Jazmine Garcia ends campaign for Aurora mayor, endorses John Laesch

Yahoo

20-02-2025

Jazmine Garcia has suspended her campaign for mayor of Aurora and instead endorsed fellow mayoral candidate John Laesch, she announced on social media Monday.
Early voting for the Feb. 25 primary election has been open since Jan. 16. Since then, Jazmine Garcia has been on the ballot for the Aurora mayoral primary along with incumbent Richard Irvin, Laesch, Ald. Ted Mesiacos, Karina Garcia and Judd Lofchie.
Aurora residents will each get to vote for one mayoral candidate, and the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the Feb. 25 primary will move on to the April 1 general election.
'This decision is not one I make lightly, but it is one that I believe is necessary to ensure that our mission for an honest, accountable and a corruption-free government continues in the strongest possible way,' Jazmine Garcia said in a video posted to her campaign's Facebook page.
It is more important to unite behind a candidate who 'shares our unwavering commitment to fighting corruption, to restoring trust and to ensuring that the people of Aurora have a government that works for them,' especially in this 'critical moment,' she said.
Later in the video, she urged Mesiacos, Karina Garcia and Lofchie to also drop out of the race and support Laesch against Irvin.
Laesch also appeared in Jazmine Garcia's video on Facebook, where he thanked her for her endorsement, encouraged Aurora residents to vote early and praised Jazmine Garcia for inspiring new voters.
'I will work hard to make sure that you and others are represented as the next mayor of Aurora,' Laesch told her in the video.
In a statement also posted to Facebook, Irvin called the move a 'stunt' that was 'nothing more than a calculated political sham' and a 'blatant, orchestrated scheme by John Laesch and his allies to manipulate our electoral process, force a primary and mislead the hardworking people of our great city.'
Irvin also accused Laesch and his allies of ganging up on him and spreading false narratives without proof instead of offering the city 'real leadership.'
In an interview with The Beacon-News before she dropped out of the race, Jazmine Garcia said she ran for mayor to give herself a platform to speak out about issues that are important to her. She ran on the 'BRAT' platform, taking the name and inspiration for branding from the 2024 pop album of the same name by Charli xcx, with each letter of 'BRAT' having various meanings.
For example, she said the 'B' could stand for 'ballot initiatives' or 'beautification,' while the 'T' could stand for 'transparency,' 'transportation,' or 'TIF reform.'
The top three things she wanted to push for with her mayoral campaign were recreational activity, especially along the Fox River, affordable housing and better transpiration, she said during her interview.
Jazmine Garcia said she was concerned that developments backed by the city will privatize the river. It is also hard for her to walk her dog downtown in the summertime because everything is concrete, there are no trees for shade and there aren't any public drinking fountains, she said.
Also, Aurora's youth don't have enough places to go, so the city should work with the Fox Valley Park District on that, she said.
Working with Aurora's warming shelter at Wesley United Methodist Church was a 'big wake-up call' for her because 'all these people, they need help, and the city has not done enough for them,' Jazmine Garcia said. Plus, she said many of her friends have moved to Chicago and are unable to move back because there is not enough affordable housing.
Something that would help transportation in Aurora is the proposed consolidation of the CTA, Metra, Pace and the Regional Transportation Authority, according to Jazmine Garcia. She also proposed that companies like Amazon and Uber that rely on government-funded roads should help pay for the consolidated transit network.
Jazmine Garcia said in her interview that, as a 29-year-old, she also wanted to advocate for her generation since it has been 'left behind.'
In the video posted to her Facebook, she said her campaign also 'proved that people like me do indeed deserve a seat at the table.'
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