Third person announces plans to run for Peoria mayor

Peoria City Councilman Chuck Grayeb is running for mayor.

Grayeb, who represents the 2nd District and is the longest-tenured Peoria city councilmember, announced his mayoral campaign in a Facebook post Tuesday morning, saying: "Our future can be bright. But change must happen!"

"Peoria has a great future, but we have some clouds that are hanging over our city and we must be in the business of dispelling those clouds because that's going to be all important in whether we keep people investing in Peoria and wanting to live in Peoria," Grayeb told the Journal Star.

Grayeb's candidacy grows the field of people running for mayor to three as he joins Mayor Rita Ali and at-large councilmember John Kelly in the mayoral race.

Support for police officers in combatting crime is the main platform Grayeb is running on. He said he thinks the mayoral seat should be used as a "bully pulpit" to effect change around crime.

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"We need to have conversations with our juvenile court service, conversations with our probation service. We need to have close relationships with the people who represent us in Springfield as it relates to crime, penalties for crime, we need to have more conversations with federal lawmakers as well," Grayeb said.

He has been the 2nd District councilman since 2013 and previously served three terms as an at-large city councilmember and was vice mayor in 1998.

A third entry into the mayoral race guarantees a primary election will be held in February ahead of the general election in April.

Grayeb's 2nd District seat will also be up for grabs next year as he enters the mayoral fray. The 2nd District is a key seat in Peoria as it is home to Downtown and the West Bluff.

In 2021, Grayeb held onto to his seat in a race against challenger Peter Koback. Grayeb won 1,408 votes to 1,212. It was the closest race among all district council seats in 2021.

This will be Grayeb's third time running for mayor — he previously ran in 1993 and 1997, losing both times.

Cleaning up Peoria's homeless encampments is also a key issue for Grayeb in the race. He says there has been a "lack of compassion" in removing homeless encampments and connecting people with resources.

"In Peoria we do not allow people to live in homes without running water, with no working toilet, no electricity — it should be no different on the public right of way," Grayeb said. "Our downtown will never be able to continue to soar, continue to get more investment if we don't clean that up."

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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Third person announces plans to run for Peoria mayor