Chicago Is at a Breaking Point (But She Says She Can Fix It) - Susana A. Mendoza

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0:56I'm not giving up. I am selling the building. The final season of FX is the bear. The restaurant is flooded. Everything's either going to be okay. No, or not. We are outgunned and we are outmanned, but we have each other. FX is the bear. The final season, all episodes now streaming on Disney plus. I'm certainly not afraid to lose an election. I'm afraid to lose my city. And that's why I'm stepping up to run unabashedly. I'm not risk averse. I think Chicagoans deserve a mayor who's not risk averse, who's worried more about them than about my political future. Clearly, I'm the only one right now running for mayor who is willing to risk their reelection and not worry about that, but instead put constituents first.

1:44And as someone who was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but more like a plastic spork, I'm a hard worker. That's where I come from. I have had to claw and earn my way into every position I've ever had. No one's ever handed me anything other than my parents handing me the example of their hard work ethic, and that's what the majority of Chicago's like. Welcome to Open Book. I am your host, Anthony Scaramucci. Joining us today is Susanna Mendoza. She's Illinois controller. She's also a candidate for mayor in the city of Chicago. And Susanna, you're an interesting person for me on this podcast because right after talking about your book, I want to talk about your life.

2:23I feel like your life is a book. And after meeting you through a mutual friend, I said, you know what? I want to bring the daughter of a Mexican immigrant family who grew up in Chicago's little village neighborhood onto the show and to talk a little bit about your journey and your commitment to public service. So thank you for having us. And why don't we start with your childhood? Because you told me, you know, two childhood moments really shaped your life. I'm sure there were more than those, but there's a couple that you've highlighted. Why don't we go there, share those with us, tell us both stories and how these experiences prepare you for where you are today.

3:04Yeah, so thanks, Anthony. First of all, awesome to be on the show with you on the podcast. I'm a big fan. And, you know, I am the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, Joaquin, and the OG, Susana Mendoza. That's my mom. And both of them were, like, completely different people. I don't know what your parents were like, but mine were. It's amazing that they spent 33 years of their life happily married. I'm very lucky to have had parents like that before my dad passed away when I was just 22 years old. But they were both polar opposites. My dad was studying to be a priest and was very close to becoming one.

3:39Thankfully, he didn't. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And my mom was like the opposite of that in the sense of very fiery, feisty personality. And I think I'm like this perfect combination of both someone who talked to me about how important it was to be peaceful, to think like a pacifist, to turn the other cheek. That was my dad in the face of conflict. And then my mom who didn't take crap from anybody. You know what I mean? And so I had two like incidents, I think, that really resonated with me growing up and that I think have been helpful to me in my political career and just as a person.

4:14And that was my first one was when I was about nine years old. Well, actually, the first one was my mom when I was probably around four or five. I was coming back from my early childhood. It was like a head start across from the Boys in Woods Girls Club in Chicago. And we lived in the inner city in Little Village, a beautiful neighborhood. But we happened to live on a really hot block, ton of gang activity. So dangerous place for me to live at that time. And we walked up to our house, you know, my mom parked the car. And then as we were getting out and walking up to the house, there were these gangbangers, like three gangbangers literally tagging our brick, the front brick.

4:56And I think in a normal universe, people would be like, oh, let's not walk right up to that situation and maybe wait until they were gone and then just be pissed off about it. But my mom did what I thought was unthinkable at the time. She walked right up to those gangbangers and she got in their face and she's like, what the hell are you doing all of this in Spanish and these guys look her straight in the eye and they're like hey you can't talk to us like that again in Spanish with like an awesome like accent if you can imagine it and they're like don't you know who we are and my mom's like hmm why don't you enlighten me why don't you tell me who you are and then she's they're like we're Satan's disciples and my mom's like really well don't you know who I am and they're like well they're probably thinking this woman's crazy right she's like five foot tall 100 pounds soaking wet and she says they go no why don't you tell us who you are and she goes well I'm Satan's mother you bunch of whatever in Spanish and grabs one by the ear and drags them down the street literally start these guys don't know what to do and here's this little girl tiny going holy crap my mom is like wonder woman you know at the time i used to run around in wonder woman underoos if you remember those did you ever have any well i didn't have those but i i did dress up like batman and superman you know hopefully thankfully you didn't have wonder woman ones but figured you'd go for batman or superman but let me tell you something if i did have wonder women ones i would be very happy to share them with you.

