Currently holds the office of Chicago City Mayor until April 4, 2027.
Candidate for Chicago City Mayor in 2023 Illinois General Election.
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.
Get StartedAs a teacher, community organizer and candidate for the next mayor of Chicago, I will not stop fighting until abortion access is completely secure for people all over this country. Reproductive health must be an integral part of any health program or plan. Without access to a full range of reproductive services, women and others who can become pregnant simply cannot be said to have adequate health care. Learn more
There are three things I would like to make absolutely clear. One: abortion is health care. Two: abortion should be a constitutional right. Three: We will not accept an America – or a Chicago – that goes back in time. Learn more
As mayor, I would ensure that additional public health clinics were opened, especially in schools and in neighborhoods where current services are woefully inadequate. Free or low-cost contraceptive services should be available to all, regardless of their insurance status. Learn more
I also strongly support full access to abortion services, fertility treatments and other reproductive health care. and I would make sure that these are included in the health insurance plans offered to all city workers (including those workers in Chicago Public Schools). Learn more
As mayor, Brandon Johnson will be a champion for art workers across the city demanding safe working conditions, pay transparency, and more accessible funding opportunities. Brandon will break down the gatekeeping to Chicago’s arts resources, ensure Chicago Public Schools have the funding needed to prioritize arts education and after school programs that provide young Chicagoans a safe place to get creative and find joy, and be a vocal ally in funding public art that allows the most marginalized voices in Chicago the necessary platforms to tell their stories and preserve our histories. Learn more
Brandon will transform Chicago into a national model for gender equity and reproductive rights, champion LGBTQ rights as human rights, and be a visible and vocal ally to creating safety and equal opportunity for the LGBTQ community. He will enact Chicago policies that address all of the issues that impact members of the LGBTQ community regardless of ability, age, ethnicity/race, faith, gender expression, immigrant status, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. Learn more
The Chicago Police Department must comply with the federal consent decree and increase its homicide clearance rate. I will work closely with the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability to hold police accountable and evaluate the goals and performance of the CPD, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the Police Board. I will remove the flawed gang database and support Treatment Not Trauma, reduce inefficiencies in public safety spending, and direct more funds to violence prevention and community safety programming that address the root causes of community violence. Learn more
I will work closely with the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability to hold police accountable and evaluate the goals and performance of the CPD, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the Police Board. Learn more
As mayor, I will chart a new strategy for public safety, rather than relying on the same failed approaches that have brought trauma to communities across the city. I will work with police and first responders to invest in community-based interventions that de-escalate conflict, reduce violence and make our neighborhoods safer. Learn more
I will remove the flawed gang database and support Treatment Not Trauma, reduce inefficiencies in public safety spending, and direct more funds to violence prevention and community safety programming that address the root causes of community violence. Learn more
I will create an Office of Community Safety, reopen the city’s mental health clinics, fully fund year-round youth employment, and foster partnerships between communities and law enforcement to make critical investments preventing crime before it happens. Learn more
We also need to change how economic development incentives are provided in this city: regularizing the use of TIF funds, requiring and enforcing binding agreements to create specified numbers of jobs and hire local workers, and focusing on revitalizing neighborhood business districts and industrial development/redevelopment to provide good union jobs for all Chicagoans - not just those in high-income jobs. Learn more
School communities need direct investment, guarantees of staffing and program offerings. Every school should have a library and librarian, adequate clinicians and counselors, thriving arts offerings and sports programs and teams. And the mayor of Chicago has an obligation to be actively fighting in partnership for the revenue required to fulfill those basic needs for every school in the city, not just some. Learn more
As mayor, he will work to expand sustainable community schools from pre-kindergarten to the City Colleges, providing academic, health and social support beyond the school day. . Learn more
We need to tie workforce development efforts into our schools, starting the earliest grades, and help CPS to do its job by providing needed support around school safety, helping students traumatized by violence, expanding school-based health centers and improving access to technology. What we cannot do is cut City aid to schools as Mayor Lightfoot is doing, and plans to do as we implement an elected school board. Then we need to work together to increase school funding and institute a fairer school funding formula. Learn more
On Day One, he will order a comprehensive study of this city’s environmental needs, with a focus on identifying the hazards on the South and West sides. He isconfident that we can finish that study in the first 100 days, with the assistance of community groups and advocates. Then we will develop new environmental regulations to reduce and mitigate the pollutants that are fouling our water and air – and it won’t take centuries for a Johnson administration to put those regulations into action. Learn more
We need Chicago to lead the way in protecting the communities most affected by pollution, and take a strong stand to mitigate climate disaster. As mayor, Brandon Johnson will make Chicago a leader in sustainability, and usher in a Chicago Green New Deal that transforms our city and makes a better future possible. Learn more
