Mayoral contenders began pouring into the Chicago Board of Elections Loop Super Site bright and early Monday, hoping to become the next occupant of the 5th floor with the help of their stacks of petition signatures, even taller campaign promises and a little bit of luck.
Five candidates showed up on the first day to turn in petitions, earning them a draw in the lottery for the first spot on the February ballot. Among them were, in order of arrival, businessman Willie Wilson, lobbyist John Kelly, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, Chicago Housing Authority commissioner Matt Brewer and Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
Missing was Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose team said he was focused on his fourth budget address that’s scheduled for Wednesday morning.
By skipping the early fanfare, the incumbent stayed above the political fray. Like predecessor Lori Lightfoot, he will likely wait until the final day for petitions next week, which affords candidates a lottery entry for the last spot on the ballot.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and attorney William Quinlan will also wait until Oct. 26 to file, their mayoral campaigns said.
Monday’s mayoral contenders jammed into a long line that snaked through a dim lobby outside the election office, bumping elbows and shaking hands with aldermanic hopefuls from across Chicago who were also turning in sheets of names they collected to get on the ballot.
Some posed with their sheet stacks in front of the Chicago Board of Elections logo backdrop before joining the crush of candidates and supporters waiting their turn. A group of progressive Northwest Side politicians posed for a selfie toward the front of the line.
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The day-one petition circus may be more rooted in tradition than material advantage with voters. But candidates nonetheless took advantage of the spotlight Monday to attack their foes and grandstand about how they would improve Chicago.
Giannoulias pulled in the biggest haul of petition sheets, wheeling in roughly 60,000 in a red hand truck. “My 9-year-old asked if it was a world record, and I didn’t know. So we have to do a little Googling to figure that out,” he joked to reporters while waiting in line.
The next tallest stack belonged to Quigley with about 42,000 signatures, followed by Kelly at 36,000, Brewer at 32,000 and Wilson at 30,000. Candidates need a minimum of 12,500 signatures, but most gather at least three times that threshold to guard against petition challenges.
Monday’s crop of mayoral hopefuls staked out different positions on the cutthroat Chicago election tactic. Giannoulias said he hasn’t decided if he will challenge signatures, while Wilson signaled he would not spare any rival when reviewing whether to file objections. Quigley, Kelly and Brewer said they do not intend to challenge anyone’s petition sheets.
Contenders often challenge rivals’ petitions in hopes of knocking them off the ballot by showing enough signatures are fake to drop them below 12,500, or just to waste their time and money to defend their signatures. Before he was president, Barack Obama ascended to his Illinois state senate seat after knocking incumbent Alice Palmer from the ballot.
Giannoulias, who has been quick to boast of his days of playing basketball with the famous former Chicagoan, again invoked his name when telling reporters he gathered signatures from every ward because “Barack Obama taught me that the way you run a campaign is the way you’re likely to run an administration.” State Sen. Lakesia Collins flanked Giannoulias in line as a supporter, an early sign of whom he hopes to enlist as a campaign surrogate.
Giannoulias said he was “staying positive,” but those running against him were quick to target him and his $19 million war chest.
Kelly joked that the long line resembled the wait inside the Secretary of State’s locations. Quigley noted the last two mayoral elections did not lead to the best-funded candidate emerging victorious, while Brewer said that amount of money in politics could distort democracy.
“When you have that kind of money in elections with no caps, you certainly run that risk, and we’re certainly at risk of it here,” Brewer said. “I hope that voters are still voting based on principles and people instead of politics and money.”
Johnson took a shot at Giannoulias last week, calling out his campaign fundraising by asking “What type of democracy are we really talking about — or whether or not we’ll have a democracy — if everyday people are shut out?”
On Monday, Giannoulias responded that his candidacy is built around regular Chicagoans.
“I think that’s offensive to the thousands of people — the mechanics, the carpenters, the union workers, the middle class families, and the people that want change in City Hall, but I’m not surprised,” Giannoulias told reporters who asked about Johnson’s critique. “When you’re having your own difficulties, you try and bang on other people.”
Other candidates were much quicker to go negative on the incumbent.
Pointing to Johnson’s absence from the first day, Kelly argued it showed the mayor is disorganized.
“Not only can Brandon Johnson not run the city well, he cannot run his campaign very well,” he said. “If you’re not organized enough to get your petitions on the first day with a really big amount, how can you be organized?”
Kelly then criticized his competitors who are running or considering running for multiple offices at once — including Giannoulias and Quigley.
“They want the title. I actually want the job of mayor,” he said.
Brewer also dug in. “I’ve had a front row into a lot of the dysfunction at City Hall,” he said. “If we get this moment wrong, this city is at risk. If we get it right, then we can continue to grow.”
Wilson said his campaign staff got in line Saturday in order to make sure they had an early jump on Monday filing, proving he’s committed to the race, he said.
“If you want to be mayor of the city of Chicago, you’ve got to be ahead of things. You’ve got to put citizens first, and I’m putting them first by me being here first,” Wilson said.
Then the perennial candidate self-proclaimed as “the only candidate that’s not bought” said he was sure his signatures would withstand any challenges.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Chicago election without some old school-style accusations of line jumping and verbal jousting.
Rickey Hendon, a Wilson surrogate, told reporters that Ald. David Moore, 17th, cut in front of the Wilson crew in line early Sunday morning and “wanted to fight about it, so we let him have it.”
Moore, for his part, texted photos of folding lawn chairs to a reporter to argue he was there first. Their argument ended with the alderman calling the police to request a squad car detail outside, he said, adding Hendon spouted out “too many” cuss words to list.
The first day of petitions also comes after a Cook County judge last week dismissed Quinlan’s lawsuit against Giannoulias, Quigley and other candidates for running for two offices at the same time. Quinlan has said he will appeal.
Quigley, who was showing reporters that he was also tuning into a Zoom call with the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, quipped, “There are no bumper stickers that say what would Bill Quinlan do.”
On the mayor, he offered this: “Johnson’s not the reason Chicago is in the mess it is in. He is sincere. I think the problem is he has no plan or desire to do what Chicago has to do to move forward.”
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The final day of filing is Oct. 26, with the objection filing deadline Nov. 2. If no one wins the majority of votes during the Feb. 23, 2027, election, a runoff will be held April 6.
Also on the ballot next year are all 50 aldermanic seats and the city clerk and treasurer.