CHICAGO URBAN DAILY
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— The petitions are filed, and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s reelection bid is officially on.
Johnson wheeled 33,000 signatures into Chicago Board of Elections headquarters, collected by 2,500 volunteers down to the wire. Candidates need only 12,500 valid signatures to make the ballot — but campaigns gather far more to survive challenges to signature authenticity. The filing deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, October 26, with petition challenges starting the next day. Johnson says he won’t be challenging anyone else’s petitions.
But getting on the ballot is the easy part. The headwinds are brutal.
A recent NORC poll puts Johnson’s approval rating at just 22%, with 53% of Chicago voters disapproving of his job performance. Among likely voters, 59% expressed enthusiasm for Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias as a potential candidate, compared with 32% for Johnson. His labor coalition has already fractured with the loss of support from the Service Employees International Union.
And the money race isn’t close. Johnson is trailing with a cash balance of just $379,471. His biggest challenger, Giannoulias, has approximately $19 million.
Yet his team believes millions of dollars in investments, lower crime, and kept campaign promises will convince voters to let him keep the job. His reelection message? “Cranes are up and crime is down.”
Sixteen candidates had already declared when the petition filing period opened Monday, October 19. The election is February 23, 2027.
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as the mayor’s race takes shape.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
