Though the Evanston City Council could not agree at its May 26 meeting on how to pick an interim replacement if Mayor Daniel Biss resigns to head to Congress, one idea immediately went nowhere.
At the meeting, Ald. Clare Kelly, 1st, proposed that the City Council default to its longest-serving member if three successive votes for acting mayor couldn’t muster a two-thirds approval.
That member, Ald. Tom Suffredin, 6th, shook his head emphatically.
“The important thing is that nobody has to be mayor who doesn’t want to be,” Suffredin added afterward, to plenty of laughter.
Indeed, many City Council members have shown no appetite for taking the reins from Biss after his likely resignation before the end of 2026. Multiple members quizzed after the meeting by a gaggle of reporters declared no interest in serving as acting mayor.
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In exclusive remarks to Pioneer Press, however, two Council members indicated a willingness to fill that role. And Evanston resident Jeff Boarini, who challenged Biss in the 2025 mayor election and lost, reaffirmed his intent to run for mayor if Biss resigns in time to spur a special election.
After winning the March 17 Democratic primary for the Congressional seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Biss will enter the November general election as the frontrunner in the heavily Democratic district. Whenever he chooses to resign, an acting mayor chosen by the City Council from among its members will serve in his stead, per previous reporting.
A change in Illinois law moved forward the date Biss would need to resign in order to cause a special election. He has held out on declaring exactly when he would resign, saying he needs more clarity from the state, though he repeatedly insisted he wants to minimize the time Evanston has an unelected mayor.
If he doesn’t resign by that date, likely in October, then the acting mayor would serve out the rest of his term through 2029. But if Biss does resign in time, then the acting mayor would only serve until the winning candidate in the April 2027 special election takes office.
Potential acting mayors emerge
Kelly, who frequently spars with Biss on the City Council dais, told Pioneer Press she could “fulfill that need” to act in the immediate aftermath of his likely resignation.
“I would be perfectly willing to serve as an acting mayor until an election,” Kelly said. “I mean, I feel very strongly that the community should choose the mayor at the ballot box. But yeah, to oversee that position and carry it out, yeah, I’d be perfectly happy doing that.”
Kelly added that she agrees with her colleagues who believe an acting mayor should not run in the subsequent special election to finish Biss’ term.
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma, 4th, also said he could serve, though in less enthusiastic terms. Nieuwsma endorsed Biss in his bid for Congress and generally has aligned with the mayor’s priorities.
“If called upon to serve in that role, I would do my duty,” Nieuwsma said.
Among other Council members, Ald. Matt Rodgers, 8th, did not respond to a request for comment. Another, Ald. Bobby Burns, 5th, shut down the speculation, writing “no” in response to an inquiry about whether he’d be interested in serving as acting mayor or in otherwise running for mayor.
The fact that so few City Council members want to serve as acting mayor after Biss’ departure surprised his predecessor, former Mayor Steve Hagerty.
“The nice thing about being the acting mayor is one, you won’t have to run in a public election, unless you choose to run for the vacant position,” he said. “But two, once there is an election and the new mayor comes in, you don’t lose your aldermanic seat.”
That second incentive would also apply to members running in the special election, since they could retain their aldermanic seat if they lose the mayoral contest. Perhaps the high stakes of the Evanston mayoralty — its duties, time commitment and role as the city’s “ambassador” — may have dissuaded some members, Hagerty surmised.
The haziness over when Biss would need to resign to trigger a special election has been frustrating to some.
Nieuwsma said the state’s “lack of clarity doesn’t do anybody any good.”
When asked after the Tuesday meeting whether residents should be able to elect his successor, Biss reiterated his stance that “my guiding principle here is to minimize the amount of time the people of Evanston have a mayor who they did not get to vote for.”
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Clues to future in Biss’ past
Biss was elected Evanston mayor in 2021 after serving in the Illinois House and Senate and losing to JB Pritzker in a gubernatorial primary in 2018, according to prior reporting.
He has been quiet about big decisions regarding his political future before. For several months in 2024, as the Evanston 2025 mayoral election loomed, he insisted he hadn’t decided to run for reelection, even as his campaign war chest was growing.
Once he announced his bid, Biss battled claims by his detractors that he would merely use the mayoralty as a stepping stone to higher office. Six weeks after his landslide reelection victory against Boarini in 2025, Biss announced he would run for Congress.
Boarini told Pioneer Press that he intends to run for mayor, making him the first person to have declared interest in the potential special election.
Nieuwsma said he’s trying to find someone he could support in the election. Kelly, who is in a relationship with Boarini, said she couldn’t yet answer questions about the mayoral election.
A longtime Biss critic, Boarini decried Biss’ decision to run for Congress right after his reelection, calling it a “bit of an insult to Evanston voters.”
Whatever the issue, “people really believe in this town,” Boarini said.
Aside from Boarini, no potential candidates have appeared so far in Evanston’s political chatter, Hagerty said. It makes sense because of the lack of certainty around Biss’ departure, he added.
At the May 26 City Council meeting, the mayor said he expects the state to release the calendar by late June. Around the same time, Biss will deliver his State of the City address, where he could potentially drop clues regarding his political ambitions before an audience of boosters and dissidents alike.
The announcement for this year’s State of the City arrived much later than usual, and will take place June 23 at Evanston SPACE.
Ever a performer since his youth as a circus artist, Biss, also a former mathematician, has leveraged the media attention around the address before. The baiduhai printed a Biss-penned op-ed the same day as his 2024 State of the City address, and on the day after his 2025 address, he announced his congressional bid.