Chicago mayoral election

It's Election Day in Chicago, with polling locations opening across the city as voters will pick either Paul Vallas or Brandon Johnson for mayor.

If that lead is less than a point, then we have to wait till every vote is counted," said Democratic strategist Tom Bowen. "My concern is economic development on the South and West sides of the city," Sims said. "The Black vote is incredibly important," he said. "I hope for a breath of fresh air," said voter Asomah Akainyah. "I teach around the world and many places where people don't get to vote and I know how important this is." According to Chicago election officials, more people voted early and by mail. "So it's critically important we use this moment to come together, and have offered him my full support in his transition." Some say if there is no improvement, it could force them to leave the city. Governor JB Pritzker also released a congratulatory statement, saying in part "I'd like to congratulate Mayor-elect Johnson on his victory. In particular, he has touted his campaign's ground game, deploying people in the last five weeks to knock on doors, holding events, and sending text messages. The mood inside Johnson's election night party was electric, buzzing with energy as supporters waited for him to come down and deliver his victory speech. While Vallas started the night with an early lead, the race quickly tightened to a 50-50 split.

The latest updates as Election Day unfolds across Chicago, and residents vote in the Chicago mayoral runoff election.

These Chicago wards have the most ballots cast as of 1 p.m. [more than 30,000 ballots were cast at early-voting sites on Monday](https://www.nbcchicago.com/chicago-mayoral-election-2023/chicago-sets-single-day-early-voting-record-monday-as-severe-weather-could-loom-on-election-day/3111028/). [with a slight edge](https://www.nbcchicago.com/chicago-mayoral-election-2023/chicago-mayoral-election-polls-dead-heat-brandon-johnson-paul-vallas-election-day/3110097/) over Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. Johnson finished second in the Feb. The quick actions of our local law enforcement enabled the lockdown to be lifted and voting resumed at these locations." According to officials, the lockdown was lifted just after 12:45 p.m. due to a brief delay in opening," the clerk said. A fourth polling location in Lake County will get extended hours, the county clerk said. Chris Taliaferro is trailing by just over 100 votes in the 29th ward. Chris Taliaferro has opened up a slim lead of 186 votes over his challenger CB Johnson in the race, with 23-of-24 precincts reporting as of 10 p.m. "It is time for all of us as Chicagoans, regardless of our ZIP code or neighborhood, our race or ethnicity, the creator we worship, or who we love, to come together and recommit ourselves to uniting around our shared present and future. I am hopeful and optimistic that the incoming administration will carry forth our work to that end," she added.

Chicago voters are determining the new mayor of the nation's third-largest city in a runoff election between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson.

[placed third with 17%](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/28/chicago-mayoral-election-tuesday/11322996002/) [ of the vote](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/28/chicago-mayoral-election-tuesday/11322996002/), becoming the city's first one-term mayor in 40 years. Asked about the interview over the course of the campaign, Vallas has repeatedly described himself as a "lifelong Democrat." Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown [resigned](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/01/chicago-police-chief-david-brown-resign/11376376002/) after her loss; he turns 63 in October – the mandatory retirement age for Chicago police officers. Bobby Rush, former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and former U.S. [a 2020 sit-down interview](https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=139913987596546) in which he called "defunding the police" a "real political goal." Last year, he worked with Chicago's police union to negotiate the Chicago Police Department's contract. Vallas has said he would hire nearly 2,000 more sworn officers and pledged to "return CPD to its core mission." He is endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, American Federation of Teachers and other groups. Johnson, who serves on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, followed with 22% of the vote. He was elected as a Cook County Commissioner in 2018 and supported the teachers union during Johnson has said he would promote 200 CPD detectives, increase police accountability and work closely with the city's new civilian police oversight body. He has also proposed a plan he says will raise $800 million by taxing “ultrarich” individuals and businesses.

Brandon ​Johnson ​and Paul ​Vallas​ have had a heated runoff​ to be Chicago's mayor after voters denied Lori Lightfoot a second term in February.

