Daley who? Rahm, City Council candidates downplay their ties to the political dynasty

Patrick D. Thompson’s campaign website has a page labeled FAMILY that describes how he grew up at 35th and Lowe in Bridgeport around the family of his mother, Patricia Daley.

It’s the only place on the site that brings up the family name, and it avoids mentioning that this is the same Daley clan that ran Chicago for more than four decades.

While his full name—Patrick Daley Thompson—will be on the ballot for 11th Ward alderman, he’s kept it out of his campaign ads.

In the ward dominated by his family for almost 70 years, the grandson of Mayor Richard J. Daley and nephew of Mayor Richard M. Daley sure looks like he would prefer to run for alderman as a Thompson.

Thompson insists that’s not the case. “I am not running away from my Daley name at all. It’s a tremendous asset and I’m proud of it,” he says. “But what are my qualifications? My experience and vision for the ward are what people care about.”

Maybe so. And maybe it’s also a bad time to be running for office as a Daley—even in the 11th Ward, which Thompson’s uncle John Daley, a county commissioner, still oversees as Democratic committeeman.

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