6:29I'm a fairly uninhibited person, but no, I didn't. Yes. But she was Wonder Woman to me, you know, total badass. And she taught me how to stand up to, you know, gangbangers and bullies and stuff like that. And the moral of the story is she did drag that guy down to his grandmother's house. And she told the grandmother what they were doing. And they walked back to our house with a bucket, soapy water, the wire brush, and she didn't let them stop until they cleaned all of that fresh paint off of our brick. And that was my mom. My dad, on the other hand, I was about nine years old living in the suburbs because we had to leave our community because of a murder that happened on our block.

7:09And my mom had just had enough and didn't want us to be the victim of a murder. So we moved to the suburbs. And that's where I got like an understanding of the difference between, you know, being afraid to walk to school with the fear of getting shot, holding my brother's hand every day, having this conversation of let's just not make eye contact. You know, we make to school without getting shot versus knowing what it's like to grow up in a safe environment with good public schools where the worst thing that could happen to me is a bird pooping on my head. So we were in the suburbs one day, my dad and I, in a grocery store.

7:40I was about nine years old and we were speaking in Spanish. Obviously, you can tell I speak English perfectly, but I also speak Spanish perfectly. And I grew up speaking Spanish with my parents because they wanted me to speak both languages. And I was in a grocery store in a suburb, and we're in the produce section, and this big burly-looking dude walks up, and he just yells in front of everybody as he hears us speaking Spanish. Hey, this is America, and in America we speak English. And I was just nine years old, so I didn't know any better, and I thought, like, of course I love America. I was born in America.

8:14Are we only supposed to speak English? and, well, I'm sure there are people who would say yes. I mean, I love it that I speak multiple languages and that my parents taught me too, English and Spanish. My dad, who is the pacifist, I'm expecting him to totally turn the other cheek as he's always taught me to do and to not say a word and just kind of eat the insult. But instead, he looks this guy straight in the eye and he says, in his most awesome, thickest Mexican accent, said he says yes this is america and in america i can speak whatever language i want i speak too how many do you speak and i was like oh my gosh like in the moment before he did that i was honestly embarrassed i felt like a little bit frightened a little embarrassed i didn't know what to think and um that died the moment my dad did what he did because he literally like if you can visualize a mic drop moment.

9:16That was my first mic drop moment for me as a kid. And it also like reinforced to me how proud I was to be Joaquin Mendoza's daughter, the daughter of that Mexican immigrant who in fact did speak two languages, one with a thick accent, but another one fluently. And he taught me as his daughter born in this country to love my country with all my heart and to be proud of not just who I am and where I came from, but also who I came from. And that makes me their daughter. So yeah, those two stories say a lot about who I am because I'm this perfect combo of feistiness with seeking peace where I can, but knowing how to throw down when I have to.

9:57And so it's a really good Chicago, very Chicago story if you think about it. Thank you for tuning in to Open Book. And if you haven't already, please hit the subscribe button below so that you're the first to know when our new episodes drop each week we got a lot more coming and now back to the show look i love the stories i love both those stories which is why i wanted you to tell them but i want to i want to go into something that goes on and i'm going to give you my opinion and then get your reaction so the media tells me that new york is unsafe and that we just have a bunch of rampaging murderous people in new york yet if you look at the crime rates were at almost or near an all-time historic low.

10:36The media tells me that, you know, Chicago, forget about it. It's, you know, a dystopian, you know, Will Smith-like atmosphere, you know, in that movie, right? Basically, yet you guys just hit a 60-year low in crime. I mean, it took up a little bit in the first half of 2026, but your murder rate is at a 60-year low. You have a lot of violence intervention groups there that you've helped to put together that I think deserve a lot of the credit. What is the media getting right or wrong? And if we were going to recast a very objective narrative for the city of Chicago, what would that be? So look, I think the media obviously doesn't do us any favors by talking about, like when you travel internationally, internationally um you hear people say like oh my gosh you feel safe going back home i mean that's not the narrative we want it's a beautiful city you've been to chicago anthony it's a gorgeous city new york's a beautiful city i love chicago and its sopranus surrounding suburbs when i think of chicago i think of america it's incredibly hospitable it's a warm city it's a creative city um of course you know that i'm tight with a lot of the commodities people out there like Terry Duffy at the CME, et cetera.

