Overview
- Mayor Brandon Johnson formally declared his run on Sunday at the DuSable Black History Museum, posted a campaign video and cast the race as “billionaires versus Brandon” to rally his labor and community coalition.
- He enters a crowded field of more than a dozen candidates, including Alexi Giannoulias, Susana Mendoza and Mike Quigley, with a Feb. 23, 2027 first-round and an April 6 runoff if no candidate wins a majority.
- Public support is weak: a University of Chicago Mansueto Institute poll published this summer showed a 23% approval rating for Johnson and only about 13.6% of respondents said they were excited by another Johnson campaign.
- Johnson begins the campaign with a major cash disadvantage, reporting roughly $631,000 on hand compared with Alexi Giannoulias’s roughly $22 million, forcing a reliance on grassroots organizing rather than big-dollar TV buys.
- His announcement foregrounds gains he credits for lower violent crime, reopened mental-health clinics and expanded youth jobs but also highlights looming challenges—City Council friction, an almost $900 million budget shortfall and strained ties with business—that will shape debates over safety, affordability and city services.