Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announces run for Chicago mayor

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced Sunday he will run for mayor of Chicago, ending over a year of speculation and making official his front-runner status in the already-crowded field.

Giannoulias entered the race buoyed by high name recognition, support from trade unions and a towering lead in campaign cash. He announced his campaign at a rally inside the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134 headquarters in Bronzeville, joined by a cadre of supporters from the Chicago City Council, trade unions and the business community.

The flashy, made-for-TV rollout sought to emphasize themes of Chicago patriotism, as well as Giannoulias’ ties to small businesses across town and to former President Barack Obama.

After playing a slideshow to the tune of “Vivir Mi Vida,” Giannoulias launched into a 15-minute speech that sought to brand him as a consensus reacher who “calls out to all of Chicago and doesn’t subscribe to an us-versus-them mentality.”

“Not leadership that seeks to divide us, but that tries to unite us, that focuses on our common goals and dreams for our families, because that’s who we are,” he said.

It was a thinly veiled shot at Johnson and his most ardent progressive supporters, who have long campaigned and led with a populist firebrand mindset that their critics say fosters an us-against-them relationship between working class Chicagoans and wealthier residents.

As he spoke to the hundreds-strong crowd that included six aldermen, Giannoulias promised to strike an optimistic tone, arguing the city’s best days remain ahead. And he aired a series of undetailed progressive policy promises, an apparent attempt to block Johnson from casting him as too cozy with business.

It also took only four minutes for Giannoulias to nod to his connection to Obama during his speech, a tie further asserted in pictures flashed to the crowd before the speech began.

Giannoulias called for citywide universal pre-K, an unspecified raised minimum wage and even a key tenant of Johnson’s own platform: higher taxes on the rich — though changes to the state’s flat income tax would require a constitutional amendment. He also carefully avoided criticizing the city’s wealthy, calling them an “inspiration to many people,” a rhetorical choice designed to separate him from Johnson.

“Tax fairness is not about punishing success. It’s about rewarding work. It’s about protecting middle-class families. It’s about asking everyone to do their part,” he said.

Giannoulias praised the city’s labor movement. He also pointed to his record as secretary of state of fighting Trump’s immigration agents and lowering the wait times for Illinois residents updating their driver’s licenses and seeking other services.

“That’s exactly the kind of leadership that I’ll bring to City Hall, not government that makes excuses, government that delivers, government that demands better and that gets things done,” he said.

His announcement follows months of the will-he, won’t-he game over Giannoulias’ candidacy, speculation fueled by the massive $22 million stockpile in his campaign account. His entry sets up the biggest foil yet to Johnson, who has not declared a reelection bid but has been attacking a top Giannoulias donor, asset manager and close Rahm Emanuel ally Michael Sacks, for undermining his progressive agenda.

The choice to launch his campaign from a union’s headquarters on the South Side was also a sign Giannoulias hopes to make inroads where it hurts with supporters of Johnson, who bills himself as Chicago’s most pro-labor mayor. But Giannoulias’ staggering amount of cash on hand — more than triple that of all the other candidates combined — could allow opponents like the mayor to attack him from the left as too closely tied to powerful trade unions and elites such as Sacks.

Following his launch, Giannoulias responded to a question about the Chicago Teachers Union’s scorching critiques of Sacks by pivoting to his “donations from plumbers and pipefitters and carpenters and educators and nurses.”

“I would say I remain very proud of the coalition of support we built,” Giannoulias said. “And again, the only way to turn this city around is to have a coalition of people working together: business, labor, elected officials, all of the above.”

Though his platform seems designed to blunt the beholden-to-billionaire criticism, Giannoulias sidestepped questions about specifics, saying his minimum wage proposal will drop in the coming weeks.

He also bristled at the insinuation that he was a moderate, responding to a question about splitting that vote with other business-friendly candidates with “I don’t believe in labels, to be honest with you.”

“To me, and as I talk to people in the city of Chicago, they want competence,” Giannoulias said. “They want someone who gets things done more so than ever before. So yes, you’ll hear a lot of these political parlor games. My focus is on solutions.”

Giannoulias avoided naming Johnson outright on Sunday but said he would emphasize “competence” when asked how his leadership would differ from the current one on the fifth floor of City Hall. He said the next mayor of Chicago should be open to meeting with the White House — and flatly said “No” when asked if it’s hypocritical for him to run for two offices at the same time.

Giannoulias’ campaign money is technically earmarked for his ongoing statewide reelection campaign, but is far more than he needs after an uncontested Democratic primary and amid a low key general election contest.

Last month, Giannoulias plugged ahead with a mayoral shadow campaign when he launched a series of TV ads for his ongoing secretary of state run. But with Sunday’s decision, the shadows are gone.

His decision comes just four years after Giannoulias achieved a long-awaited political comeback to succeed former Secretary of State Jesse White. Buoyed by close ally Obama, then a U.S. Senator and fellow pickup basketball player, Giannoulias won election in 2006 as Illinois treasurer.

But the once-ascendent politician’s future quickly unraveled with his next attempted step up. Giannoulias won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2010, only to quickly be embroiled in controversy as his family’s $1.1 billion Broadway Bank collapsed.

Reporting during the general election campaign revealed the bank lent $20 million to a pair of Chicago crime figures when Giannoulias was senior loan officer. Federal regulators seized the bank that April as it struggled with toxic loans.

The Democrat went on to narrowly lose the election to Republican Mark Kirk, the last time a GOP candidate won a Senate seat in Illinois.

Giannoulias only recently moved his campaign’s impressive war chest from Spring Bank, a NYC-based bank controlled by his family, to Chicago-based Byline Bank, according to campaign finance records filed in late June.

He pledged as a secretary of state candidate to modernize the office as he beat Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia and later Republican Dan Brady. In addition to Broadway Bank criticism, detractors argued he made missteps as treasurer that wiped out over $150 million for investors in the state’s Bright Start college savings program.

As secretary of state, Giannoulias launched a “Skip-The-Line” appointment system for people updating their drivers licenses and seeking other services, added self-serve kiosks throughout the state and recently ended mandatory road tests for drivers ages 79 to 86.

He has also leaned into national political issues. He spearheaded the 2023 passage of legislation making Illinois the first state to outlaw book bans and sent a cease-and-desist letter to the federal government in December to prevent immigration agents from swapping license plates.

Johnson has repeatedly avoided saying whether he will run, leaving open the possibility that the progressive incumbent widely expected to enter the race might not seek reelection.

The crowded field of candidates includes Matthew Brewer, the former Chicago Housing Authority board chair; George Cardenas, Cook County Board of Review commissioner; entrepreneur Joe Holberg; lobbyist John Kelly; Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza; cardiologist and medical whistle blower Dr. Lisa Nee; U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and entrepreneur Liam Stanton.

Businessman Willie Wilson and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas have also strongly hinted they will run.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com; ayin@chicagotribune.com