2 years after inauguration, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says he thinks his poll numbers will bounce back
As Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson marks two years in office this week, he talked about his swings, his misses, and why he thinks his poll numbers will likely rebound.
Currently, Mayor Johnson has strong crime numbers to boast about — a 24% drop in homicides since taking office. But his poll numbers are currently terrible, and some of his handpicked leaders in the City Council even say he is trending toward becoming a one-term mayor.
Mayor Johnson is a big basketball fan, and his term is now at the equivalent of halftime of a game. He was asked if he is leading or trailing?
"I think the people of Chicago are certainly winning," the mayor said. "You cannot argue about safety in this city as we drive violence down. You can't argue that we're not building affordable homes, because we're doing that."
But again, some in the City Council do not agree that Mayor Johnson's term has been a success so far. The mayor's head of the City Council Education and Child Development Committee, Ald. Jeanett Taylor (20th) said she is not sure the mayor can turn it around, and others think he is on track not to win a second term.
"The opinion of our work doesn't just rest on one particular chamber or one individual," Johnson said.
Over the past two years, there been lots of moments.
Early on in his term in 2023, Mayor Johnson had to manage a situation where thousands of migrants were left sleeping on the floors of police stations. He hosted the Democratic National Convention last year. He lost his signature Bring Chicago Home ballot referendum that would have raised the transfer tax on million-dollar homes to fight homelessness was defeated.
The mayor held his own during a grilling on Capitol Hill about sanctuary city policies. He had public fights with Chicago Public Schools chief executive officer Pedro Martinez, and struck a contract with the Chicago Teachers Union.
The mayor also developed a chilly relationship with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and has seen some brutal poll numbers — some as low as 14% approval.
When asked how he looked at those numbers, Johnson was quick to pivot to his success with reducing violent crime.
"You're asking me as mayor of the City of Chicago to just blow past the fact that violent crime is down in Chicago," Johnson said. "What I'm saying, though, is look, if you want me to spend time thinking about things that that, quite frankly, don't improve the quality of life for people, I'm not going to do that."
The mayor believes as crime numbers remain low, his approval numbers will likely improve.
"I do believe that there is a lag — I get what you're getting at — but eventually, I believe that the lag, that people will catch up to what's actually happening," Johnson said.
As for regrets, he cited just one.
"Look, if there's one thing that I do, you know, regret, that in the midst of me standing up government two years ago — what I didn't do, I didn't do a good enough job at effectively communicating with the very coalition that elected me," Johnson said.
In particular, Johnson has noted on a number of occasions that he has gotten people coming up to him at public events saying they didn't know about his accomplishments and successes — and he is now trying to be a better advocate for his record.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Progressive Chicago mayor advocates for new 1% grocery tax to help billion-dollar deficit
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called for a 1% tax on groceries on Tuesday out of concerns about the city's massive deficit. Johnson's budget team met with the Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Revenue to discuss the impending end to Illinois' grocery tax, which will expire on January 1, 2026. The city currently has until October 1 to pass a new tax to replace the expired one to maintain revenue continuity. During the meeting, Budget Director Annette Guzman argued in favor of the new tax, warning that the city could see an increase in its deficit and services cut without it. "Allowing that tax to lapse in 2026 would cost the corporate fund an estimated $80 million next year alone, further exacerbating our $1 billion-plus gap," Guzman said. "Nearly 200 other municipalities in Illinois — from Berwyn to Wheaton and beyond — have already voted to extend this grocery tax... If we fail to do the same, we will leave critical services on the chopping block." She pointed to the city's police department as a potential victim of budget cuts if taxes like this were not passed. "Roughly one-third of our corporate fund supports the police department and its related pension obligations. Without new revenue, staffing, training and community-based programs could face cuts," Guzman said. In a press briefing, Johnson advocated for the 1% increase by pointing out that the new tax would only replace the one currently in effect without adding additional taxes. "The City of Chicago will not enact its own grocery tax. The grocery tax already exists. There is a process in which the collection of the grocery tax is now being placed in the responsibility of municipalities," Johnson said on Tuesday. "We're not creating a grocery tax. We're just creating a process by which we can collect it." The city council has not yet voted on a replacement tax. Alderman Andre Vasquez pointed out during the meeting that a local tax was not included in Johnson's 2025 budget, which now puts the council in an awkward position. "Had it been included in the budget, it might have gotten done in a way that's going to feel a lot easier than this year," Vasquez said. "Hearing that 200 municipalities that already did it — it's a bit frustrating. It was a missed opportunity." Fox News Digital reached out to members of the committee for additional comment but did not immediately receive a response. Though the city council can pass a new tax increase after the October deadline, the City Council Office of Financial Analysis reported in May that collections on any new ordinances would not go into effect until mid-2026.