12:00I love the city. Yeah, I do too, with all my heart. And I'll tell you, though, that it breaks my heart to hear these narratives. Now, on the flip side of that, though, it is true that we have statistics that are, they look good, right, in the sense of we have less homicides now than we did. Our numbers are dropping. I'd love to see them drop more so than peer cities across America and homicides. But what is true is that we also have to be realists here. and the amount of shootings are going up. And so we do have amazing trauma centers, but that's not like a victory lap that we're like, well, cool, less people are dying.

12:35A lot more people are getting shot. This is not a good thing. Having said that, it is a beautiful city. And per capita, if we're being fair in the media and what the narrative is, Chicago is one of the safer cities, right? Because we have a lot more people. So of course, there's going to be more incidences of violence. But I will tell you that when I think about my role in public service and talking about this issue, that I think that the number one job of any mayor of any city is to provide a safe environment. And the narrative that you want talked about within your city, surrounding your city, domestically and internationally, is one of safety and a thriving city.

13:20And I don't think it's good to cherry pick statistics. But the narrative that you want is when you actually ask somebody, do you feel safe in the city of Chicago, that their answer would be, yeah, we have the greatest, safest city. But the real answer, Anthony, as I've gone into 77 neighborhoods, hopefully we'll have a 78 soon in Chicago, is that, you know, safety, public safety, and the feeling of safety and wanting it is number one or number two in everybody's top three concerns. So I think part of that has to do with the media narrative, but also part of that has to do with the reality of people are still getting shot in certain areas of the city.

13:58People are still losing loved ones in certain areas of the city. And those people do, in fact, matter. And for them, if you're a victim of crime, crime is is very, very present in your day to day thoughts about whatever city you're in, including the city of Chicago. out. Pro-police Democrat, centrist, and somebody that launched her campaign by explicitly criticizing incumbent Mayor Brandon Johnson for two far left-leaning policies which were aligned with democratic socialism. Your whole pitch is a rebuke of the city's leftward term. Are you in sync with where the city is or are you guys with Mondani, our buddy here that runs New York?

14:48So I love common sense and getting things done. And I think that that's what every Chakotwin wants to see. We've now had two consecutive failed terms of mayors, people that had zero political experience, government experience, lots of ideas, but no ideas on how to fund them. and, you know, it's just not enough to say we want all kinds of things but have no financial plan or acumen to get it done. And so why I believe that I'm the best person situated to deliver for the city of Chicago is because unlike the other candidates that have served as mayor the last few terms and unlike anyone in this race, I'm the only one who brings this trifecta of experience and competence, which is really important because you can have all these ideas, But if you know how to get things done, you're not going to get anything done.

15:37And that's what we've seen. You've got to know, in my case, I bring legislative experience, six terms as a state rep, working across the aisle, delivering on important legislation. I know how to navigate Springfield with my eyes closed. I managed a city council when I was city clerk of Chicago. So I know how to work those relationships, how to get things through the city council as well, and manage an office with hundreds of employees, cut my own budget, return money the Treasury, really show what fiscal discipline looks like and feels like. And then, of course, no one can touch my financial chops, which is navigating the state of Illinois through the two worst fiscal crises in our state's history, delivering the first credit upgrades in over 20 years, 10 now on my watch versus 20 years of nothing but downgrades and, you know, paying down our unpaid bills and, you know, getting us back on track.

16:29This is something that the city of Chicago drastically needs. We need more attention on our pensions. We need to stop the hemorrhaging of our city's finances. We need to have a very pro-growth mentality, more revenue coming into the system through growth, through more people paying into the system versus less people paying more into the system. So this is something that a person like me who lives and breathes a DNA of fiscal stability, that's why I'm running for mayor of Chicago because that's what the city needs. And if people believe in getting things done and less political theater and more actionable results, more progress versus promises, I'll always say that progress is greater than promises.

