The three Peoria city leaders vying to hold the mayor’s office for the next four years are bringing their messages to residents ahead of the Feb. 25 primary election.
Incumbent Mayor Rita Ali and city council members Chuck Grayeb and John Kelly will make their appeals to voters in the 2025 Peoria Mayoral Primary Debate that will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Thursday night on both WCBU (89.9 FM and wcbu.org) and WTVP PBS (television channel 47.1).
The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria and the NAACP Peoria Branch joined the two stations in co-hosting the hour-long forum that was taped in the WTVP studios Wednesday night.
Afterwards, each candidate spoke briefly with reporters about their key message to constituents.
“We are making progress and we should not interrupt that progress,” said Ali, who is seeking her second mayoral term following a stint as an at-large council member. “There's a lot of things that have changed in the positive direction, in terms of reducing crime, in terms of improving our infrastructure, and improving the quality of life.”
Grayeb has served more than two decades on the council, with three terms as an at-large member before being elected to represent the 2nd District in 2013.
“Peoria is going to take off like a rocket ship, but we have to not be an ostrich. We have to get our head out of the sand and start dealing with real-life issues that affect the people in all of our neighborhoods,” said Grayeb. “Once we address those key issues, like safety, I think we’re going to take off like you wouldn’t believe.”
Kelly has sat on the horseshoe at City Hall since being elected as an at-large member in 2019.
“We need to change Peoria from being a stagnating city to a real growth city,” said Kelly. “The key to that is the people of Peoria, and if they’re not getting there, it’s public policy that’s holding them back. I want to change public policy to free up the people of Peoria.”
The debate is moderated by WCBU News Director Tim Shelley and WTVP host Mark Welp. WCBU will have additional reporting on the content of the debate following the initial broadcasts.
The program also will be re-aired on WCBU at 6 p.m. Friday; video streaming and on-demand options will be available from WTVP and on the Facebook and YouTube pages of presenting partners.
The two candidates with the most votes in the Feb. 25 primary will advance to the Consolidated General Election on April 1.