A Look Towards the 2019 Mayoral Race

Fran Spielman

Fran Spielman has been covering and analyzing Chicago mayors and city government since Richard J. Daley. Her City Hall beats have included Mayors Michael Bilandic, Jane Byrne, Harold Washington, Eugene Sawyer, Richard M. Daley, and Rahm Emanuel.

Spielman joined the Sun-Times in 1985 after ten years at Chicago radio station WIND. When owner Westinghouse Broadcasting sold the station, she saw the opportunity to pursue her primary journalistic goal to work for a major newspaper. She had started at WIND right out of Northwestern University—as a sports reporter, morning news producer, then full-time reporter—after covering football, basketball, and tennis for the Daily Northwestern. During her decade in radio, Spielman freelanced for the Chicago Daily News, at Crain's Chicago Business, for “The Chicago Bear Report”, and as a principal anchor and reporter of Channel 11's Emmy Award winning sports show, “Time Out”. Spielman is a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame, and in 2009, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Headline Club. A decade earlier, Spielman received the Dante Award from the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans.

Kristen McQueary

Kristen McQueary is an Editorial Board Member of the Chicago Tribune. Her areas of focus include government, politics, education, and candidate endorsements.

Before joining the Tribune in 2012, McQueary wrote a political column for the Sun-Times News Group’s SouthtownStar and covered the statehouse for Chicago Public Radio and the Chicago News Cooperative, which published in The New York Times. McQueary is a former President of the Chicago Headline Club and also previously worked for the Peoria Journal Star.

A native of Rockford, McQueary earned her bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois Springfield.

Cliff Kelley

For more than 30 years, Cliff Kelley has been a prominent figure in the ever interesting and always controversial arena of Chicago’s political stage. Kelley’s expertise was honed through 16 years as a member of the City Council and has made him a much sought-after commentator, speaker and analyst, not only locally, but on national and international issue-orientated television and talk-radio programs.

Kelley is a distinguished veteran talk show personality and is a respected thought-leader on affairs throughout the nation, Kelley shares his wealth of knowledge to a vast listening audience comprised of Chicago’s politicos, decision-makers and community stakeholders. Kelley has been a host on Chicago’s Urban Talk/News powerhouse for more than two decades.