Family Man.
Disabled Veteran.
Community Activist.
Benevolent Leader.

All of these phrases describe Ray Wardingley, although you wouldn’t know it from the kind of coverage he gets in the media. With overemphasis on his multiple campaigns and his charity work as a clown, the media misses the whole picture and the motivation that drives these passions. The man behind the headlines has quite a fascinating life story.

Raymond G. Wardingley: A lifelong Chicagoan, Catholic, and Republican.

The Ray Wardingley Story: His Biography

Raymond G. Wardingley was born in the heart of depression-era Chicago, one of twelve children in a working class family. Unlike his opponent, Ray has spent his whole life living in the Chicago area (rather than the last two years) and knows this region like the back of his hand. Ray was raised with strong Christian values, and attended St. Patrick’s Grammar School on Chicago’s south side. He graduated from Mendel Catholic High School in the 1950s, when the school was new and Chicago was still growing like wildfire.

The Democrats seem to have a 2006 campaign theme of running "veterans" for Congress who parade around accusing Republicans of being "chicken hawks", but in this election, the roles are reversed. Unlike his opponent, Ray volunteered for the military and served America honorably in the Air Force several decades ago. During those years, Ray's hearing was damaged in the service of country-- being a disabled vet has shown Ray the plights of other veterans in situations far worse than him; and he has vowed to help veterans should he have the honor of serving in Congress.

Ray Wardingley is also a retired entertainer, unlike the typical drab career politician He studied at the distinguished Goodman Theater for one year, where his college training turned Ray into a successful, self-man entertainer. Since 1962, Ray has entertained huge crowds and remains a feisty humorist and speaker. In fact, Ray's background in entertainment brought him into the limelight as well. He once led a roller-skating rally from Chicago to Springfield to raise awareness and funds for children with Leukemia. And his so-called "clown act" was done not only for charity but brought joy to hundreds of sick children. Due to his deceive leadership in raising money for St. Jude's hospital; Ray received two awards from the State of Illinois.

Community activism is also on Ray's resume. From 1989 to 1992, Ray headed the Neighborhood Watch program in the Beverly-Morgan area, where Ray fought crime on a firsthand basis and realized the tough measures that need to be passed to control it and protect law-abiding citizens.

Political activism, formerly a lark for Ray, became a serious endeavor when he won a surprise upset in the 1995 mayoral primary. With a victory over a much better known Republican party insider, Chicago Republicans voters gave Ray a mandate to be their standard bearer against the incumbent machine. While Ray did not have the name recognition to reverse 60 years of Democratic rule, he nevertheless made an impressive showing in the race and received thousands of votes. In 1999 both and in the early 2000s, Ray was nominated for Alderman as well as Congress in overwhelmingly Democrat districts. Ray ran the first active general election campaign in years and received high profile endorsements from groups like Capitol Watch, The Cook County Hispanic Assembly and state Senator Patrick O’Malley. He went on to nearly defeat his Democrat opponent in a one-party city when an early CNN exit poll nearly claimed him as the victor in 2002. All of this occurred in a city where George W. Bush and other Republicans routinely get 17% of the vote or less.

When the state's Congressional map was redistricted in the early 2000s, Ray found them in the state's third district rather than the first, even though he never changed locations. Ray remained active, co-founding C.R.O.S.S. (Coalition for Restoring Social Standards) in 2003 and made headlines for petitioning for the excommunication of Catholic politicians who vote against their own church’s non-negotiable moral positions. His Eminence Cardinal Francis George has taken the drive very seriously and recently issued an order to parish priests to refuse communion to one such group, a major victory for C.R.O.S.S.

In 2005, Ray also became involved with the I.C.R.C. (Illinois Center Right Coalition) working for various reform efforts such as the effort to return the Illinois state legislature to a part-time system and save taxpayers millions of dollars. Ray is also writing an autobiography. In the meantime, he has filed for Congress again in response to the outrage over the previous Congressman installing his son through less than ethnical means. Ray has pledged to fight for the voters of the third District who demand new leadership. Unlike career politicians, Ray never got a cent from special interest groups-- he's even spent his own social security and veteran's check on the campaign to make up the difference. As always, Ray believes in a cause greater than himself.