17:13That's why I'm stepping up to run for mayor, because we are here in the city of Chicago, Anthony, at an inflection point. We cannot afford one more term of another bad mayor who just doesn't know the job, might have good intentions, but doesn't have the level of competence to deliver. we have to go for not just a better than the last two but the best candidate with the best track record and the best experience and clearly that's you know if you if you look into all the candidates you'll see that that's me but but yeah i just i believe in getting things done that's the common sense track and that's where i'm at okay so we have a guy by the name of alexi giannulis am i saying his name right yeah i think you're close enough he hasn't formally declared himself for mayor.

17:57But when I was preparing for this, I went into the prediction markets like most Wall Street guys do. And he he seemed like a front runner. Is he going to run for mayor or not run for mayor? And let's say he runs for mayor. Give me, Susanna, how are you going to compete against him? Sure. So right now he's running for secretary of state for reelection. So he's going to, you know, play that safe lane. If he runs for mayor and loses, He's still secretary of state. Yeah, I could have done the same thing. I was a top vote getter in the last election statewide. You know, 100, I want to say 77 ,000 more votes than the governor, 111 ,000 more than Alexi in that race in 22.

18:39Having said that, the lowest cost per vote at$1.07 per vote. So I'm always a good return on investment, Anthony. But I would say that right now he's ranked for secretary of state. I chose to go all in for the city of Chicago. So for betting, I'm not betting on my job security. I'm interested in the job security of the people in my city. And so I believe I would have had a sure reelection. But right now, I believe that Chicagoans deserve a mayor who's going to be all in. I'm certainly not afraid to lose an election. I'm afraid to lose my city. And that's why I'm stepping up to run unabashedly. I'm not risk averse.

19:14I think Chicagoans deserve a mayor who's not risk averse, who's worried more about them than about my political future. and clearly I'm the only one right now running for mayor who is willing to risk their re-election and not worry about that but instead put constituents first. So Alexi is obviously raising a boatload of money. He comes from money, has lots of it and I have realized that as someone who was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth but more like a plastic spork, you know I'm a hard worker. That's where I come from. I have had to claw and earn my way into every position I've ever had.

19:51No one's ever handed me anything other than my parents handing me the example of their hard work ethic. And that's what the majority of Chicago is like. So look, I totally understand and I value how important our business community is. I will be the strongest pro-business mayor that they've seen, I'm also going to be the strongest pro-community neighborhood mayor that this city's ever seen. And the two should not be at odds ever. I need to partner with the business community to deliver for the neighborhoods. But nobody understands the neighborhoods down to every pothole and alley, as well as I do, and also understands and feels comfortable in the boardroom.

20:33So look, if people really care, especially those with the economic means, about wanting the mayor that they say they want, which is someone who's pro-business and understands the neighborhoods and knows the secret recipe, the only one with the secret sauce recipe is me, then they should get behind the best candidate, not just a better than, not someone that they feel comfortable with. They might smoke cigars with, play basketball with, go on vacations with. You could do all that with the others, but vote for me and get behind me because that's where the best return on your investment is going to be.

21:06I'll tell you this. When he's pouring all his money into TV ads in people's living rooms, they're going to see him. I'm going to be in people's living rooms actually talking to them and getting their vote and building trust. That's how I've done it as controller. and I only lost my very first race that I ever ran. And then I lost in 2019 when I ran for mayor the first time with two months. I kind of had like a Scaramucci moment, right? Like I was there for just a little bit of time. I didn't have the runway and it didn't work for me. I got punched in the face. You've been punched in the face. You know what that's like.

21:37And we're winners. We get back and we, you know, I don't walk away for 10, 15 years and then come back onto the scene. I like lost a race. I got brought back up and I went on to become the top vote getter in the next election cycle, not just in Illinois, but also in Chicago. So that's going to be me and I'm going to run my race and he can decide whether he wants to run for mayor or not. And so can all the other candidates that have either declared if they want to stay in or if they choose to get in later. But I'm all in and I'm in it to win it. And I can't wait to be the next mayor of Chicago.

22:08Well, listen, you're a great communicator and you understand the issues as well as anybody. and yes, I have been punched in the face and you are way more successful at politics than me because I lasted a few minutes. You've lasted a legacy and a career. So, but the, you know, when I look at your polling and again, not you, I'm just looking at Chicago. I look at the mayor, the current mayor's disapproval rating, and I'm looking at is Chicago going in the right direction or not? The majority of people say that it's not going in the right direction. They're worried about the fiscal situation. They're worried about the red tape.

