Former President Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist and CNN analyst David Axelrod alleged that Democrat-run Chicago, Illinois, ignored an unconscious man in the heat and suggested that city could have done more.

Axelrod said he was walking past the Art Institute of Chicago on July 1 when he saw a homeless-looking elderly man unconscious on the museum’s stone front steps, according to a post on X. He later added that the city’s facing a real-feel temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. AccuWeather listed an official temperature of 97 degrees Fahrenheit and a real feel temperature of 106 degrees as of publication. (RELATED: Angel Mom Torches Dems For Protecting Illegals: ‘There’s No ‘But’ When Your Child Is In A Coffin’)

Concerned, Axelrod said he asked the museum’s security guard about the issue. She allegedly told him that she had already woken him three times suggesting that he move into the shade, but that he had continued to refuse.

Not satisfied, Axelrod said he dialed 911. After he explained the situation, the operator allegedly said, “Well, is he ASKING for help?”

So I just walked by the Art Institute of Chicago where an elderly man, probably homeless, was sprawled unconscious, on the museum’s front stone steps in the midst of a heat emergency.
I asked a museum security guard about it and she said she had woken him 3 times and suggested he…

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) July 1, 2026

After replying that he hadn’t, the female operator allegedly replied, “Well I’m not going to send anyone.”

“So the man remained, passed out in the blazing noon sun,” Axelrod said. “I guess that’s how the City of Chicago deals with such situations.”

Axelrod then reflected on his own decisions, saying that perhaps he should have tried to wake the man and persuade him to find shade himself. Instead, the former Obama political strategist said that he was embarrassed to say he had not done that.

“I moved on, like many others who simply ignored him,” Axelrod said.

Although the analyst did not relate the alleged lack of action by passersby and officials or any policy that had led to the homeless man being there in the first place, Axelrod did say that he hopes “we’re not all complicit in assisting an unintended suicide.”

Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness estimated that there were approximately 58,625 homeless people across the city through 2024, with only 32% identified by a federally mandated Point-in-Time count.