Press and Media for Ilma López
FROM THE PRESS
Follow the latest news, media coverage, and campaign updates from Ilma López as she runs for Portland City Council District 5. Ilma is a Portland small business owner, pastry chef, mom, and community advocate working for a Portland that works for everyone.
Venezuela Earthquake Relief (June 2026):
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
Portland chef collecting donations for Venezuelan earthquake relief
“Mainers are wonderful, and we’re so grateful people have opened their arms to Venezuela,” Lopez said.
NEWS CENTER MAINE
Portland restaurant owner sends dozens of boxes of donations to help Venezuela earthquake survivors
“It just shows you how kind people in Maine are. It shows you it’s all about community, it’s all about seeing the best in everyone, it’s all about being together, and it has been phenomenal,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
WGME
Portland restaurants collect donations for Venezuela earthquake victims
Supporting the Immigrant Community during ICE Raids (January 2026)
NEW YORK TIMES
Portland, Maine, feels like a small town — and ICE isn't welcome
A Venezuelan immigrant who moved to Maine from New York 14 years ago because “people are so nice here,” she said she could not have imagined the atmosphere in her adopted city becoming fraught and fearful almost overnight.
“Immigrants are the backbone of the community, in every city,” Ms. Lopez said.
BUSINESS INSIDER
Portland, Maine restaurant owner put up a "NO ICE" sign
"When we put up a social post about our "No ICE" poster, it's because putting up the sign was the right thing to do — for a lot of reasons... What keeps me going is that I know we can do this. I know it's going to be hard and not ideal for a while. The other thing that keeps me going is that I have two kids. I need to show them that you can have your beliefs — you can have your core values — and that those are valid."
NEWS CENTER MAINE
Portland businesses prepare for potential ICE activity
“We’re trying to do everything by the rules, and to still not feel welcome—it’s hard,” Lopez said. “It’s really hard, and it's just because of where we're from... We don't want to disrespect them, we don't want to be disrespected, we don't want to start a fight with them because we don't want them to fight with us," Lopez explained. "So it's more of a like, 'Hey, you're not welcome here this is a private space, let me know if you need something.'"
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
Maine businesses, customers react to ICE presence
“I’m 100% Latina and I’m proud of it,” she said. “I came to the States because in my country, it was really hard to make a living and we didn’t have freedom of speech. In a million years, did it ever even cross my mind that we will be in this situation in America? If somebody had told me, ‘You won’t be able to speak your mind in America,’ (I would have said) no way. You’re going to be worried to work? Never. Never. Never. America’s a melting pot.”
Being a Community Champion
MAINE MAGAZINE: MAINERS OF THE YEAR 2021
Ilma Lopez, Co-Owner of Chaval
Around the time the pandemic forced Chaval to close its doors in March 2020, co-owner Ilma Lopez received a call from John Woods, who was president of Full Plates, Full Potential and has since passed away, asking if she could help feed 3,000 Portland students who would be without meals after schools suddenly closed. “I turned around and called my friends... and between us we got it done," Lopez says. That was the first but not the last call Lopez received to help others while she and her husband, Damian Sansonetti, tried keeping their business afloat. Chaval was one of the first restaurants to join Cooking for Community, a grassroots organization that has been having restaurants prepare healthy meals for people in need. Whether they would step up to help people in their community was never a question, Lopez says. “If we don’t take care of our home, how are we expecting it to survive?”
Watch Interviews with Ilma
Restaurant Unstoppable, January 2025:
Ilma Lopez: Talking Food in Maine, Intimate Conversations, October 2024:
Portland Press Herald: Maine Voices Live with Cara Stadler and Ilma Lopez, October 2018:
GET INVOLVED
Ilma wants to hear from you
Have an idea for District 5, a question about the campaign, or an interest in volunteering? Ilma believes good leadership starts with listening. Share what matters to you, and the campaign will be in touch.
