Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Jessica Biggs wasn’t endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union yet prevailed in the race for Chicago School Board president, even as CTU-backed candidates won numerous board seats and other races remained too close to call.
🗞️ Plus: A blue wave sweeps the state and the nation, a new photography book captures the funky 1970s corporate interior of the Ebony/Jet building, and more news you need to know.
🌧️ Today’s weather: Showers with a high near 64.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
As blue wave sweeps the country, Illinois Dems vow to unwind Trump policies
Reporting by Tina Sfondeles
Dems lead ‘referendum’: Voters across America — and Illinois — sent a loud and clear message to President Donald Trump on Election Night as Democrats flipped seats around the country in a referendum on the president’s aggressive immigration policies, the war in Iran and the economy. After Tuesday’s election, Democrats won control of the House and clinched the Senate.
Key context: A strong “blue wave” means Democrats will provide a check on Trump’s final two years in office and will enact an aggressive legislative agenda to roll back some of the administration’s most unpopular policies. Democratic majorities also mean votes will be forced that will require Republicans to take difficult stances and compel Trump to either sign or veto legislation.
Illinois intentions: Democratic members of Congress are hopeful they can begin to pass legislation to unwind Trump policies. To U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, the plan is to “do every damn thing we can to protect them [constituents] as quickly as possible.”
SCHOOL BOARD 🍎
CTU is poised to capture half of school board district seats, but loses president’s race
Reporting by Sarah Karp
Power play: Despite being massively outspent, candidates endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union won six of 21 school board seats and were leading in four more — likely enough to throw up formidable opposition to classroom cuts, school closures and other measures they see as contrary to their progressive agenda
A Biggs win: Jessica Biggs beat the CTU’s candidate for board president, Hilario Dominguez, nabbing 49% of the vote to his 31%. But if the teachers union secures a 10-member bloc, it would be enough to give a non-CTU-backed president like Biggs trouble.
Here are the winners or status of each race:
- Board president: Jessica Biggs
- District 1a: Margie Luczak
- District 1b: Claudia Peralta
- District 2a: Ebony DeBerry
- District 2b: Deborah “Debby” Pope
- District 3a: Norma Rios-Sierra
- District 3b: Too close to call
- District 4a: Too close to call
- District 4b: Ellen Rosenfeld
- District 5a: LaPamela Williams
- District 5b: Too close to call
- District 6a: Too close to call
- District 6b: Brittany B. Kimble
- District 7a: Too close to call
- District 7b: Yesenia Lopez
- District 8a: Angel Gutierrez
- District 8b: Juan Ignacio González
- District 9a: Brittany R. Bailey Preston
- District 9b: Therese Boyle
- District 10a: Che “Rhymefest” Smith
- District 10b: Connie Anderson
MORE RESULTS ✅
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Pritzker, Stratton among winners in key races
Reporting by Mitchell Armentrout, Tina Sfondeles, Mariah Woelfel, Amarion Weathersby, Violet Miller and Michael Puente
Pritzker’s third term: Gov. JB Pritzker sailed to a rare third term as Illinois’ chief executive Tuesday with his second consecutive reelection victory over Republican challenger Darren Bailey, lining up the incumbent to become the longest-serving Democratic governor in state history. His win begs the question: Will he run for president?
Stratton takes the reins: Juliana Stratton’s fiery anti-Trump messaging helped to deliver a resounding victory in the open U.S. Senate seat to replace Sen. Dick Durbin. Stratton will become the second Black woman to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate.
García replaces García: After months of swatting away criticism over her surprise candidacy for Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, Patty García claimed victory in the race to replace her former boss, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García.
Statewide results: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Attorney General Kwame Raoul notched victories in their respective reelection races. Democrat Margaret Croke claimed victory in the comptroller race.
More headlines:
- Democratic state Rep. Jessica Dixon Heitman wins suburban statehouse race spurred by scandal
- Democrat Nabeela Syed wins one of the most expensive Illinois legislative races ever
- Election Day ‘glitch’ leads to long lines, ballot issues at Chicago voting sites
- Chicago area voter turnout likely to surpass 2022 midterm election numbers
WATCH: VICTORY SPEECHES ▶️
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Police crash: Four people, including two police officers, were hospitalized after a Chicago police vehicle collided Monday night with another car in Chicago Lawn, police said.
- Calls for action: Illinois lawmakers are calling for changes at the Joliet Treatment Center after a Marshall Project, Sun-Times and WBEZ investigation exposed an epidemic of fires that resulted in two deaths at the prison.
- Mondelez sues rival: The West Loop-based maker of Sour Patch Kids claims a rival candy brand is copying its popular kid-shaped gummy candy and signature packaging, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
- Housing help: Research shows moving low-income families to higher-income areas helps lift them out of poverty. But these mobility programs are costly. The Chicago Housing Authority runs the only one in Illinois.
- Ode to Ebony/Jet: Photographer Barbara Karant remembers the unique and funky 1970s corporate interior in her new book “820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon.”
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
Special election show: In the Loop and Say More crossover with Sasha-Ann Simons and Patrick Smith, 9-11 a.m.
Blue wave’s Illinois impact: Democrats saw a blue wave flip seven U.S. Senate seats and more than two dozen U.S. House seats. Chicagoans also participated in a historic school board election. We’ll examine what it all means for Illinois and check in with several of the night’s big winners.
Guest list: Jaime Dominguez of Northwestern University, Connie Mixon of Elmhurst University, Stevie Valles of Chicago Votes, Leslie Vinjamuri of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, ex-Minority Leader of the Illinois House of Representatives Jim Durkin, Kevin Lampe of Kurth Lampe Worldwide, and Arthur Delaney of HuffPost.
Winners weigh in: Congressman-elect Daniel Biss, Senator-elect Juliana Stratton and Congresswoman-elect Patty Garcia, and others, are scheduled to join the show.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 1 D: ___ vortex (wintertime Chicago phenomenon)
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏒🏀
- Jefe’ takes charge: DT Jeffery Simmons is embracing his role and responsibility as the new boss of the Bears’ defense.
- Hawks’ major moment: The Blackhawks could face a reckoning next week if their brutal road trip goes badly.
- What’s the Matas? Bulls forward Matas Buzelis is trying to find his way one fight at a time.
- High school sports: New IHSA bylaw proposals would put public and private schools in separate state tournaments.
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Westside Love Maps Project reimagines Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park
Reporting by Somer Van Benton
Nestled on the second floor of the Chicago History Museum are three colorful, six-by-eight-foot maps of Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park. More than street grids, these maps highlight cultural landmarks, like the famous Buck 50 watch hat and the former Sears Tower, which help define each community.
For nearly a year, West Side residents Drea Slaughter, Jay Simon and Corey Dooley Johnson, known as the Capstone Clique, partnered with the Chicago History Museum to help their neighbors document and preserve their stories.
The group set out to answer the question: What would a map look like if the neighborhoods’ residents got to decide what belonged on it?
Working alongside artist Kent Jones, they created large-scale maps of Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park, inviting residents to mark the places that mattered most to them — from family homes to neighborhood chicken spots.
The result: Three large-scale, rainbow-colored maps now on display in the museum’s permanent exhibition, “Chicago: Crossroads of America,” until March 2027.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Now that the election is over, political ads will take a hiatus. What’s your favorite commercial, past or present?
Reply to this question via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
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Editor: Michael Lansu