Laura Washington: Chicago mayoral wannabes are already edging to the gate
The race unofficially kicked off last week. While no contestant has formally announced, the wannabes are already edging to the gate.
Starting with Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza. Word is, she has been mulling a challenge to Mayor Brandon Johnson for months. Before her three-term stint as the state's chief financial officer, this high-energy politician served as an Illinois state representative and the city clerk for Chicago. She ran for mayor in 2019, coming in fifth in a nine-candidate field.
If Mendoza were reelected as comptroller in November 2026, she would take office just months before the Feb. 23 mayoral election. Running for one office while turning around to bid for another is bad optics, not to mention a perilous juggling act.
Hence, she called the news media to a restaurant in the Little Village neighborhood last week to announce that she would not seek a fourth term. Mendoza has pledged to serve out her current term, but she is surely testing the waters for a second mayoral run.
'I'm definitely leaving the door open,' she told reporters.
She has plenty of not-so-indirect criticisms of Johnson's leadership. 'I think that Chicago is in dire need of competency, someone who understands the needs of the city,' she told reporters.
'I think we've had two very unsuccessful mayors in a row. So, Chicagoans, let me just say that Chicagoans deserve better; they deserve a lot better.'
Johnson pushed back when he was asked about her comments: 'I don't think much about her candidacy,' he said. 'In fact, she tried this already, and apparently Chicagoans did not think too much of her candidacy, either.'
Touché.
Still, a chorus of critics and supporters alike has been weighing in on Johnson's tenure, spurred on by his low performance ratings in recent polls. A series of missteps and controversies have hamstrung Johnson's progressive agenda. Potential challengers are making the rounds to test the political waters. Given Johnson's vulnerabilities, he's sure to face a raft of challengers.
Our incessantly talkative mayor isn't saying much about 2027, but he has heard the message. He's been hitting events and rallies in the city's African American neighborhoods, to bulk up his strongest base.
The potential competition is getting itchy.
That includes contenders such as Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. He is running for reelection in November 2026 and was endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Party last week. He's widely believed to be hankering for a mayoral run. Unlike Mendoza, Giannoulias declined to pick a lane.
Chicago business owner Willie Wilson has continued his philanthropic ways, hosting gas and grocery giveaways, writing op-eds and boosting his profile. He cultivates the limelight, with three previous runs for mayor and even a try for president of the United States. While Wilson captured about 10% in his mayoral forays, he may not be able to resist a fourth time around.
Maria Pappas, the flamboyantly popular baton-twirling Cook County treasurer, has been feeding mayoral rumors, declaring at one point that she was open to a draft.
Will Paul Vallas return for a grudge match? He lost the 2023 runoff to Johnson by 4 points. Since then, he has been a ubiquitous and angry Johnson critic. He would lean on his experience as a former Chicago Public Schools CEO and City Hall budget chief. That didn't work the first time, but who knows?
Brendan Reilly, Bill Conway and Brian Hopkins are high-profile aldermen who know how to maneuver a microphone and have cultivated deep ties to the downtown corporate types. Their problem: If they mount a mayoral run, they must give up their City Council seats. That would be a rare move for a sitting City Council member.
Janice K. Jackson, who also served as a CPS CEO, is stepping down from a four-year stint as the founding CEO of Hope Chicago, a nonprofit that offers debt-free college scholarships and wraparound services to students and parents. She has just been named executive director of Aspen Institute's education and society program.
Jackson, who earned solid reviews for her leadership at CPS, could tout that experience in an appeal to voters.
My wild card: Lisa Madigan. The former Illinois attorney general might resume her political career with a mayoral run. She left office in 2019 after serving four terms as the state's chief legal officer and previously served her North Side district as an Illinois state senator.
Now in private practice at the law firm Kirkland and Ellis, Madigan could bring credibility and credentials to a serious campaign. Yes, Michael Madigan, the disgraced former Illinois speaker of the House, is her father. The sins of the father should not be visited on the daughter.
While a certain U.S. president might wish so, elections are not going anywhere. More to come in the race for City Hall, and soon.
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