Vallas also sought to pick up enough support among the city's Black and Latino voters to win a majority of the vote. Vallas' campaign was centered on voter concerns over public safety, as he pledged to aggressively fight crime in the city and hire up to 2,000 additional police officers. His support for Johnson, who is Black, seemingly boosted his support in the city's majority-Latino wards, which played a decisive role in the mayoral race. Chicago is a city of distinct neighborhoods. 28 mayoral election behind Vallas and Johnson, respectively, missing her chance to compete in the runoff. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Rep.

Former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Paul Vallas, a centrist, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, a progressive, are vying to be the city's top ...

That turnout is similar to the 35 percent of registered voters who came out in February 2019. local time, 304,090 ballots had been cast in total, making up 19 percent of the city’s registered voters. Wilson has since backed Vallas in the runoff. The former CPS CEO has also been a school choice advocate who’s been supportive of having police in schools and has pushed to have funding for schools pushed to the institutions themselves. In February, 36 percent of the city’s registered voters cast ballots for nine different candidates. Businessman Willie Wilson, who was among the original nine candidates running for mayor in February, placed second in some of the wards Lightfoot won, adding a bit of uncertainty to the face. The wards won by Lightfoot are more difficult to analyze, though Johnson performed better than Vallas in a portion of them. Lightfoot performed well predominantly in many South Side wards in addition to parts of western Chicago while Garcia performed well in a handful of wards, including the neighborhoods of Little Village, Gage Park and Lower West Side. Only about 55 percent of Chicagoans voted for Vallas or Johnson during the February election, begging the question of where voters who backed Lightfoot and other candidates will go. [performed well in the northwest wards](https://www.nbcchicago.com/chicago-mayoral-election-2023/how-chicago-voted-map-chicago-mayoral-election-results/3084109/), several of the South Side wards in addition to some of the whiter and more affluent neighborhoods closer to the lakefront, including Lakeview and Lincoln Park in addition to the city’s Central Business District. Latino voters are in a position to potentially decide the race. One poll released last week by a group of Black and Latino nonprofits in addition to Northwestern University’s Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Chicago chooses a new mayor today. We know the mayor will not be Lori Lightfoot. The incumbent lost in the primary some weeks ago.

And we have a moratorium on school closings lifting in the city. You have Paul Vallas, who started his career in the '90s as the head of Chicago Public Schools, but then went on to really build this career, this controversial reputation as the Mr. It has a big fiscal cliff facing it in the next few years. WOELFEL: So you have Paul Vallas, who wants to take a more traditional approach to addressing crime. Both are Democrats, although they take different approaches to the big issues of a big city. Two candidates remain for today's general election - Brandon Johnson, who's a county commissioner, and Paul Vallas, a former leader of the schools in Chicago.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Chicago chooses a new mayor today. We know the mayor will not be Lori Lightfoot. The incumbent lost in the primary some weeks ago.

And we have a moratorium on school closings lifting in the city. You have Paul Vallas, who started his career in the '90s as the head of Chicago Public Schools, but then went on to really build this career, this controversial reputation as the Mr. It has a big fiscal cliff facing it in the next few years. WOELFEL: So you have Paul Vallas, who wants to take a more traditional approach to addressing crime. Both are Democrats, although they take different approaches to the big issues of a big city. Two candidates remain for today's general election - Brandon Johnson, who's a county commissioner, and Paul Vallas, a former leader of the schools in Chicago.

The runoff between two Democrats, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson, was extraordinarily close as votes were being counted Tuesday night.

Mr. But Mr. As a candidate, Mr. Vallas [suggested](https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/elections/ct-vallas-responds-to-tweets-20230225-gjfsmla2mvdrrblyftqr3lxhle-story.html) his account was breached.) Mr. In Mr. But in the first round of this year’s mayoral vote, Mr. But other voters questioned whether Mr. Johnson’s campaign has tried to tie Mr. And when Mr. Johnson’s telling, Mr. The police union has pressed its members to volunteer for Mr. The teachers union has put $1.2 million behind Mr.

