Jessica Biggs declares victory in race for Chicago School Board president

Well, we heard moments ago from Hilario Dominguez, and it was his concession speech as Jessica Biggs is running away with the night for the first fully elected school board in CPS's history to be the president of that board. Joni Lum is there at the Jessica Biggs watch party. Joni, tell us about how the evening has developed there. Well, you can see this room emptied out, but the party is still going on. You can hear the DJ is still spinning, and Jessica Biggs and her supporters moved into another area. She knew early on that she was going to win this, but she wanted to see more precincts being reported and also wanted to defer to Governor Pritzker, who was speaking at the time, and then also to Julianna Stratton. But she knew that she was going to come out victorious and become the first elected CPS CPS Board President, since Mayor Daley took over the school district in 1995, we have some new video of Jessica Biggs as she was walking around the room talking to her supporters. You know, she is new to citywide campaigns, but she did serve as board member. She got the support of the SEIU, endorsements from elected officials, big donation money totaling $1.8 million for ads, mailings, organization. Biggs has seen CPS from different angles. There's a teacher, a principal, getting fired by the district, seeing how that works. And now as a CPS parent, that is something that people can relate to. And in her speech minutes ago, she seemed to be speaking to those parents. For the first time in the history of our city, the people chose who will lead our Board of Education. Thank you for your participation. Decisions about our schools have been made in the back rooms of City Hall. And families have been left to live with the consequences. But tonight, that changes. This is a victory for everyone who wants a great public school in every community. She says that her focus is financial accountability. There was a lot of political power in this room to support her. And she opened by saying this was a great night across the country. But her term as CPS board president is four years. Reporting live, I'm Joni Lum. Back to you. Well, Joni, you mentioned the political power that was in the room. I heard her directly address President Preckwinkle. Maybe name drop a few other people who were there. Oh, God. Oh, yeah. Well, you know that she was campaigning with President Preckwinkle today, and that carries a lot of power in terms of the Democratic organization and getting votes out. Alderman Scott Waguespack was here. There were other alderpersons here. Pat Dowell was here. And then there are other people who are seeking office, people who are running in the district to be members, people who are running against alder people in the next election. So it seems like the parties I did support her even though this is not a party race and that other people are looking for her support down the road. Well, that's exactly why I asked because we do have a municipal race coming up in February and I'd like to see what coalition is starting to build. Thank you, Joni.