The crowded field of candidates running for mayor of Chicago is almost certain to narrow after the Oct. 26 filing deadline and the petition challenges that are likely to follow.
But for now, 12 candidates are vying for the job and circulating nominating petitions in hopes of gathering the required 12,500 signatures, and perhaps at least twice that number, to secure a place on the ballot.
Here’s who’s in right now:
Mayor Brandon Johnson
With a 30% public approval rating and less than $650,000 in his campaign fund, Johnson, 50, is in real danger of becoming Chicago’s second straight one-term mayor. But Johnson has a solid base in the African-American community, and hence a strong chance of making the runoff. He has also delivered on key progressive promises like paid leave, while proposing protections for renters struggling with affordability. But he’s likely to have a much tougher time reaching the 50%-plus-one vote tally that he needs to win a second term. The coalition of progressive unions that bankrolled and staffed Johnson’s winning campaign has fractured. The Chicago Teachers Union, where Johnson served as a paid organizer, remains firmly in the mayor’s camp. But the Service Employees International Union and its affiliates are expected to either remain neutral or endorse Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
Alexi Giannoulias
Business leaders and building trade unions have rallied behind the 50-year-old Illinois Secretary of State, helping Giannoulias amass a $22 million campaign war chest that makes him the presumed frontrunner. That also puts a political target on Giannoulias’ back. The controversy surrounding the failure of Broadway Bank, a now-shuttered institution once owned by the Giannoulias family, is almost certain to be resurrected. Giannoulias, a basketball-playing buddy of former President Barack Obama who played professional basketball in Greece, will also need to prove that he has the political gravitas to handle the job of mayor.
Susana Mendoza
Unlike Giannoulias, who is simultaneously running for re-election as Secretary of State, the 54-year-old Mendoza is all-in. She’s giving up her job as state comptroller to make her second run for mayor. Mendoza finished fifth in a 2019 mayoral race won by Lori Lightfoot and dominated by the corruption scandal that culminated in the conviction of Ald. Edward Burke (14th). Mendoza won just seven of the 50 wards, nearly all of them majority Hispanic and captured just over 9% of the vote. This time, she hopes to grow her support with a law-and-order, fiscal discipline appeal to Northwest and Southwest Side voters.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley
The 67-year-old North Side congressman is making his first run for mayor after flirting with a mayoral campaign the last several elections cycles. Quigley told the Sun-Times that Chicago needs a mayor who is willing to “risk the job to save the city,” portraying himself as the only candidate willing to “risk it all.” Quigley got his start as an aide to former Ald. Bernard Hansen (44th) during the battle over lights at Wrigley Field. He went on to serve on the Cook County Board before replacing Rahm Emanuel in Congress when Emanuel became White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama.
John Kelly
A veteran lobbyist in Chicago and Springfield, Kelly, 53, is the consummate political insider. For nearly three decades, he has lobbied on behalf of clout-heavy clients that do business with City Hall — the same people and companies he would have to deal with and say no to if he’s elected mayor. He represents the White Sox and the United Center co-owned by the Wirtz and Reinsdorf families. He also co-owns a security company with Sox Chair Jerry Reinsdorf. If elected mayor, Kelly insists that his “number one guiding principle I will have is, `Is this a good deal for the taxpayers?’ Because they’re going to be my client the day I get elected.” If his lobbying clients want something that’s contrary to the city’s interests, Kelly says he would be “happy to tell them no.” With nearly $2.2 million in the bank and a law-and-order message to rival Mendoza’s, Kelly is targeting the 22% of Chicago voters who supported President Donald Trump in 2024.
Matthew Brewer
A 46-year-old attorney who co-owns the Wieners Circle hot dog stand, Brewer says he had a “front row seat to the dysfunction” at Johnson’s City Hall during his months-long power struggle with Johnson for control over the CHA. Johnson tried and failed to install retired City Council dean and Zoning Committee Chair Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) as CHA’s CEO — only to have the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development refuse to grant Burnett the waivers needed to resolve conflict of interest issues. The CHA board defied the mayor by hiring Keith Pettigrew as CEO and giving him a four-year contract. Johnson accused the board of violating the Open Meetings Act and retaliated by trying to remove Brewer as board chair and interim operating chair. But Brewer stayed put. He recently stepped down as the agency’s operating chair. Brewer is counting on his compelling personal story to captivate voters. But he needs to raise money to get his rags-to-riches message out.
