Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declares reelection campaign

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Sunday he will seek a second term, ending speculation over his plans by making a forceful argument that he deserves four more years in City Hall to try to entrench his progressive agenda.

Johnson campaign spokesman Christian Perry confirmed to the Tribune last week that the freshman chief executive would run again. The Johnson campaign also posted a video on X Sunday morning in which the mayor announces a re-election run, making official what both supporters and critics have anticipated for months.

The theme of Johnson’s second mayoral campaign will likely resemble his first: a populist, anti-establishment message of taking on the wealthy business class and old guard of Chicago politics. But this time he must do so as an incumbent, not an underdog, and answer for a chaotic tenure that’s burned through the City Council’s patience and left many of his boldest progressive proposals unfulfilled.

Johnson, an Elgin native, has nine top opponents who have declared a bid for his seat: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias; Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza; businessman Willie Wilson; Chicago Housing Authority commissioner Matt Brewer; U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley; Cook County Board of Review commissioner George Cardenas; lobbyist John Kelly; businessman Joe Holberg; and cardiologist Dr. Lisa Nee. The election will take place Feb. 23, with a runoff scheduled April 6 if no candidate receives a majority.

Over the last three years, Johnson has weathered a migrant humanitarian crisis and attacks from Republican President Donald Trump, a cascade of high-profile resignations and firings from his administration and near-constant challenges to his authority that culminated in a historic budget revolt by aldermen last fall. These controversies have squandered goodwill from even progressives who grumble that his inner circle’s us-versus-them mindset is shrinking, not growing, his coalition that narrowly won the 2023 runoff election.

At the same time, Johnson has seen a steep decline in crime as well as continued economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Shootings have plunged 49% and homicides 39% from four years ago, when the city was in the throes of its worst spike in gun violence since the mid-1990s.

He notched a pair of early legislative wins his first summer in office, enacting raises for tipped workers — though aldermen this year voted to temporarily pause his timeline of abolishing the subminimum wage entirely — and requiring Chicago employers grant employees at least 10 days paid time off. He’s also eliminated minimum parking requirements for new developments in much of the city and established a “Green Social Housing” fund of public cash to help finance housing construction.

Progressives have also praised the mayor’s unequivocal defiance, even if heavily rhetorical, of Trump’s deportation blitz that tore through the city a year ago. The president remains deeply unpopular in Chicago, providing Johnson a high-profile political foil.

Johnson has at times said he gets more scrutiny for his missteps and less credit for his successes because he’s a Black man. His deep-seated belief that people hold him to a higher standard because of his race is a topic he leans into more often when speaking to majority Black crowds on the South and West sides.

Because Chicago remains one of America’s most segregated cities, where past government disinvestment and injustices continue to scar communities of color, the undercurrent of race will once again shape this election. Johnson, the son of a pastor, is counting on winning the Black vote and enough white progressives to make it through the crowded February first round into a one-on-one April runoff election between the two highest vote-getters.

Behind the scenes, some critics mused Johnson would forgo a reelection bid given how coyly he’s played off mounting questions over his political future. His fundraising — $631,309 in his campaign account at the end of June — is also remarkably low for a sitting mayor who hopes to remain in office.

But the former Chicago Teachers Union organizer has beaten the odds before. He was outspent by his 2023 runoff opponent Paul Vallas nearly 2-to-1 and started off that campaign polling at just 3% in December 2022. Mayor Lori Lightfoot even once famously scoffed, “Brandon Johnson isn’t going to be the mayor,” before she lost to him in the first round of voting.

Right now, the war-chest gap between Giannoulias and Johnson is a canyon. The secretary of state, who is also running to hold onto his current office this November, had a whopping $21.8 million cash on hand by the end of the last quarter, far and away the most among mayoral hopefuls. Still, should Johnson receive an expected infusion from CTU and affiliates, he will have enough money to stay competitive.

His close ally Stacy Davis Gates is now president of both the CTU and Illinois Federation of Teachers, while also serving as vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, which will help Johnson tap into statewide and national resources.

He will need that support given that other corners of Chicago’s labor world have felt increasingly alienated by his office and the CTU. Relations between Johnson’s second-biggest union backer in 2023, the Service Employees International Union, and the teachers union remain frosty after a feud blew up between their leaders over who should represent special education classroom assistants at Chicago Public Schools. The trade unions, meanwhile, appear to be coalescing around Giannoulias.

Johnson has tapped Jessica Angus, his transition team co-lead in 2023 and a former SEIU Healthcare leader, as his campaign operations director and Christian Perry as his political director. He has not yet named a campaign manager.

Whoever wins the seat next year is sure to face just as daunting a to-do list as Johnson did. The White House will remain unfriendly for at least two more years, Chicago will continue to see snowballing pension and debt obligations with few revenue solutions and the rebellious, if not dysfunctional, flavor of today’s City Council is unlikely to abate.

Johnson on Sunday did not deny these hurdles. He only argued that he — and the city — need more time to dismantle them.

ayin@chicagotribune.com; jsheridan@chicagotribune.com