As mayor, I will conduct a cumulative impact assessment to advance comprehensive environmental regulations; work to outfit Chicago Public Schools buildings with green HVAC systems, new ventilation solar panels and other renewable energy sources; and reopen and fully fund the city’s Department of Environment. Learn more
As mayor, Brandon will enact a “Truth in Budgeting” law that would create more transparency around city spending and provide more space for public input on city finances. He will also champion public financing of elections to limit outsize corporate influence in politics, prioritize small donors from within city limits and create a more fair and just campaign environment. Learn more
Our first step will be to reach out to Cook County, to find ways we can build and expand on Cook County Health’s mental health infrastructure and resources. Working together, we can provide good, accessible care while saving taxpayer money. Learn more
We must also implement the “Treatment Not Trauma” approach across our city, deploying mental health professionals rather than armed police officers to respond to mental health calls. Learn more
We also need mental health professionals and housing advocates with resources to house the homeless and treat those with mental illness by addressing root causes, instead of criminalizing poverty and creating tension between commuters and those harmed by systemic inequity. Learn more
As mayor, he will tackle inequality that leads to disparate health outcomes for working families, including bringing equity to citywide lead line replacement, expanding frontline workers in the Chicago Department of Public Health and creating a public fund to make home care a more accessible public service. Learn more
The status quo is unacceptable, and the people of our city deserve better. The bottom line is this: We need more housing for those at every income level, so that from public housing to affordable housing, Chicagoans can afford to stay in our city and raise families here. We need a City Hall that will “Bring Chicago Home,” delivering real funding to house the unhoused and combat homelessness. And we need a Chicago that keeps pathways to home ownership alive, so that Chicago’s homes aren’t all purchased by private equity firms and the wealthy few. Learn more
Brandon will work to make housing a human right in Chicago, which includes supporting the Bring Chicago Home ordinance to protect our 65,000+ unhoused, instituting stronger protections against evictions, passing the Real Estate Transfer Tax on multi-million dollar property sales and expanding the Affordable Requirements Ordinance. Learn more
Our public schools must be sanctuaries for all children by investing in dual language programs, ethnic studies and English as a Second Language (ESL). We must coordinate efforts with local communities with the infrastructure to support displaced immigrants and refugees, and coordinate efforts at all levels of government to provide humane conditions for everyone. Learn more
Brandon will work to strengthen Chicago’s CityKey program and fully resource services that support displaced immigrants arriving in our city. Learn more
We must reduce inefficienes in the Chicago Police Department to free up staffing to protect street vendors in Little Village from violence, and work with vendors throughout the city on streamlining the process to obtain Business Affairs and Consumer Protection licenses. Learn more
Chicago must lead with and live by the promise to be a sanctuary city and welcome immigrants and refugees, and treat them with dignity and respect. This sanctuary promise must extend to everyone who needs it in our city, and residents both old and new. Learn more
We also need to install well-designed, dedicated bike lanes, so that cyclists feel safe on our streets. By investing in viable alternatives to automobiles, we can reduce congestion and make getting around Chicago faster and more pleasant for everyone. Learn more
As mayor, I will also prioritize walking and biking as a public accommodation, ensuring that it is 1) integrated into the architecture of people-traffic with reimagined streetscapes that protect pedestrians and cyclists, and 2) a component of good health, neighborhoods with affordable housing, and access to jobs and schools. This includes reduced speed limits and automobile access in select areas of the city. Learn more
I will also support a rapid-response CDOT team and municipal sidewalk snow and ice removal program, and create car-free zones in communities to promote safe walkability and recreation for children. Learn more
We also need to install well-designed, dedicated bike lanes, so that cyclists feel safe on our streets. By investing in viable alternatives to automobiles, we can reduce congestion and make getting around Chicago faster and more pleasant for everyone. Learn more
We will need toaddress funding shortfalls for transit, but at the same time, we can be doing alot better with the resources we already have. I want to see the CTA as acustomer-focused agency with service frequency and reliability as the highestpriorities. As just oneexample, we need to create a citywide bus lane network and bus rapid transitsystem that gives buses priority over other traffic. Learn more
These investments include not just needed infrastructure but also investments in housing, health, mental health and child care. We also need investment in education and training to ensure that we can attract better jobs in growing industries, and that Chicagoans can hold those jobs. I will ramp up investments in these areas over four years to $1 billion per year, and pay for them by reducing unneeded and wasteful spending in other areas. Learn more
No one should be too poor to live in one of the richest cities in the world. As mayor, Brandon will work to make the wealthy pay their fair share and get our city’s budget priorities in order, just as he did as a teacher, organizer and Cook County commissioner. Learn more
We need to start by getting the city’s finances in order. For too long, including under the current mayor, we’ve been kicking the can down the road. The longer we do that, the worse the eventual cost will be and the longer we’ll have to keep paying off yesterday’s mistakes instead of making needed investments in a better tomorrow. I have a detailed plan to pay down our debts while ramping up needed investments. Learn more
We need to start by getting the city’s finances in order. For too long, including under the current mayor, we’ve been kicking the can down the road. The longer we do that, the worse the eventual cost will be and the longer we’ll have to keep paying off yesterday’s mistakes instead of making needed investments in a better tomorrow. I have a detailed plan to pay down our debts while ramping up needed investments. Learn more
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.