Meet the Candidates

Sam lives in Lakeview with his husband, Nigel, and is an attorney in private practice.

Sam grew up in Springfield, the Illinois state capitol. He learned from his father, a political reporter, the importance of holding powerful people accountable and the power of asking tough questions. Sam got involved in advocacy early on as a volunteer with Barack Obama’s presidential race, starting with his campaign launch when Sam was a high-school senior. Sam then moved to Iowa for Obama’s historic caucus campaign, and later to Virginia as a fulltime field organizer in the 2008 general election. Afterward, Sam graduated from college at Yale University, and then worked for non-profit organizations dedicated to removing corporate money from politics and expanding Americans’ access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. 

Sam then went to law school at New York University. While there, Sam wanted to understand exactly how the criminal legal system too often leads to injustice, particularly for Black and Brown people in America. He learned that policing, among all our government institutions, is among the least accountable and most shielded from genuine community input. He also honed his skills as a legal intern in the Obama administration’s White House Counsel’s Office, and as a student advocate working in the areas of voting, immigration, and LGBTQ rights.

When he moved to Chicago, Sam put what he learned into action, joining with grassroots activists who had been working for years to pass legislation that would create space for that community input. Now that the law is passed, Sam is deeply committed to ensuring that the District Councils and Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability get off to a strong start.

Here in Chicago, Sam clerked for a U.S. District Court judge, where he assisted on federal criminal cases. Sam now pursues pro bono work with his law practice (including as counsel on a large-scale civil rights lawsuit), serves as co-chair of Cabrini Green Legal Aid's Associate Board, and is an active member of the Community Safety Committee of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA). Sam has also worked to understand how policing in Chicago actually operates by completing CPD's Citizens' Police Academy in 2022. And as a gay person living in Northalsted, Chicago’s historic LGBTQ neighborhood, he wants to ensure that the public safety concerns of LGBTQ residents and visitors–particularly trans folks and queer women and people of color–are heard and addressed.