With Chicago’s municipal elections just days away, let’s get an overview of the current political situation at the city level.

The Aldermanic Field

All 6 of Chicago’s socialist alders are running for re-election: Daniel La Spata for 1, Jeanette Taylor for 20, Byron Sigcho-Lopez for 25, Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez for 33, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa for 35, and Andre Vasquez for 40. In addition, there are 8 more socialists running: Oscar Sanchez for 10, Ambria Taylor for 11, Vicko Alvarez for 15, Warren Williams for 30, Ana Santoyo for 45, Angela Clay for 46, Nick Ward for 48, and Mueze Bawany for 50. Of these 14 socialists, 10 are endorsed by Chicago DSA.

There are also at least 7 new progressive candidates that have appeared on the field: Khari Humphries for 4, Desmon Yancy for 5, Julia Ramirez for 12, Ayana Clark for 21, Jessie Fuentes for 26, Lori Torres Whitt for 36, and Denali Dasgupta for 39. Most notably, many of the new socialist and progressive candidates have launched their campaigns either through their independent political organizations, or with an explicit desire to form them after elections.

In addition to these 21 socialist and progressive candidates, there are an unprecedented 15 old-guard alders that are not seeking re-election. In other words, almost a third of City Council is guaranteed to be new in May 2023. It would appear that after one term of the old-guard having to deal with a small group of socialists and progressives, many decided they didn’t have the stomach for actual fights and debates after a lifetime of simply being rubber stamps.

But most of all, it is clear that many people drew inspiration and lessons from the 2019 elections. The uptick in IPOs as well as the uptick in socialist and progressive candidates shows that Chicago’s political ecosystem is learning, thriving, and actively looking to expand on the successes of 2019 to provide left-wing solutions to the various crises our city is wrestling with. It is also clear that the right-wing and business interests of Chicago have also learned from the last four years and have formed Get Stuff Done PAC, among others, in order to try and counter our left-wing momentum.

The Mayoral Race

Another unprecedented circumstance is how embattled incumbent mayor Lori Lightfoot is as she seeks re-election. Chicago is a city known for its Machine politics, where the Daley family set the precedent of being mayor-for-life. But while Rahm Emmanuel only managed to squeeze in two terms, Lori is in real danger of losing after one term, with no less than 8 challengers!

Among those challengers, Brandon Johnson has provided a pole of attraction for Chicago’s left-wing ecosystem. He is a former public school teacher that taught at Cabrini-Green, who then went on to be a Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) organizer, and then a two-time Cook County Commissioner. Before officially announcing his candidacy, he had already received endorsements from United Working Families, CTU, and multiple IPOs in September, 2022. Since then, more IPOs, unions, left-wing organizations, and socialist and progressive elected officials have all endorsed Brandon. Interestingly, the socialist organizations themselves have all stayed out of the mayoral race, so far. 

However, for Chicago socialists and progressives, this race has also become complicated. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia also entered the mayoral race at the end of November, 2022. He has the name recognition and political history with Harold Washington that seemingly makes him the natural choice for anyone leaning left-of-center. But with Brandon Johnson already receiving the active endorsements of the bulk of the left-wing ecosystem, this means Chuy risks splitting the progressive vote. It is also complicated because Chuy is calling for 1600 more cops in a political atmosphere that became divided around the question of police following the 2020 uprising, leading many to wonder if he is “out of step with the progressive movement”.

On the right-wing of the mayoral spectrum is Paul Vallas. He was the CEO of Chicago Public Schools from 1995-2001, helping expand charter schools. He went on to implement privatization and charter-ization of public education in the city of Philadelphia, the state of Louisiana, and the nation of Haiti, all between 2001-2011. Most recently, Vallas worked with Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police to help them with their contract negotiations in 2020. Most notably, Vallas has won endorsements from both the FOP, the Chicago Tribune, and even received a $5000 donation from Richard E. Hagen, a retired cop that was involved in the police murder of Laquan McDonald. After facing criticism, Vallas stated he did not believe Hagen had done anything wrong, but that he had donated the money anyway.

It should be lost on no one that the progressive candidate is a former CPS teacher and CTU organizer who has fought against charter-ization and “education apartheid” while the most reactionary candidate is the former CEO of CPS who helped implement them. The politics of Chicago’s school system is a microcosm of all Chicago politics, now embodied in our mayoral race. Based on a recent poll, it looks like a Vallas v Johnson  runoff only gets likelier with each passing day.

#TreatmentNotTrauma

A wonderful surprise has been how much TNT has been a recurring theme in the mayoral debates. Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez helped author and championed TNT in 2020. In 2022, abolitionists from all over the city helped get referendums on TNT in the 6th, 20th, and 33rd wards. In each ward, the referendum passed with over 92% approval. Brandon Johnson explicitly called for it during his campaign announcement speech, and has continued to promote it. During the People’s Unity Platform debate on January 26th, the candidates were practically tripping over each other trying to be more pro-TNT. The energy from the 2020 Uprising may seem to have dissipated, but it has definitely left its mark on the political landscape.

Conclusion

It is still too early to tell how things will play out across the aldermanic and mayoral races. What is clear is that, at least for the moment, the Chicago Machine has never been weaker. A machine that was once led by a mayor-for-life who commanded 50 rubber-stamp aldermen-for-life is struggling to hold itself together.

What is also clear is that we are starting to see the outlines of a left-wing alternative forming around the unions, IPOs, city-wide progressive organizations, and the socialist and progressive elected officials that have formed bonds over the last four years. During this election cycle, Brandon has become the gravitational center of Chicago’s political ecosystem.

Win or lose, this election season will need to be carefully studied as a high-profile experiment at organizing and coordinating campaigns across the city to win higher offices.