Mike Quigley AM 1985

Q&A with Congressman-Elect Mike Quigley

Mike Quigley, AM’85, outgoing Cook County commissioner, heads to Washington later this month to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois’s 5th Congressional District. He will replace Rahm Emanuel, who left to become the White House chief of staff. Quigley sat down with eViews in the days after his win to reflect on his campaign and to look ahead as he prepares to be sworn in on April 21.

Q. Why did you run for Congress?

A. This wasn’t something I had ever planned on. I was very satisfied by my work serving the people of the 10th district of Cook County and helping fight for change and reform of country government, advocate for a sustainable environment, and protect middle-income taxpayers. However, when this seat became vacant, I saw an opportunity to keep [working towards] many of those same goals—but on a national level. Furthermore, I saw it as a chance to work alongside a new president, someone whom I was proud to support as a delegate to the Democratic convention, and help him and his administration promote the kind of change that our country needs.

Q. What was campaign life like? How has it differed from other campaigns you have run?

A. In some ways, this campaign was unlike any other I have ever experienced. First, it came as complete surprise—I was like many people who assumed that Congressman Rahm Emanuel would remain in the House for many years. Second, it was a race that involved nearly two dozen candidates at the outset, a unique dynamic to the campaign.

But in the most important way—in terms of the issues that voters were interested in, the issues that I discussed on the campaign trail—it was strikingly similar to other races I had run. As in those previous races, the dominant themes that people wanted to discuss with me were the questions of how to reform politics and how to reinvent government. Those are precisely the same ideals that have dominated my conversations with my constituents for 10 years, and they were the issues that resonated with voters in 2009.

Q. What have you learned from this experience?

A. To me, this campaign was proof of something I had always believed was true—the fact that you can win an election by running on your record and based on the work that you have done in the past. It also taught me that no matter how many commercials you run or direct mail pieces you send, it is the personal contact and conversations with voters that have the greatest impact.

Q. What policy priorities do you expect to tackle once you arrive in Washington?

A. Fighting for transparency and accountability will be central to the initiatives I tackle in Congress. Whether it’s in the context of the bailouts of the financial sector or the auto industry, the use of federal stimulus money, earmarks, or other budget measures, I want to provide taxpayers a better grasp on how their money is being spent.

Throughout the campaign, I spoke about the urgent need to fight for additional support for mass transit, and the benefits that these investments can have in the area of job creation, the environment, and even national security both in the short term and for decades to follow. I am going to make this a core part of my agenda in Washington, to help the Chicago Transit Authority and mass transit around the nation.

Q. How do you change your focus/mindset for the scale on which you will now work—from local issues to national and international issues?

A. I have no illusions that there will be a steep learning curve on some of these issues. However, having come from Cook County, the 19th largest governmental body in the nation, there are very few issues that I haven’t been asked to address in the past decade. On the international front, when you represent a district as diverse as this [one], with large communities of people from virtually every corner of the globe, you are able to learn a great deal about international issues even while meeting with your constituents here at home. Finally, I know that I will certainly be able to call upon the arsenal of skills that I gained as a student at the Harris School and apply those important and memorable lessons to the challenges ahead.