Veteran Southwest Side Ald. Matt O’Shea announced Thursday he will not run for a fifth term, adding to the list of City Council retirements next year.
O’Shea said he still plans to hit the ground running for this fall’s budget season and whatever else lands on his desk before the next City Council — and possibly mayor — is sworn in next May. But after that, he said he plans to hang up his politics hat, save for his 19th Ward Democratic committeeman seat.
“It’s time to step back,” O’Shea said. “It’s time for someone else to step up and find a new chapter.”
He endorsed his chief of staff of three years, Erin Ross, as his successor and said she is “well-known in our community as a woman with integrity, compassion, but tough when needed.” She previously served as executive director of the 95th Street Business Association for a decade.
O’Shea first entered office in 2011, during former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first term, and has served under three mayors now. He has been a staunch critic of Mayor Brandon Johnson and was one of the budgeteers in the aldermanic opposition that revolted against the mayor’s 2026 budget.
Reflecting on his time representing Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood, he said his proudest accomplishments were projects he brought to the 19th Ward: the opening of Morgan Park Sports Center, a satellite mental health resources facility for Chicago police officers as well as capital improvements to Mount Greenwood, Esmond and Cassell elementary schools.
As the council member who represents one of the epicenters of Chicago’s cop and firefighter workforce, O’Shea also lauded two ordinances he helped spearhead. One granted death benefits to Chicago cops who died by suicide, while another increased penalties for attacking Chicago fire medics and other first responders.
“Police officers, firefighters, paramedics — they’re the backbone of my community,” O’Shea said. “We have more here than any other part of the city, and I hope that they know that they were always a top priority for me to to advocate for.”
He praised former police Superintendent Larry Snelling, who retired in July, as well as the interim top cop, Fred Waller, as two fine leaders who made critical progress with police-community relations and tackling crime. But he noted that although the recent backlash against Chicago police from progressives has subsided, “you’re always concerned that if the wrong political theater starts back up, that we could start to hear that rhetoric again.”
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O’Shea noted that he’s leaving behind a body that has grown more and more siloed in its various political fiefdoms. He said doesn’t want to assume there will be a successor to Johnson come next year but offered this to whoever will occupy the mayor’s office on the fifth floor of City Hall: “Moving forward, there needs to be better communication and collaboration. There’s checks and balances. There’s someone who’s elected as the mayor, and then there’s 50 City Council members.”
He also imparted a piece of advice to the next generation of aldermen.
“I think a lot of people think that the alderman is a more powerful position than it is. Your job as an alderman, as I see it, is you’re an advocate for your community,” O’Shea said. “The majority of your time should be in the community, and we got to get back to that.”
On his toughest vote, O’Shea recalled his “very difficult” support for then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2016 budget that hiked property taxes in order to shore up police and fire pensions. Though much has changed in City Hall since, the next budget season and the ones thereafter will surely be daunting as well, he added, predicting the opposition bloc hastily assembled last fall will be here to stay in some form irrespective of who the mayor is.
O’Shea follows his colleagues Aldermen Marty Quinn, 13th, and Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, in announcing they will not run for reelection next year. Earlier this term, former Aldermen Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and Walter Burnett stepped down and were replaced by Johnson.
That list of five retirees so far pales in comparison with the previous cycle, when 13 aldermen either did not run for another council term in the 2023 election or resigned early.
Meanwhile, Johnson has lined up an announcement on his political future on Sunday. Should he declare a reelection bid, he joins nine other candidates who have already launched their mayoral campaigns. O’Shea said he has met with some of them but “I have not endorsed, and I see no reason to endorse anytime soon.”
“At some point I’ll make a decision, but I’m in no hurry, and I see no reason to at this point,” O’Shea said.