Amara Enyia
She is the policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives; the chairwoman of the International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; and a senior advisor to the Institute On Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School."[8][14] Having aborted a campaign for mayor of Chicago months earlier, in September 2015, Enyia formed an exploratory committee to look at launching a possible primary election challenge to longtime incumbent Democratic congressman Danny Davis in 2016.[21] In September 2017, Enyia began consulting work for Kids First Chicago, a significant school choice advocacy group.[24][23][25] However, the social lab never advanced beyond a nascent stage before Enyia abandoned it to pursue her second campaign for mayor,[24] at which time she also left her role as director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce.[7][28] Enyia also has served chairwoman of the International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.[37][39][41] On August 28, 2018, Enyia announced that she would once again run for Chicago mayor in the 2019 election at a campaign launch event in the Bridgeport neighborhood.[55] On January 31, Dorothy Brown, whose own candidacy had ended after she was removed from the ballot due to issues with her petition, endorsed Enyia.It was speculated that it might have helped Enyia by introducing her to Brown's base of support (which tended to be older African American churchgoing women), and might have elevated her to be considered more of a tip-tier candidate.[58] It was also speculated that it could have harmed her candidacy, as Brown was a longtime officeholder with significant ethics concerns, which could have undermined Enyia's efforts to present herself as an outsider candidate seeking to upend political corruption.[57][58] Due to her 2015 campaign not filing quarterly finance reports after it was suspended, she accrued $73,540 in debt that would have to be paid for her to appear on the 2019 ballot.[59][60] The campaign released a statement that its debt to the Illinois State Board of Elections had been paid in full and thanking West for his "generous action".[61] One of her efforts was a February 11 "Party to the Polls", which Enyia described as a key part of her strategy aimed at engaging college students.On October 24, 2022, the Illinois Department of Labor's Law Division found that Gray had been responsible for the operations and involved in talks about expenditures.[71] Enyia's campaign received significant coverage in the 2020 Steve James documentary series City So Real, which centers on the mayoral election.