While most of the attention Tuesday night will be paid to the results of the Chicago mayoral election, there are also 14 City Council races that will be...

Nicole Lee appears to be heading toward a full term in office, leading Tony Ciaravino by a substantial margin with 100% of precincts in. 10th Ward: 6th Ward: 5th Ward: 4th Ward: Nicole Lee, Timmy Knudsen and Monique Scott all fighting to earn a full four-year term.

The Cook County commissioner had the backing of the powerful Chicago Teachers Union and ran on a platform of addressing racial and economic disparities.

“The conversation that we’re having right now is about ‘What do safe American cities look like now in this country?’" Johnson said in a recent interview. Lightfoot's candidacy became a referendum on crime — murders in 2021 spiked to the most on record Johnson ran on a platform of taxing the wealthy to boost citywide services and investing in neighborhoods and schools across the city. “Today, we did not just acknowledge the assassination of a dreamer,” he said. “We don’t have to choose between toughness and compassion, between the care of our neighbors and keeping our people safe. Chicago, we can show the country, we can show the world what’s possible when we stand on our values,” he added.

Just over a month after finishing in the runner-up spot in the first round of the mayoral election, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson has defeated ...

On transportation, Johnson proposes reduced or eliminated fare for some on the CTA while expanding access and reliability to the system. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as garnering support from Rev. In addition to advocacy for a real estate transfer tax, Johnson also voices support for taxing profits of Chicago's corporations and instituting TIF reform in an effort to return property tax revenue to the city's schools and parks. Johnson has faced notable criticism in both the general and runoff election campaigns for signaling past support of "defunding the police", after comments surfaced of the Commissioner calling the slogan "a political goal." As a candidate, Johnson has positioned himself to the political left of the incumbent mayor, advocating for reduced fares on public transit, canceling the city's contract with ShotSpotter and a real estate transfer tax on the sale of multi-million dollar homes. After outlasting incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot and well-known Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García in the first round of the mayoral election, the latter of whom would go on to endorse him in the runoff, Johnson faced plenty of criticisms of his platform from Vallas and other Democrats in the city, but was able to generate enough support to earn his way to the office on the fifth floor of City Hall.

Despite concerns about crime in Chicago, progressive Brandon Johnson beat moderate Paul Vallas.

Voters in majority-Black neighborhoods may have been the deciding factor in the election, and both Johnson and Vallas spent the closing weeks of the campaign zeroing in on those areas of the city, where turnout rates have historically lagged behind majority-white precincts. Johnson’s campaign had said in recent weeks that it was planning to go on the offensive with heavier spending in the closing days of the race — though Vallas has clearly had an advantage throughout the cycle. The powerful Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) had been working hard to convince voters of Vallas’s controversial past as the former CEO of the Chicago public school system and to boost Johnson’s credentials as a solid progressive Democrat. Vallas tried hard to contrast his vision of policing with Johnson’s, by promising to fill vacancies in the police force, deploying police to the city’s public transportation network, and increasing funding for the police department. That last plank of his message was also meant to contrast with Johnson’s previous support for calls to “defund the police” in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. Vallas had also been supported by some of the city’s biggest businesses and corporate leaders, who funded the bulk of his financial war chest. [ drastic rises in 2020 and 2021](https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicago-crime-spikes-in-2022-but-first-drop-in-murder-since-pandemic/), while rates of property crime remain high, according to [ Chicago Police Department statistics](https://home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/uploads/1_PDFsam_CompStat-Public-2023-Week-14.pdf). Johnson’s second-place finish was the culmination of a late burst of support that coincided with the slow slide in the polls of US Rep. The progressive victory happened a bit over a month since voters soundly rejected their incumbent mayor, Lori Lightfoot, in the first round of voting in the mayoral election, largely over dissatisfaction with her promises for reform of schools and city policing. Progressives coalesced behind Johnson, who had the support of national and local activist organizations, organized labor, and, more specifically, the powerful Chicago Teachers Union. In a surprise victory for progressive organizing and the future of police reform efforts, Chicago voters elected underdog former education organizer Brandon Johnson as mayor, beating back moderate Democrat Paul Vallas, according to the Associated Press. Crime and public safety have been the

In part 3 of this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the crew break down the mayoral runoff election in Chicago.

