Senate candidate Willie Wilson tests positive for COVID-19

Willie Wilson holds his KN95 face mask out during a May press conference outside the Thompson Center. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

U.S. Senate candidate and Chicago businessman Willie Wilson will self-quarantine for more than a week after testing positive for the coronavirus, his campaign said Thursday.

Wilson is “experiencing mild symptoms” and suspending in-person campaign events for the next 10 days, according to a statement from campaign spokesman Scott Winslow, who said he’s also tested positive for the coronavirus.

Wilson, 72, said he tested positive “recently” despite following precautions of wearing a face mask and social distancing.

“Like so many of my fellow Americans, I am not immune from COVID-19,” Wilson said in the statement. “This is a disease that does not discriminate... However, I am confident that we will beat COVID-19.”

Wilson, whose diagnosis comes less than four weeks before Election Day, has notably distributed more than 40 million face masks to the public during his long-shot bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

U.S. Senate candidate Willie Wilson embraces, John Catanzara, who heads up the Chicago police union, after receiving the endorsement of the union.

Wilson was photographed without a mask in mid-September while embracing Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara during an endorsement event.

Wilson is running as an independent candidate against the longtime Democratic incumbent Durbin and Republican Mark Curran, a former Lake County sheriff.

On Twitter, Durbin said: “I was sorry to learn that Dr. Wilson has tested positive for COVID-19. I wish him and his staff a speedy recovery.”

Reached by phone Thursday, Curran said, “I’ll say prayers for him. Willie Wilson is a good man. I hope he pulls through.”

In the spring, Wilson stood defiant with pastors who refused to close their churches in the early days of the pandemic. Wilson pledged to pay up to $1 million to cover fines for churches in Illinois that were fined for breaking the stay-at-home order.

But Wilson has also blasted President Donald Trump for his response to the pandemic, saying Trump has been “been erratic, inconsistent and the cost has been human lives.”

“I believe that not enough attention has been paid to the poor and vulnerable populations who are almost defenseless to the pandemic,” Wilson said in candidate questionnaire sent to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Wilson owns several McDonalds franchises and a medical supply company, and ran unsuccessful bids for mayor of Chicago in 2015 and 2019.