Can Alexi make it to Washington?
We meet at a trendy little café on Main Street in Peoria on a cold, sunny Monday afternoon. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is on the campaign trail, and he has agreed to meet me to talk about his run for U.S. Senate. He smiles widely as he thrusts his hand out to meet mine in a firm, confident handshake. No doubt he’s had plenty of time to perfect that movement since taking office in 2006 at the politically-young age of 29.
“We’ve got to be in the Quad Cities by four,” he says, explaining why he’s ordering a quick slice of candyencrusted cheesecake instead of a more healthy dinner.
“Don’t tell my mother,” he says.
He is a man with style. His modern clean-cut suits and fine French cuffs help reinforce the persona of confidence and competence that he has cultivated during his time in Springfield. “I think I’m a pretty regular guy,” he says, showing the Hartmarx label on his Chicago-made suit. “I’ve always believed in looking professional. Even when you’re not at work, it’s important to look presentable….My days of going to the movies in sweatpants are over.”
Giannoulias is leaving behind more than the comfort of sweatpants. He’s leaving the Illinois Statehouse, pinning his hopes on a bigger dream in a bigger Capitol.
He is running for the U.S. Senate seat once held by friend and basketball foe President Barack Obama, and he will need more than just his style and understated swagger to land in Washington, D.C.
Banking, basketball and Obama Alexander “Alexi” Giannoulias, the son of Greek immigrants and the youngest of three boys, grew up in Chicago. He recalls how his father, Alexis Giannoulias, would not let the boys watch television, instead giving them piles of National Geographic magazines to read. The elder Giannoulias worked various jobs in retail and real estate before founding Broadway Bank in 1978 in the upscale Chicago neighborhood of Edgewater. The family business grew to be one of Chicago’s most successful community banks, a fact that continues to shape the youngest Giannoulias’ life even now.
In some respects, Giannoulias owes much of his success so far to basketball. It was on the basketball court, in between school at the University of Chicago and working part-time at the family bank, that he met Barack Obama, then a state senator with a competitive streak, on the court. Giannoulias left Chicago to play ball at Boston University before moving to Greece for a year to play professionally, but he didn’t forget Obama.