Willie Wilson
In 2019, the millionaire businessman won 13 of 18 Black wards, finishing fourth overall with 10.6% of the vote. In the runoff, Lori Lightfoot won all of those wards and swept all 50 wards citywide after Wilson endorsed Lightfoot over Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Wilson’s endorsement of Lightfoot sent a signal to his older, church-based constituency that, as he put it, “contracts and jobs and schools” were more important than concerns they may have about Lightfoot being gay. Wilson called his endorsement of Lightfoot “a hell of a mistake.” Four years later, he made another political mistake by endorsing Paul Vallas, who lost to Brandon Johnson. Known for his food, gas and cash giveaways, Wilson remains popular with older Black voters. But, the 78-year-old’s share of the vote has declined in each of his three previous mayoral runs.
George Cardenas
When the City Council rubber-stamped Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 75-year, $1.15 billion plan to privatize Chicago parking meters, then-Ald. George Cardenas abstained, claiming he “didn’t have the numbers” to make an informed decision. Chicago voters are unlikely to say the same about Cardenas. Even as he seeks re-election as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Review, Cardenas, 61, is flooding the zone with position papers aimed at convincing voters that he has the ideas, experience and guts to confront Chicago’s $1 billion budget shortfall and $36 billion pension crisis. Cardenas has acknowledged that he is a long shot and needs to raise a “a couple million dollars” to stand out in the crowded field. But he has embraced that underdog status as part of his political identity.
Maria Pappas
The 77-year-old Pappas is seeking her eighth term as Cook County treasurer while simultaneously making her first run for mayor. The mayoral campaign is deeply personal for Pappas, who has told associates in sometimes profanity-laced tirades that she is running to stop Giannoulias, a fellow Greek-American. When asked why, Pappas told the Sun-Times, “If you want to be mayor of the city of Chicago, your I.Q. has to be higher than your body temperature. That’s what’s going to be required… I’m not picking on him. I’m just saying it’s got to be somebody who can handle it.” A former Cook County commissioner, Pappas has served as Cook County treasurer since 1998. A self-described “baton-twirling grandmother,” she is widely known for dressing flamboyantly and speaking her mind.
Lisa Nee
A 59-year-old “interventional cardiologist,” Nee is giving up her career in medicine to enter the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago mayoral politics. But her medical career wasn’t a piece of cake. While working at the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago, Nee uncovered what she called serious failures in patient care, including a backlog of life-saving heart tests that had gone unread, putting veterans at risk. She blew the whistle, was told to keep her mouth shut and refused, calling the inspector general and testifying before a U.S. Senate subcommittee. In the middle of that very public battle, Nee faced a private battle with breast cancer.
Joe Holberg
The 38-year-old University of Michigan alum lived on food stamps and slept in his car while struggling to pay his college tuition. After graduating from college, he worked as a teacher on the West Side and did a stint for AmeriCorps. In 2015, Holberg opened a financial technology firm that bears his name. The computer software he created to help young people avoid his own financial struggles made him a millionaire. In 2017, Holberg published a book to provide financial guidance for young people. A year later, Holberg Financial got $1 million from venture capital sources — including Google — renamed itself “Spring” and was bought out by Mariner Wealth Advisors. Holberg became managing director of the financial wellness department.
Danielle Carter-Walters
The wife of a retired Chicago police officer, Carter-Walters is the founder of her own physical fitness business, offering personal training, equipment and supplements. She also the co-founder and vice-president of “Chicago Flips Red,” a conservative group that seeks to elect Republicans in deep blue Chicago. An ardent supporter of Trump, Carter-Walters has been an outspoken critic of Chicago’s sanctuary city ordinance. She has testified before Congressional committees about the harm that she believes those policies and the influx of migrants have done to the city. She has also advocated for calling in the National Guard to combat violent crime in Chicago.