Willie Wilson (businessman)

Wilson launched his campaign to become the Mayor of Chicago in 2022. Wilson is running as an independent, as Chicago host non-partisan elections. In the winter, Wilson donated various resources to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many experienced high inflation; to help mitigate the affects, Wilson organized various gas giveaways and food donations.

In May 2022, Willie Wilson announced a $1 million donation in food and gas throughout Illinois. Wilson aimed to achieve this though donating though partnerships with senior buildings, Cermak Fresh Markets, and Pete’s Markets. This announcement followed a $1 million donation in gas in April of the same year and $1.3 million in free gas over two events at several city and suburban gas stations prior to April.

In early October 2020, Wilson tested positive for COVID-19.

In August 2019, Wilson expressed his intention to challenge incumbent United States Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin in 2020, running in the general election as an independent challenger to Durbin. Rather than run as an independent, he ultimately opted to run under the ballot line of his newly created "Willie Wilson Party".

Wilson stated in 2019 that he believes the spending of tax money has "not proportionately benefited all races of citizens," in Illinois.

In March 2018, Wilson formally announced that he would run a second time for Mayor of Chicago in the 2019 mayoral election.

During the campaign, in late November 2018, Wilson declared that he believed that other black candidates needed, "to get out of the way."

Wilson tweeted in response to the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, “I disagree with what I consider the Supreme Court’s reinterpretation of what constitutes marriage. Marriage has and should always be that sacred union between a man and a woman. Period." However, in 2018, Wilson declared that he had changed his mind on the issue of same-sex marriage, declaring that he now believes that, "everybody is entitled to do whatever they want to do and be with whoever they want to be."

In a 2018 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Wilson stated that his upbringing in the Deep South had made it difficult for him to understand the LGBTQ community, but that he was "reaching out" and seeking to "learn".

Wilson was on the ballot in several states during the 2016 Democratic primaries. He was the only minor candidate to appear on the ballot in South Carolina's "First in the South" primaries, perhaps due to the comparatively higher cost of the state's ballot entry fee. Wilson received 1,314 votes, or 0.35% of the total, in South Carolina, placing ahead of Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Wilson dropped out on April 12, 2016.

In the 2016 United States Presidential general election, Wilson personally voted for Republican nominee Donald Trump. When asked in 2019 about his possible vote in the 2020 election, Wilson declared, "I am not going to vote, nor will I ever vote again, for President Trump."

Wilson ran for Mayor of Chicago in 2015, being one of several challengers to incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel.

After setting up an exploratory committee on May 11, 2015, Wilson officially announced on June 1, 2015, that he would be running as a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He ran as a Democrat.

Wilson served as the Chairman of the Governor's Task Force on Fair Practices in Contracting. In 2014, Illinois Governor-elect Bruce Rauner appointed Wilson to his transition team. Wilson has contended in 5 elections in the United States.

He has owned and operated several different McDonald's restaurant franchises and owns Omar Medical Supplies, which imports and distributes latex gloves and other medical and safety supplies and equipment. He also produces the nationally syndicated gospel music television program Singsation, which won a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award in 2012.

Wilson lived for periods of time in Miami and New York City, before settling in Chicago in 1965.

Willie Lee Wilson (born June 16, 1948) is an American businessman, politician, and perennial candidate from Chicago, Illinois. He ran in the 2015 and 2019 Chicago mayoral elections, the 2016 United States presidential election, and for the United States Senate in 2020. He is running to become Mayor of Chicago in the upcoming 2023 Chicago mayoral election.