page_title: Maria Hadden
section_title: Early activist and political career
hierarchical_section_title: Maria Hadden / Early activist and political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Campaign logo for Maria Hadden for 49th Ward Alderman in 2019 Chicago aldermanic elections
context_page_description: Maria Elaine Hadden is a Chicago politician and community activist. She is a member of Chicago City Council, serving as alderman for the city's 49th ward. She won election to that office after defeating 28-year incumbent Joe Moore in the 2019 aldermanic elections. The 49th ward includes most of Rogers Park and portions of West Ridge. While Hadden is affiliated with the Democratic Party, she has promised to be an independent alderman. She is a member of the Progressive Caucus, Black Caucus, and LGBT Caucus in City Council.
context_section_description: Hadden was a founding board member of the Participatory Budgeting Project, where she worked from 2010 to 2018 to bring participatory budgeting to cities in the Midwest and the South. She later served as the executive director of the non-profit Our City Our Voice. She also served on the boards of directors of the non-profit Voqal and of Black Youth Project 100. She has been an active member of Network 49, an independent political organization based in Rogers Park, and of United Working Families.
  On January 20, 2018, Hadden announced her campaign to run for alderman in the 49th ward, which covers most of Rogers Park and portions of West Ridge. After the submission and processing of ballot petitions, Hadden and incumbent Joe Moore were the only candidates to make it on the ballot for the February 2019 election. Hadden's campaign emphasized development without displacement, funding local public schools, and supporting a strong local economy as key issues in the race. She received several endorsements from progressive activist groups, labor unions, and local politicians such Chuy García and David Orr. Although both candidates self-identified as progressives, observers and media outlets generally characterized Hadden as challenging Moore from the left. Hadden won the election on February 26, 2019, with 63% of the vote. She won a majority of the vote in 32 out of 33 precincts in the ward. With her win, Hadden is the first queer woman of color to be elected to Chicago City Council.
  After her election, Hadden said that in her first few months in office, she will pursue a full assessment of infrastructure and services in the ward and set up an advisory committee for community engagement. On April 10, 2019, Hadden joined six other newly-elected members of the City Council in protesting against the approval of tax increment financing for the Lincoln Yards and The 78 real estate developments.
caption: Logo for Hadden's 2019 campaign for 49th ward alderwoman
exif: {"Image Artist": "Kumar Ramanathan", "Image ExifOffset": "2140", "Image XPAuthor": "Kumar Ramanathan", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:01:24 10:20:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:01:24 10:20:17", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "80", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}