Candidates for Chicago's next mayoral race must have discernible qualifications for the job
Chicagoans all know that we have a current mayor who is “dazed and confused” in office. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s approval numbers have hit rock bottom and are among the lowest of any politician in the history of the United States. For those who care to look, the writing on the wall gives every indication Johnson is a “one and done” mayor. It comes as no surprise given Johnson’s thin resume, lackluster track record, and his pursuit of a radical agenda to the left of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. However, we knew Johnson’s intent, and as they say, elections have consequences. Now, Chicago is paying the price. While voters do have the option of a "re-do" and vote differently, we do have the opportunity to reverse course in the next mayoral election with the right leadership.
Given Chicago’s unfathomable decline and Mayor Johnson’s steep fall only 19 months since being sworn into office, the political positioning for his 2027 replacement has already begun. With candidates aspiring to become mayor so inclined to start sending out feelers to potential supporters and donors or having surrogates float trial balloons, a word of caution: Chicago’s chaotic downward spiral requires a candidate with demonstrated leadership skills and specific, actionable plans to return Chicago back on solid footing and in the right direction.
Residents of Chicago have had enough of the simplistic sloganeering, ugly race-baiting and hollow promises from candidates who think a bid for mayor is a mere beauty pageant. Chicagoans demand and deserve substantive answers to our complex problems and want a leader who can deliver. Shallow leadership need not apply.
Certainly, the next mayor cannot answer to a constituency of one. Since before he took office, it was fairly obvious Mayor Johnson’s allegiance rested entirely with his financial and political benefactors, Stacy Davis Gates and the CORE caucus at the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). A successful mayor governs over all, not just his or her political base.
Candidates contemplating a bid for the mayor’s office cannot afford to be so disconnected from financial and political reality that they pin their cornerstone hopes on fantasy projects such as Johnson’s dead-on-arrival, billion-dollar giveaway to the owners of a billion-dollar sport franchise to build a luxurious playpen. In a recent speech Johnson gave at the City Club, the mayor challenged people to come forward with a better idea. Well, since Johnson asked and mayoral candidates are on the sidelines waiting, let the race for ideas begin.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of alternatives to brashly doling out $2 to $3 billion in public funding to finance a second football stadium in 25 years. To suggest otherwise is insanity. One viable option for the mayor is to turn off the Sanctuary City spigot that has cost the city at least $450 million on top of the $2 billion Springfield has already provided, and directing tax dollars to residents the mayor has neglected.
Johnson has an imminent budget tsunami that is causing him to break many of his key campaign promises. The mayor is facing a pension crisis that is far bigger than all of our border states combined. At the same time, Mayor Johnson is taking all the necessary steps for a massive, “game show give-a-way” to the CTU. The mayor’s former employer, under the leadership of the CORE caucus, the CTU has morphed into a de-facto, left wing political movement that uses children to front for the CTU’s agenda of greater financial benefits, more dues-paying members and, of course, more political power. A litmus test for any valid candidate seeking the mayor’s office must have the fortitude to defy the CTU and say “enough!”
Chicago School District 299 currently spends $30,000 per student and has increased per pupil funding an astonishing 46 percent since 2019, while adding over 9,000 additional full time-staff despite a 10 percent loss of enrollment. Presently, the district has one employee for every 7.6 students and over 22,000 non-teaching positions, which is 12,000 more than the number of officers employed by the Chicago Police Department. Despite the massive expenditures, academic performance among pupils is abysmal while CTU pressures the district to limit even public-school alternatives, like charters and magnets, to failing neighborhood schools.
Chicago is also battling an ongoing pandemic of violent crime. Today, because of the mayor’s inattention to crime enveloping city streets, Chicago sits atop other large metropolitan areas in all categories of crime, including mass murders, mass shootings, and violent crime — most of which go unsolved (and without justice served) for the victims and their grieving families. Chicago has exceeded 100 mass shootings for the year (three or more shot) and in 2024 alone, 285 school age children shot, 41 of whom were killed. Chicago residents must demand the next mayor craft an achievable strategic plan to solve Chicago’s crime crisis.
Shortages in police personnel leave half the high priority 911 calls with no car available to respond when the calls come in and a criminal justice system that returns thousands of violent felons to the street. Under the SAFE-T Act, pre-trial release has allowed 20 percent of arrestees taken back into custody individuals who were out on bail awaiting trial for other felonies.
Meanwhile, Chicago has a public transit system facing financial collapse due to the expiration of COVID funds and a ridership in sharp decline. Though the CTA is on the verge of catastrophe, neither Johnson nor his inherited CTA President Dorval Carter fully grasp the fact that public safety is playing a considerable role in the decline of ridership. The fact that the total number of CPD personnel detailed to the CTA is only marginally greater than the mayor’s CPD security detail and that the CTA continues to lavish money on private security rather than hire 400 more police officers reveals how little consideration the mayor pays to safety on Chicago’s public transportation system.
These matters, combined with the “kitchen table issues,” need to be addressed with specificity by any candidate for mayor. While the prevailing wisdom among Chicago residents is likely “anyone would be better than Mayor Johnson,” voters would be best served if they set the bar higher with respect to qualifications for mayor in the next mayoral election. While Mayor Johnson is not solely responsible for Chicago’s steep and swift decline, the city deserves a mayor who has the vision and political courage to advance a bold plan designed not merely to slow Chicago’s fall, but reverse Chicago’s current path before the city slides into oblivion.
The next race for mayor cannot be a beauty pageant. The 2027 mayoral election needs to be substantive. While name recognition and ability to fundraise are important qualities for any potential mayoral candidate, a political will to apply sound policies to free Chicago from the iron grip of progressivism are required to return Chicago to its proper station of a world-class city. Chicago is staring down several crises — fiscal, failing schools, and an ongoing pension mess — all of which are hamstringing Chicago government from advancing the best interests of residents.
It is critical for Chicago’s community leaders to organize early and challenge aspiring candidates on their specific solutions, their commitment to taking action, and to evaluate their actual track record in life that would indicate an ability to implement a rapid turnaround of our city. While the election is two years away, it’s not too early for Chicagoans to start asking the tough questions of those who seek to represent them.