22:44They're worried about the one-party rule of Chicago, which they think hasn't really served the interests of the Chicagoans. And, you know, you may straighten this out, but it feels like Chicago is using the policies that San Francisco once used to great upset and failure. They now have a new mayor there that's trying to recapture the moment there. So do I have any of that wrong? Am I wrong in saying that? And if I am wrong, please correct me. But if I'm not wrong, how are you going to fix that? Well, I think your analysis is actually spot on. And while Chicago has followed the San Francisco of days past, and that is not the direction that we should have been moving in, I would say we should be looking at what Dan Lurie is doing now in San Francisco as a model of how to actually just be an elected official who's less interested in political theater and more interested in driving results and progress.

23:41And so it's, again, this, you know, the fact that do we want to focus on delivering or do we want to focus on soundbites? And I'm really focused on delivering. I've done it my entire career. When I ran for controller, I was running for context at a time where everyone thought I was nuts. I mean, they're like, if you're a smart investor, you should invest in U-Haul and get out of Illinois. The state was looking at a$17 billion backlog of unpaid bills. We had$48 ,000 in the state's rainy day fund. I mean, you heard that right,$48 ,000 to deal with$17 billion in unpaid bills. The average delay in paying our vendors was 210 business days.

24:18The two years before I took office, eight consecutive credit downgrades. We were just one notch above junk bond status. That was the state of Illinois. No other state was where we were. And I decided to run for controller and I said, I can turn it on. And I think people thought there's no way. But yeah, 10 credit upgrades later, I paid down the bill backlog over five years ago before getting federal ARPA in the door. And, you know, my oldest bill for the last five years has been about 13 days old because I believe in paying our vendors as quickly as possible. They know how to leverage their dollars, which are reimbursed taxpayer dollars better than any state does.

24:58And, you know, I think if we really are pro-business and we want our businesses to thrive as quickly as possible and grow and have stability and predictability, a lot of what I've done as state controller, including prepaying pensions and things that no controller has done before me, are things that I can lift and shift into the city of Chicago when managing those finances. Looking at bond deals that have already been put out and, like, essentially what we're doing, Anthony, is we're putting billions and billions of dollars out in bonding authorizations that we're paying interest on. And we haven't even gotten a product delivered for that.

25:32It's kind of like paying for a Ferrari and you didn't even get a bike out of it. So these are the things that I can talk about and get down into terms that I think your average Chicago can understand. You know why? Because I understand them intimately. No other candidate running for mayor, no matter how much money they have, know how to actually stretch the value of taxpayer money. In fact, some of them have lost significant taxpayer money on their watch. That's not my record. And so, again, if we're being serious about Chicago having the best shot because we are at an inflection point, we can't get it wrong a third time.

26:07We need to, like, really be serious about who the mayor of Chicago should be. And it needs to be someone who has that level of experience and deliverables and good, positive fiscal trajectory, not the opposite being true. Really good stuff. Okay, we're down to the last five words. Okay, you ready? I want to give a word. You give me a sentence. All right, you ready? Yeah. If I say the word leadership, you say what? Critical. Competence. What about the word mayor? Susana Mendoza. All right. We're going to get to her. What about America? The greatest idea ever created and implemented. Chicago. the greatest city in america and hopefully in the world all right well we're going to disagree on that you know i'm going to wear my yanky hat i know you're a new yorker what am i going to do you're a cub or white sock fan white socks all right all right so last word and it's two words i'm going to give you the last word suzanna mendoza for chicago.com and please check it out and send me a big donation.

27:14Let's go. Okay. All right. I like that. Okay. Yeah, I think you are an interesting person, Susanna, because trying to make a real difference, you're not one of these people that's more focused on the power for personal aggrandizement. And I give you a lot of credit for that. And I wish you another great success. And I appreciate you joining us today on Open Book. Anthony, thank you so much for having me on. And I appreciate your strength and your resilience And you're someone that I've been watching for quite some time on how you've navigated not just professional but also personal challenges.

27:49And I think we're cut from a similar cloth in that respect. So thanks for having me on today. Well, it's a big honor for me. And we'll see you soon. All right. Thank you.