush "isn't doing the job for the residents of this district," which includes part of the South Loop and takes in a large chunk of the South Side before stretching through the south suburbs into Will County.
Rush's long stewardship of the seat has led to a measure of pent-up ambition among younger Democrats in the district. Will Burns was rumored to be eyeing the post but recently resigned as 4th Ward alderman to take a corporate job with vacation rental booking service Airbnb.
But political challengers repeatedly have underestimated Rush's political resiliency and ended up swept aside by the former militant Black Panther and onetime Chicago alderman. Among them was a young state senator named Barack Obama, whom Rush soundly defeated in the 2000 primary, the future president's lone electoral defeat.
Rush, 69, dealt with a rare form of cancer near his jaw in 2008. In recent years, Rush has had a spotty attendance record in the House, a fact Brookins repeatedly highlights.
