Plus: Elad Strohmayer: Three years after Oct. 7, remember how this war began • Laura Washington: Brutal school board elections are the name of the Chicago game
Chicago Tribune Opinion Wednesday, October 7, 2026 | | |
| | | | | Good morning, Chicago. We are less than a month out from Election Day and columnist Steve Chapman is arguing that Republicans are turning to Islamophobia to try and turn out the vote. One egregious example, Steve says, comes from North Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace who reacted on social media after Abdul El-Sayed won his Democratic primary for Michigan Senate — “Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic.” Mace isn’t the only candidate taking this path and the GOP has not always been this way, Chapman writes. Antisemitism has also been on the rise since the terror attacks three years ago today in Israel. Today the Israeli consul general to the Midwest, Elad Strohmayer, reminds us who killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage on that horrible day — Hamas. Laura Washington is concerned by the lack of local interest in the school board election, which is “a once-in-a-lifetime chance for those who pay for and use the schools to have a voice,” she writes. You can see who the Tribune Editorial Board endorsed in these and other races here. Today, the board announces its picks for Illinois Secretary of State, Attorney General and other statewide offices. Thanks for reading. — Grace Miserocchi, opinion editor Submit an op-ed | Submit a letter to the editor | Meet the Tribune Editorial Board | Subscribe to this newsletter | | | | You might expect that as the memory of the 9/11 attacks and the global war on terror has subsided, Islamophobia would also fade. No such luck. | | | | | Had Hamas not launched its attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the war that followed would not have happened. And yet, people found ways to excuse them. | | | | | This Chicago school board will decide how much taxes we will all pay and how much public debt we will all be burdened with. | | | | | Divvy eases Chicago’s dependence on cars for everyday trips. That means fewer clogged roadways and less climate pollution. | | | | | The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board’s tradition of making political endorsements is a cornerstone of this newspaper’s history. | | | | | Kwame Raoul has been stellar during a challenging period and has built the office into a counterweight to the federal government. | | | | | During his tenure, Michael Frerichs’ office reports that it has earned more than $5.6 billion for taxpayers since he first assumed office in 2015. | | | |
