- Courtesy Steven McClellan
- McClellan and his ill-fated petition
Steven McClellan was a political neophyte when he began canvassing the 43rd Ward this fall talking to residents about community issues and collecting signatures for his campaign petition. “I was afraid of doing anything illegal,” he says now. “I thought I could go to jail. I made sure I did it the correct way so there would be no issues.” He was careful to ask all the signers if they were registered voters and if they’d already signed another petition because duplicate signatures don’t count.
That said, McClellan, who is 32, lives in Old Town, and runs a video production company, didn’t really expect to win the election. “It’s a new field to me,” he says. “I was just getting my feet wet. I think I threatened [the other candidates] because I’m a young black man who’s educated and able to speak and relate to people. That’s my whole point, to speak to people and listen to them.”
