Deval Patrick, a native of Chicago’s South Side and Massachusetts’ first black governor, mulling Democratic White House run | Chicago Tribune

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is considering making a late run for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to two people with knowledge of his deliberations.

Patrick, a close friend and ally of former President Barack Obama, ruled out a presidential bid earlier this year but has since been talking with Democratic operatives and donors about launching a campaign. His deliberations come as some Democrats express uncertainty about the party’s current crop of contenders.

Patrick, a native of Chicago’s South Side, also served as the chief of U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel also picked Patrick to serve as a senior adviser to a policing task force force that he announced the same day he fired Garry McCarthy as Chicago police superintendent. Patrick serve as a senior adviser to a policing task forceuel-police-task-force-met-1202-20151201-story.html#nt=instory-link”>left Chicago at age 14 for an East Coast boarding school, went on to Harvard and eventually the state Capitol in Massachusetts.