In most parts of the United States, including Chicago, political canvassing is a legal and common campaign practice, allowing candidates and volunteers to go door-to-door speaking with residents and sharing information about their campaigns. Recently, Mike Simmons was canvassing for votes in Chicago when an Illinois woman confronted him and called the police. The awkward video is circulating online at the moment.
The video begins inside the hallway of an apartment complex, and sees the Illinois woman holding boxes at the top of the stairs while she’s on the phone to the police. “Is that the police?” asks the Illinois state senator, though she ignores him and continues her conversation with the police officer on the other end of the phone, who is on speakerphone.
Realising what is happening, Mike Simmons calmly explains to his colleague, “I’m not going to argue,” before addressing the situation in a composed and measured way: “I’m gonna let you know that it is against the law to call the police an an elect official who’s knocking doors. I know because I passed the law in 2021. And so if you would like me to leave the building, I will leave the building. But I’m so disappointed in how you chose to handle the situation at a time when police have been known to get into deadly altercations with People of Color. I would expect more from my neighbors. But you take care. Thank you.“
With the footage making the rounds online, social media users took to the comments to chime in with their thoughts on the incident. On Reddit, one user wrote, “Not illegal to canvas for political or religious” while another added, “He handled it in a very classy manner.” Meanwhile, over on Youtube, one strong reaction came in that read, “He needs to sue her or get her jail time.. She called the police too get him unlived or put in jail to ruin his life for no reason. Stop playing and teach them a lesson for their hate.” A fourth penned, “Bigots always going to bigot“.
According to Fox32Chicago, the state lawmaker left the apartment building on his own, and officers from the Chicago Police Department arrived a few minutes later and spoke with him about the incident. According to his campaign, Mike Simmons has lived in the nearby Uptown neighborhood for 15 years and is the first Black person to represent the Far North Side of Chicago in the Illinois Senate. He is now seeking to succeed retiring U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky.