Last weekend, Republican Party Chairman Steve Boulton released a statement denouncing Johnson and said his "campaign is lying yet again" about the endorsement. In the six-week run-up to Tuesday, Vallas and Johnson sparred in numerous televised debates about issues like crime and education. It's time for all Chicagoans to put aside their differences and to work together to support the daunting work ahead for Chicago's next mayor." "You have Vallas being called a Republican and Johnson being called a Socialist. "To the Chicagoans who did not vote for me, here's what I want you to know: That I care about you, I value you, and I want to hear from you. In that election, incumbent Lori Lightfoot became the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to fail to secure a second term.

Brandon Johnson wins Chicago mayor's race · Why it matters: Johnson's upset over Vallas, the February front-runner backed by establishment Democrats and even ...

[Chicago Teachers Union](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2023/03/27/chicago-teachers-union-mayor-election) and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, including U.S. [just voted to take away](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2023/03/30/chicago-city-council-independent)some political power from the new mayor. [high violent crime](https://www.axios.com/2023/03/02/chicago-mayoral-race-democrats-crime). He'll be sworn in next month. [some Republicans](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2023/03/13/paul-vallas-chicago-mayor-election-ken-griffin), reflects a progressive shift in Chicago politics. [mayoral race](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2023/04/04/chicago-mayor-runoff-election-guide-2023) on Tuesday, AP reports.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson was elected Chicago mayor on Tuesday, becoming the second Black man elected to lead the nation's third largest city ...

Vallas is a longtime supporter of efforts to expand charter schools and backs programs that use public funds to pay tuition at private schools. He said he’s known Vallas for a long time and that they grew up in the same community. Vallas’ campaign was also buoyed by the support of high-profile Democrats, many of whom also had ties to former Mayor Richard M. Johnson, 47, is the second Black man to be elected Chicago mayor, following in the footsteps of former Mayor Harold Washington, who won a second term in office in 1987. So tonight, even though of course we believe every vote should be counted, I called Brandon Johnson and told him that I absolutely expect him to be the next mayor of Chicago.” “Although Chicago always loves to be an outlier, based on what is generally known about elections and voter turnout, younger voters prefer progressive candidates,” said supporter Stephanie Skora of the popular progressive voting guide Girl, I Guess. She first met Vallas while he was CEO of Chicago Public Schools as a parent of children in CPS. My name is Brandon Johnson and I can’t wait to be sworn in as the next mayor of the greatest city in the world.” “Today we celebrate the revival and the restoration of the city of Chicago,” Johnson said. My entire team and I stand ready to collaborate throughout the transition period,” the statement reads in part. Vallas said he expects Johnson to be the next mayor. Paul Vallas, the former Chicago Public Schools CEO, conceded defeat, saying he expects Johnson to be the next mayor.

Johnson came back to defeat moderate Paul Vallas in a race focused on crime and Johnson's ties to the city's powerful teachers' union.

“Let’s take this bold progressive movement around these United States of America,” he said in his victory speech. In recent weeks, the City Council has pushed ahead with an effort to name its own committee chairs. Two years ago in New York, Eric Adams won his party’s nomination and, later, the general election running to the right of his fellow Democrats on criminal justice issues. 28 election, receiving 33 percent of the vote, followed by Johnson, who is Black, at 22 percent and Lightfoot at 17 percent. “Tonight, Chicago chose hope over fear,” Johnson told supporters in his victory speech Tuesday night at a hotel on the city’s Near South Side. Vallas, the only white candidate, came in first in the Feb.

Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas head to the finish line of a high-stakes race in which crime, police reform and cost of living are key issues for Chicago.

“You go back to every mayor of Chicago and crime is up and down, up and down. But it’s Vallas’s centrist ideas on budget and taxes, he said, that are more in line with where the city’s voters are moving this cycle. That’s not what’s really going to happen but they have whipped themselves into a fury about it and that’s the polarized partisan environment we live in today,” Bowen said before the polls closed. [A March 28 poll by Northwestern University](https://bspresearch.egnyte.com/dl/cU7u1XubBK) showed the candidates in a dead heat, each with 44 percent of the vote. Preckwinkle, who made history as one of two Black women in a 2019 runoff against Lightfoot, said she didn’t have any advice for Johnson. Rameen Chapman, 43, said it was a relatively easy choice for him to back Johnson. The candidates’ stark differences in the first round were underscored by their highest-profile backers: For Johnson, the powerful, liberal Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), with which he is an organizer, and for Vallas, the Fraternal Order of Police. In a concession speech, Vallas said: “It’s clear, based on the results tonight, that the city is deeply divided. “Tonight is a gateway to a new future for the city. “It is time for all of us as Chicagoans, regardless of our zip code or neighborhood, our race or ethnicity, the creator we worship, or who we love, to come together and recommit ourselves to uniting around our shared present and future. Johnson’s win over Vallas, a conservative Democrat, was a major victory for the liberal wing of the party. Sanders attended a rally for Johnson in the final days of the campaign.

Preliminary results posted by the Chicago Board of Elections had Johnson with 51.4% to Vallas' 48.6%.

Johnson taught at Jenner Academy of the Arts and Westinghouse College Prep before becoming a union [organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union](https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/14/23640368/chicago-mayor-election-runoff-public-schools-brandon-johnson-teachers-union-paul-vallas). Brandon is a remarkable person who has a lot of principles and deeply believes in governance.” “Brandon wants to ensure parents have a say, teachers can teach, and students can learn without the intrusion of those who measure their success by closing schools rather than strengthening them.” [Bankrolled by the teachers union and other labor groups](https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/31/23665374/chicago-mayors-race-campaign-donations-paul-vallas-brandon-johnson-teachers-union-betsy-devos), Johnson broke through a [field of nine candidates](https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2023/1/11/23550691/chicago-mayor-mayoral-election-2023-candidates-education-issues-overview-guide), securing [about 21% of the vote](https://chicagoelections.gov/en/election-results-specifics.asp), finishing second to Vallas, who captured 33% of the vote in the first round of voting on Feb. “There was an outpouring of creativity and organizing in this election,” he said. His [ education platform](https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2023/2/8/23591805/chicago-mayor-election-brandon-johnson-chicago-teachers-union-paul-vallas-lori-lightfoot), which aligns closely with the teachers union, promises more staff, free transit for students, and green schools. I want to work with you, and I’ll be the mayor for you too,” he said. “It’s clear based on the results tonight that the city is deeply divided,” Vallas said in a concession speech Tuesday night. [holding events](https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/16/23644130/chicago-mayor-2023-paul-vallas-brandon-johnson-rainbow-push-black-vote), [debating one another](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVoSLMjnIfw), [visiting churches](https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2023/4/2/23667365/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-paul-vallas-election-campaign), and [collecting endorsements](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/vallas-vs-johnson-updated-endorsement-guide-2023-chicago-mayoral-election/3096266/) in an effort to sway voters who may have picked another candidate or didn’t vote on Feb. The narrow results illustrate how contentious and divisive the campaign had become and was a stark contrast to the [Lightfoot’s runoff landslide in 2019](https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2019/4/2/21107840/lori-lightfoot-is-chicago-s-next-mayor-which-means-big-changes-are-coming-to-schools). “We have ushered in a new chapter in the history of our city,” Johnson said. “Whether you wake up early to open the doors of your businesses, or teach middle school, or wear a badge to protect our streets, or nurse patients in need, or provide child care services, you have always worked for this city.

