Daniel Biss joins Pussy Riot to encourage people to vote

State+Sen.+Daniel+Biss+%28D-Evanston%29+speaks+at+an+event.+Biss+joined+Pussy+Riot+for+a+campaign+event+on+Tuesday.+

Daily file photo Allie Goulding

State Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) speaks at an event. Biss joined Pussy Riot for a campaign event on Tuesday.

Ryan Wangman, City Editor

State Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) took an unconventional gubernatorial campaign step when he appeared on stage alongside Russian feminist art collective Pussy Riot on Tuesday.

Biss joined activists from Reclaim Chicago on Tuesday night at Subterranean, located in Chicago, on stage before Pussy Riot’s set, according to a campaign news release. Members of the musical group were once jailed by Vladimir Putin for a performance in Russia that courts ruled was “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and enmity.”

Reclaim Chicago is a grassroots organization that “endorses, elects and holds accountable elected officials,” according to the organization’s website. The group endorsed Biss for governor in January.

“We’re thrilled to share the stage with Pussy Riot, our comrades in fighting the powers-that-be whose only interest is increasing their own power and wealth,” Joe Padilla, a leader with Reclaim Chicago, said in a news release on Monday. “They’re challenging a repressive regime, and we’re organizing to reclaim government from the corporations and the super-rich that buy elections and rig the laws in their favor.”

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