By Mike Houlihan

February 13^th, 2026

St. Patrick’s Day is nigh, and that’s also Election Day. I have skin in the game on both fronts. Don’t we all? I know I’m going to vote for at least one Republican and one Democrat in this election.

I was born a Democrat and bottle fed in the 19^th Ward with patronage gigs, precinct captains, and an older brother State Representative.

Our Alderman Tommy Fitz was my old man’s drinking buddy at Casto’s Buffet in Brainerd. They had a billboard on the top of their building touting Dem. Dan Houlihan for State Rep a long, long time ago.

I moved to the East Coast in 1973, got married, had kids, and busted out, returning in ’85 looking for work. Republicans helped me and I never looked back. Today I’m a Trumper and proud of it.

So, all things considered, here are my picks for 2026.

My oldest brother Paul died last year and was being waked at Curley’s on 111^th Street. Paul was 89 when he died, his wife Kay and many friends had preceded him to heaven, so not a huge crowd at his wake, God love him.

But one guy showed up the morning of the funeral who I have known since my salad days, former 2^nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti. He didn’t know Paul, he was there for me.

I’ve known Mendel Monarch Bob Fioretti going way back to when we met at the Chicago Athletic Club years ago. He invested in one of my shows.  Fio would hold court debating each morning in the men’s locker room with his tan, towel, and blonde preppy haircut. He’s still got it, but the battle scars of over twenty years in the trenches have chiseled this paisan. Beating cancer will do that to you.

He now looks like a guy who’s been in a few fights and he certainly has. He overcame the cancer, got re-districted out of his ward after two terms and then ran for Mayor, State’s Attorney, and a handful of other unsuccessful challenges. He was starting to look like Lar Daley each season but I ran into him weeks back and it finally looks like Fio is back in fightin’ shape.

This time he’s running for Illinois Attorney General. He’s the ONLY candidate in the Republican primary. That means he’s going to win that one and he then has until November to carve up the Democrat dope who thinks it’s all on the square. And as we all know, “Nothin’s on the Square”!

Fioretti is an experienced attorney and civil rights litigator who has represented all walks of life. He is prioritizing “victims over violent criminals” and wants to lock up the creeps that judges keep re-releasing into our midst to rape and murder repeatedly.

So, who is he running against?

The incumbent is a Barack Obama wannabe, Kwame Raoul, another black guy with a funny name.

I met Obama once at Reilly’s Daughter. (Shout out to Boz O’Brien, late founder of the great South Side Irish pub! God rest his lovely soul).

When he was a state senator, my niece introduced me to NoBama and he gives me the “fish hand”, nuff said!

So incumbent Attorney General Kwame Raoul. Who is he? He’s Pritzker’s puppet, filing lawsuits against President Trump daily so Fatso can think he’s got a shot running as Prez.

Kwame has done nothing on crime and corruption, rising housing and utility costs, and the evil influence of fat cat political donors.

Fioretti has a vision for a more transparent Attorney General’s office, stronger criminal justice policies, and safer communities across Illinois.

So that’s my Republican endorsement, Bob Fioretti for Illinois Attorney General. And don’t forget folks, Kwame rhymes with ‘Commie’!

Across the aisle in the Democratic Primary is Pat Hynes running for Cook County Assessor. He’s the son of a Chicago Firefighter and nephew of late, great 19^th Ward leader, President of the Illinois Senate, and longtime Cook County Assessor Tom Hynes.

I met Patrick Hynes just a few weeks ago when he was a guest on Hibernian Radio.  He is currently a volunteer firefighter in Western Springs, also Lyons Township Assessor, and spent 23 years before that working in the Cook County Assessor’s Office. He looks at his job as a vocation, sez that’s where he figured out that “the work that we do impacts the most emotional asset that anyone will ever own.” Our homes.

He’s met newly widowed mothers with kids who could no longer afford to live in their home because of the taxes, and that’s when he figured out how much harm know-nothing Assessors could do.

His opponent Fritz Kaegi was Patrick’s boss for his final three years working Cook County and Pat tells me he soon realized that Kaegi didn’t have a clue. And when real estate taxes doubled everybody could smell a rat.

So, Hynes quit Cook County and got elected as Lyons Township Assessor.

I’m impressed with Patrick Hynes and the compassion and expertise he brings to his work. As an old-time political 19^th ward sage recently told me, “That office has been on the “Fritz” ever since Kaegi got elected!”

So, vote for Patrick on St. Patrick’s Day!

You can watch our podcast interviews with Fioretti and Hynes at hibernianradio.org

Check them out and don’t forget to VOTE!

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Known around town as “Houli,” he is former features columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times, Irish American News and currently Chicago correspondent for The Irish Echo. He began his career in 1973 as an apprentice with The American Shakespeare Festival, appearing in the classics there and in regional productions across the nation as well as Off-Broadway, on Broadway, on TV and in major motion pictures. He is a playwright and author of anthologies “Hooliganism Stories” and “More Hooliganism Stories” and the gonzo Mayoral campaign journal “Nothin’s on The Square”. Founder of the Annual Irish American Movie Hooley film festival each Fall at The Wilmette Theatre. He was honored as 2020/2021 “Irishman of the Year” by the Emerald Society, the Irish American Police Association. His Hibernian Radio Hour podcast can be found at hibernianradio.org and streaming worldwide on Sat. nights from 7-8PM on Global Irish Radio, GIR.ie.

His latest book ” Chicago Irish Mythology” is available on Amazon and wherever else you buy your books.Even more info about Houli is available here, on his latest adventures: hibernianmedia.org