An hour after the polls closed at 7 p.m., conservative mayoral candidate Paul Vallas was in a dead heat with his progressive opponent Brandon Johnson. Both ...

Johnson supports universal childcare in Illinois, expanding multilingual education and making public transit free for all Chicago public school students, while opposing the expansion of the city's network of private charter schools. "Brandon Johnson’s entire outlook on public safety is informed by his support for defunding the police. He earned the support of the FOP and the city's conservative voters by highlighting Chicago's rising economic crime rate and shrinking number of beat cops, and by criticizing Mayor Lightfoot's response to both issues. I called Brandon Johnson and told him that I expect him to be the next mayor of Chicago," Vallas said in his concession speech. Vallas, the only white candidate to run, a longtime public school administrator and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, meanwhile enjoyed consistent support from the city's white neighborhoods, business sector, police and elderly voters. Since his campaign began, though, he has slowly tracked to the center on the issue. Pundits who [spoke](https://www.courthousenews.com/chicago-mayoral-race-enters-final-stretch/) to Courthouse News in February favored Lightfoot and Garcia as finalists for the April runoff. The contest between Vallas and Johnson began in earnest on Feb. Johnson, a Cook County commissioner and former public school teacher, had the city's progressive movement, young people, Black neighborhoods and several powerful labor unions in his corner. "I look forward to working with him and giving him all the support he needs to be successful." Johnson's victory comes 55 years to the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., something Johnson nodded to in his speech. "To the Chicagoans who did not vote for me, here's what I want you know: I care about you, I value you ...

Chicago voters will head to the polls Tuesday to elect a new mayor, choosing between two Democratic-leaning candidates.

Almost 71%: The percentage of the majority-white precincts won by Vallas in the first round. 28%: The percentage of majority-white precincts won by Johnson in the first round. Nearly 92%: The percentage of majority-Black precincts where Johnson performed better than Vallas in the first round. 79%: The percentage of majority-Latino precincts where Vallas performed better than Johnson in the first round. Vallas first ran for mayor back in 2019, garnering roughly 5% percent of the vote. This is the third consecutive Chicago mayoral runoff election since 2015.

Brandon Johnson will serve as the next mayor of Chicago after winning Tuesday night's election, with Paul Vallas conceding the race.

As always, I will continue to root for the city I call home, and to work toward more equity and fairness in every neighborhood. It is time for all of us as Chicagoans, regardless of our zip code or neighborhood, our race or ethnicity, the creator we worship, or who we love, to come together and recommit ourselves to uniting around our shared present and future. Chicago has said yes to hope; yes to investment in people; yes to housing the unhoused, and yes to supporting young people with fully-funded schools. Governor JB Pritzker also released a congratulatory statement, saying in part "I'd like to congratulate Mayor-elect Johnson on his victory. In his victory speech, Johnson struck a triumphant and highly optimistic note. "Whether you wake up early to open the doors of your businesses or wear a badge to protect our streets or nurse patients in need or provide childcare services, you have always worked for this city and now Chicago will begin to work for its people.

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson saw his support grow tremendously between the Feb. 28 election and Tuesday night's victory.

I am optimistic that better, brighter days are on the horizon.” “It’s time for all Chicagoans to put aside their differences and to walk and to work together supporting the daunting work ahead for our next mayor. Vallas is a former Chicago Public Schools CEO who sought to portray himself as the tough-on-crime candidate. He claimed a huge swathe of the South Side, the West Side and large portions of the North Side — including taking precincts that Vallas had won in the Feb. And I’ll be the mayor for you, too. Vallas was the highest vote-getter by far in the Feb.