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business Insider
Elon Musk hasn't stopped bashing Trump's 'big beautiful bill'
Elon Musk isn't done trying to kill President Donald Trump's"Big Beautiful Bill." For two days now, the tech titan has been posting — and reposting — on X about the bill's impact on the debt. Multiple independent forecasters have said that the version of the bill passed by the House last month would add more than $2 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. Musk has taken to calling it the "Debt Slavery Bill," said the bill is at odds with the goals of DOGE, exhorted his followers to call members of Congress about to get them to oppose it, and repeatedly urged Republicans to scrap the bill and start anew. He also posted a promotional photo from the 2003 thriller "Kill Bill." — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 4, 2025 Republicans' response has been muted. Trump has yet to publicly weigh in on Musk's ongoing post-storm, while GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill are largely dismissing it. House Speaker Mike Johnson visibly rolled his eyes when reporters asked him about Musk's call for a new bill on Wednesday. "We don't have time for a brand new bill," Johnson said. "And I want Elon and all my friends to recognize the complexity of what we've accomplished here." Some Republicans have also insinuated that Musk may be upset about the fact that the bill phases out tax credits for electric vehicles that Congress passed under President Joe Biden. NBC News reported that Musk lobbied to keep those tax credits in place, and Johnson even brought up the credits when he initially responded to Musk's criticism on Tuesday. "I know that has an effect on his business, and I lament that," Johnson said. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. All of this comes after Musk's departure from the White House last week, which followed a media blitz in which he expressed disappointment about public perceptions of DOGE and the backlash faced by his companies, including Tesla. His criticism of the "Big Beautiful Bill" has been greeted warmly by Republicans who share his concerns about the deficit, but so far, his comments don't seem to have changed the overall dynamic within the party on the bill.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Adrienne Adams launches first NYC mayoral campaign ad blitz, but is there time to break through?
Mayoral hopeful Adrienne Adams is launching a multi-million dollar campaign ad portraying her as a drama-free professional who can 'rise above' the fray of New York politics — her first big spend of the 2025 election cycle, which comes amid signs of growing momentum, but also as questions loom about whether she has enough time to break through. The 30-second ad, entitled 'Rise Above' and set to hit television and digital airwaves Thursday, less than three weeks ahead of the primary, features a piano-led gospel track, as Adams declares: 'In New York City, we know drama, but as City Council speaker, I rise above it.' Pictured behind a church pulpit, she then touts how she as speaker reversed library and child care budget cuts enacted by Mayor Adams — who is not related to her — and recently secured a temporary restraining order blocking President Trump's administration from putting federal immigration agents on Rikers Island. 'And now I'm running for mayor, not for power or praise, but for my children and for yours, for affordability, for safety, for justice,' she says in the ad, which the Daily News got an exclusive preview of. 'I'm in it for us.' The speaker's campaign didn't immediately have an exact figure for how much she expects to plunk down on the ad. But her spokeswoman Lupe Todd-Medina said it will be in the 'multi' millions. The ad blitz comes after the speaker unlocked matching funds for her campaign last week, netting more than $2 million in the coveted public cash. Had she not gotten that cash boost, she wouldn't have been able to qualify for matching cash until June 20, just four days before the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary. Even before getting matching funds, signs have emerged Adrienne Adams' mayoral pitch is gaining traction with voters. A recent Marist poll put her in third place, behind front-runner Andrew Cuomo and No. 2 candidate Zohran Mamdani, marking her best showing to date. Her rise in the polls came after she was endorsed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and DC 37, the city's largest public sector union. Still, the speaker, whose name-recognition on a citywide level is low, has lots of ground to catch up with less than four weeks to go until the primary and early voting starting June 14. The Marist poll projected her clutching 11% support in a simulated first ranked-choice voting round, well behind Mamdani's 22% and Cuomo's 44%. Trip Yang, a New York City Democratic strategist who isn't involved with any mayoral campaigns this year, said the fact that Adrienne Adams was already climbing in the polls before she launched a major ad blitz is a positive sign. 'She absolutely has a shot,' he said. 'She has already been in third place in some polls without much spending, and now she has the matching funds. That's a huge boost of adrenaline for her campaign.' Yang noted City Comptroller Brad Lander has typically grabbed the No. 3 spot in most mayoral race polls. 'But Brad has already spent millions of dollars [on ads], and she barely has spent any and she's already climbing,' he said. 'By that logic, Adrienne has a much higher ceiling.' The ad rollout comes after the mayoral candidates faced off at the first Democratic primary debate on Wednesday night. The debate was dominated by the eight other candidates on stage ganging up on Cuomo, blasting his record and accusing him of being unfit for office, having resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual misconduct accusations he denies. Speaker Adams made waves when she interrupted Cuomo on stage after he declined to offer any 'personal regrets' when asked by moderators. 'No regrets when it comes to cutting Medicaid or health care, no regrets when it comes to cutting child care, when it comes to slow walking [personal protective equipment] and vaccinations in the season of COVID to Black and brown communities — really, no regrets?' she fumed at Cuomo while shaking her head.
