The RoundTable sat down for coffee — or in this case, tea — with Mayor Daniel Biss to discuss the results of the Nov. 5 election and what may be in store during the upcoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
He touched on a lot of topics during the interview, but his commitment to protecting all residents of Evanston rang clear.
Biss acknowledged early in the interview that what’s to come is still somewhat unknown. He sees a push toward Trump’s mass deportation plans, which the president-elect had alluded to during debates, happening early in the administration.
Beyond that, though, “I don’t think we know,” Biss said. “I don’t think we should pretend to know.”
But he’s working to be “ready and alive” for what is to come.
Securing continued federal funding sources
Like many cities, a number of Evanston’s initiatives rely to at least some extent on federal funding. Federally sourced funds contribute to a number of things, like the city’s lead service line and pipe replacement efforts, grants from the Community Development Block Grant Program, housing affordability tax credits and much more.
“These are all areas that we’re concerned about,” Biss said. “This is a place where I think we’re going to have to build very politically diverse municipal coalitions.”
“We’re going to have to go hand in hand with mayors, other state and local leaders from across the country and say ‘this is an issue where we’re all speaking in one voice about the need for us to be working with and not against the federal government,’” Biss said.
Evanston is a member of the United States Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan organization that interfaces directly with the federal government.
During the Biden administration, mayors across the country and beyond political affiliation were invited to the White House. The administration wanted to hear from municipalities.
“The Trump administration may be a little bit different, but they’re still going to have a need to be somewhat responsive to pressure that’s coming from a broad, diverse swath of communities across the country,” Biss said.
Resident involvement
Biss’ advice for residents who want to do something?
“Work together,” he said. “Get involved with something.”
He recalled how the last time Trump was elected, so many people birthed new organizations and advocacy groups. This made collaboration a bit of an obstacle, he thought.
Now there are so many established organizations in place. He recommends people find one they feel aligned to, whether it’s explicitly political or not.
This could be reaching out to your Democratic representative, joining broad-based groups that focus on resistance against the Trump agenda, like the Evanston chapter of Indivisible, groups that work on specific issues like immigrant rights, environmental protection, LGBTQ advocacy or reproductive freedom, just to name a few.
“We are blessed to have a dense network in a Chicago area of groups that do really excellent work on all of these issues and more,” Biss said. “Many of those groups have to be particularly well represented in Evanston.”
On a municipal level, Biss also took this opportunity to encourage people bringing their voices to the conversation on Envision Evanston.
“There’s been a lot of voices at the table, including plenty of people who aren’t accustomed to speaking up on city issues,” he said. “But we’re gonna want more of that and more nontraditional voices to talk about these key issues.”
Drawing comparisons
Biss recalled how before this election, as the Democratic Party launched massive groups of volunteers to swing the state of Wisconsin, the mobilization reminded him of the 2004 election.
“I wasn’t imagining the result would be analogous, too, but I think it’s important to remember that as devastating as that election result felt — and it felt devastating,” Biss said. “It also led to something very different.”
He described how, ultimately, he thinks the result of the 2004 election when incumbent President George W. Bush won the vote led to massive Democratic victories in the 2006 midterm elections, and to the presidency of Barack Obama.
“I remember vividly a week after the 2004 election, feeling as bad as I feel now,” he said. “Remembering how quickly things did change gives me a lot of comfort and I would want to share that with the community.”
Biss said when people “buckle down and do the work,” change can happen dramatically quickly.
He thinks this work may look very different from the first time Trump was elected president, though.
“In an environment where he won the popular vote, it’s gonna be harder to mask the whole thing as this weird accident,” he said. “I think focusing on actually what’s wrong and trying to stop it or protect people from it is going to be more central than demonstrating public disapproval. He comes in with a greater sense of legitimacy this time.”
Biss thinks this will materialize in less demonstrations and protests, and more involvement in organizations and advocacy groups for those potentially under threat during the upcoming administration.
“We need to be ready to put our arms around each other and make sure that when anybody comes under attack, we’re all working together to defend them,” Biss said.
Protecting people, protecting rights
“I do think there’s a lot of people under direct attack,” Biss said. “Whether we’re talking about immigrants — or, I think of first, because he’s been so clear, our LGBTQ and especially trans community members, people of color, women.”
Evanston has worked to provide space and protection for these groups in the past and Biss recounted the efforts already undergone to do so.
The city has had a welcoming ordinance since 2017, which “discourages unlawful discrimination and strongly supports the equal treatment of all individuals regardless of national origin.”
“If there are actions we can take to further protect immigrants in Evanston, we will be quick to do that,” he said.
The city also quickly passed a resolution committing to reproductive freedom for all people after the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, overturning the protection of abortion offered from Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
That resolution “supports protecting the fundamental reproductive health care rights reinforced by the State of Illinois Reproductive Health Act (775 ILCS 55).”
Biss followed that he’s been in contact with immigrant groups, environmentalist groups, the ACLU and more. In these early days, he doesn’t pretend they’ve done everything.
“We’re going to do whatever it takes,” he said.
Mayor Biss ready to do ‘whatever it takes’ for what’s to come in Trump presidency is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston’s most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.
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