MEDIA ADVISORY: AARP Illinois hosts Mayoral Candidates Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle to participate in live Telephone Town Hall

CHICAGO, March 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

With less than two weeks to go before the historic 2019 Chicago Mayoral election, Candidates Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle will take live questions about the most pressing issues to Chicago's older voters during separate Telephone Town Halls hosted by AARP Illinois.

The Telephone Town Halls will allow participants the opportunity to ask candidates directly about the issues on their minds as they prepare to cast their votes April 3. The Telephone Town Halls are expected to draw tens of thousands of AARP members and Chicago residents who are contacted at home or are able to dial in through a Facebook Livestream.

"In the weeks leading up to this mayoral election, AARP Illinois has worked hard on behalf of its 250,000 members in Chicago to ensure that the issues most important to older adults are heard by the candidates," said AARP Illinois State Director Bob Gallo.

"These Telephone Town Halls will put Chicago residents directly in touch with the candidates so that whomever is elected will have a true sense of the problems voters want addressed," Gallo said.

The Telephone Town Halls come one week after AARP, in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reporter and WVON- FM hosted "Hear Our Voice" Community Mayoral Forums to amplify the concerns of Chicago residents.

Held in Hyde Park and Little Village/Pilsen, the forums were attended by more than 500 Chicago voters, who spoke passionately about the need for economic development on the city's south and west sides and solutions to the Industrial Corridor pollution. They called for an end to city hall corruption, solutions to unemployment and crime -- especially in struggling neighborhoods -- and initiatives that will make Chicago more affordable for residents struggling to keep up with high property taxes, rapidly escalating utility bills and diminishing availability of essential services.

"Both Mayoral Candidates have recognized in recent weeks that older voters are an important voting bloc in Chicago, whose concerns must not be ignored," said Rosanna Marquez, AARP Illinois Volunteer State Director, who noted that 89 percent of Chicago's Older Voters planned to vote in the Mayoral election. During the Feb. 24 election for the run-off, 55 percent of the voters were older adults.

"We look forward to hearing the candidates' direct responses to our members' questions, and also to working with the next mayor after the election to make Chicago a livable, affordable and safe city, where older adults and their families can remain in their homes as long as they want," Marquez said.

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With nearly 38 million members and offices in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities.

SOURCE AARP Illinois

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http://www.aarp.org