By: Ashmar Mandou
Democratic Socialist and Alderman of the 25th Ward, Byron Sigcho-Lopez announced his candidacy for Illinois’ 4th Congressional District as an Independent candidate on Wednesday morning. “When I came to the U.S. when I was 17, I believed that America was a place where anyone could get an education, work hard and make a good life,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “I never thought I would see federal agents kidnapping and murdering people in American streets, while the United States Congress stands by and does nothing.”
A native of Ecuador, Sigcho-Lopez immigrated to the United States at 17 and after graduating from high school in Tennessee, he earned a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Business Administration from Cumberland University and a Master’s in Economic from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Before entering public office, Sigcho-Lopez worked as a volunteer soccer coach and an adult education teacher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he founded a Spanish literacy program to expand access to GED education for Spanish-speaking adults. He also served as Director of the Pilsen Alliance, organizing community efforts against school closures, gentrification and displacement. Currently, Sigcho-Lopez is serving his second term as Alderman of Chicago’s 25th ward representing Pilsen, Little Village, and University Village.
Sigcho-Lopez is running on the belief that ‘working families must come before corporate billionaires.’ During the announcement Sigcho-Lopez said, “People are tired, overworked and overtaxed. Yet the human spirit is prevailing in the 4th District. We’re not waiting for the Democratic Party to give us permission. We’re not sitting still at the bottom tier of a hierarchy mapped out by corporate billionaires on both sides of the aisle.
“This seat belongs to the people who live here,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “True democracy means people get a choice in our elections, and that’s why I’m running. Because the people of the 4th District deserve more than backroom deals and a political system that shuts them out of the decisions that shape their lives.” To get on the ballot as an Independent, Sigcho-Lopez must collect at least 10,816 valid petition signatures between Feb. 25 and May 26, 2026. IL-04 includes Chicago and suburban Cook County and eastern DuPage County. “When something is wrong, we fix it. When the system hurts the people it’s supposed to protect, we change it,” Sigcho-Lopez said.
Sigcho-Lopez’s vision for his work in Congress includes: housing, health care and mental health services for all, expanding Veterans health care access to include the families of Veterans, challenging corporate power in Congress and reforming the tax system to end tax breaks for billionaires, abolishing ICE and prosecuting federal agents who kidnapped, assaulted and murdered innocent people, ending the normalization of school shootings, and getting money out of politics.
