Mayor Brandon Johnson defended his top aide’s involvement in U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Senate campaign on Tuesday, arguing that the firebrand Texas Democrat’s election would be vital to his Chicago agenda as well.
Asked whether Jason Lee should be spending time on an out-of-state political campaign given all the pressing issues facing Chicago, Johnson said the nation and its third-largest city need Crockett in the U.S. Senate.
“I’m grateful that there are volunteers across this country and across the state of Texas that have aligned themselves with congresswoman Crockett, because I do believe she is absolutely what this country needs in this moment,” Johnson said at a City Hall news conference. “I recognize as mayor of the city of Chicago that we’re going to need … people who are close to me that will support and endeavor for a woman like Jasmine Crockett to become a United States senator in the state of Texas. Could you imagine the power that that would provoke?”
Lee confirmed to Punchbowl News this week that he’s helping Crockett, who is challenging state Rep. James Talarico in the Democratic primary, as a “supporter” after the outlet reported on a Jan. 22 donor call in which Lee outlined her campaign’s “very robust communication strategy.” He included a focus on Latino voters via YouTube ads.
A Crockett campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday. Lee later called a Tribune reporter to clarify he does not travel to Texas for the campaign nor does he have a contract or receive pay for his work.
“I don’t do any of that stuff. What I can do is have conversations and understand strategic things,” Lee said, stressing that in Chicago, “I’m involved in everything. I’m there, I’m always on the phones. I’ve got my finger on the pulse of what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Lee, who is the son of the late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, has sparked controversy before over his roots in Texas politics. In 2024, the Tribune reported that he voted in Texas during the November election
Chicago requires government employees to reside in the city and affirm their residency via an affidavit, but Lee denied that he misled either Chicago or Texas officials on his residency. On Tuesday, Johnson reiterated that Lee is his full-time staffer and a Chicago resident.
However, a Jan. 23 filing from Texas Majority PAC, an organization Lee co-founded before he joined the mayor’s office, again listed him as the campaign treasurer with a Houston address. The Tribune last asked Lee after his involvement with that committee in December 2024, to which he said, “I’m not working for them. It’s just a perfunctory thing, because I don’t do anything for it.”
Campaign finance records show Texas Majority PAC did pay Lee $67,500 in July 2023, which he did not disclose on his economic interest statement with the city of Chicago that year. Lee told the Tribune that money covered work he did up until April 30 of that year, and that he never received compensation from the PAC once Johnson took office May 15.
Lee again said Tuesday that he does not work for the PAC and remains “on the paperwork because I was one of the founders.”
Lee, one of the top aides in the mayor’s inner circle, has been the center of other controversies since Johnson assumed office. Most recently, Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg recommended he be fired last fall and placed on a do-not-hire list for failing to cooperate with an investigation into City Hall’s handling of a negotiation with an alderman.
Johnson declined to fire Lee and in October denied that his senior adviser failed to cooperate with the investigation.
Crockett’s decision to run in the Senate primary has divided Democrats over whether she might make a tough race for the party more difficult due to concerns over her general election appeal — she has had to walk back comments that Latino Trump supporters have a “slave mentality,” for one — or whether Democratic insiders should let primary voters decide for themselves.
Texas has not elected a Democrat to statewide office in the last three decades. Johnson on Tuesday pointed to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sending buses of Venezuelan migrants to Chicago throughout 2023 and 2024 as a reason he needs an ally such as Crockett in the Senate.
Lee, for his part, said Crockett is a friend and his mother thought very highly of her: “I found her to be one of the most courageous leaders on the nation’s level that we have.”
Chicago Tribune’s Jake Sheridan contributed.