A lawyer, a wife, a mother, a neighbor.
When something needs to get done, Jade gets it done.
Nothing stopped me.
I know what institutional failure looks like from the inside. I lost my mother at 12. I was in foster care at 15. I survived being shot at 17. Nothing stopped me. I'm the only lawyer in my family — I built my own firm from scratch.
I chose Evanston to raise my daughter. I'm not just invested in this city's future. I'm living it.
A voice for the voiceless, in a bigger room.
I spent my teen years excluded from rooms where decisions were being made about me without my voice — foster care, the courtroom. I became a lawyer so I could be an advocate. Running for mayor is the same instinct, just a bigger room.
Envision Evanston 2045 is a real long-term vision, built through collaboration and community engagement, and passed by City Council. Now it needs a mayor who can turn that vision into law — actual zoning code, actual funding, actual accountability. Legal work.
Evanston doesn't need a career politician. I answer to the people, not to political relationships. I'm 34 — the city's future is my future too.
And it matters now more than ever. When federal government fails people, local government becomes the first line of defense.
“I'm not just invested in this city's future. I'm living it.”— Jade Carpenter