Brandon Johnson addresses the media the morning after his election win on April 5, 2023. (WTTW News)
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Chicago voters rejected efforts by moderate Democrats and Republicans to turn Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s support for criminal justice reform into a fatal liability.

Brandon Johnson celebrates after winning the Chicago mayoral election on April 4, 2023. (WTTW News)

In his victory speech, Brandon Johnson emphasized the importance of coalition in his campain and pointed toward the need to continue building coalitions across the city moving forward. He appealed to those who did not vote for him and promised to work together. 

A resident in the 40th Ward gathers their documentation as they prepare to vote in the April 4 Chicago runoff election at the Budlong Woods Library polling location. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

Voter turnout sat at 33.2% when polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with 530,382 ballots cast, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. That's compared to 32.1% turnout for the Feb. 28 election.

(WTTW News)

Chicago will elect a new mayor and voters in 14 wards will also elect a new alderperson to the Chicago City Council. 

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson are traveling across the city in the final days of the campaign. (WTTW News)

Both Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas will spend the final days of what is expected to be the closest election in Chicago history scrambling for any possible advantage – and trying to make sure their supporters cast a ballot.

(WTTW News)

Polls show Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, and Paul Vallas, the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, running neck and neck with a large portion of voters undecided.

(WTTW News)
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The next mayor will face a number of education hurdles, including the transition to an elected school board, a new teachers union contract, securing school funding and the end of a moratorium on school closures.

(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
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The only violence people wanted to hear about was the harm being done to their health due to decades of pollution from surrounding industries.

Mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas made their case to voters at a packed forum held in Pilsen, and the words “crime” and “police” didn't come up once.

(WTTW News)
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The independent expenditure funded by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, paid for $258,000 in cable television advertisements on March 16 and $359,000 in digital advertising on March 15, records show. 

Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas. (Provided)
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Much of the focus has been on the mayoral candidates’ public safety plans, but whoever emerges victorious on April 4 will also inherit environmental and climate-related challenges.

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will compete in the mayoral runoff. (WTTW)

The race for Chicago mayor enters its final stretch. Political speechwriter, debate strategist and senior lecturer at Northwestern University Jason DeSanto breaks down the latest developments in a tightening race.

Paul Vallas fields questions from the news media on Feb. 7, 2023, after the WTTW News mayoral forum. (Liz Markel / WTTW)

Efforts by the leaders of large cities across the country to bring back officers amid a nationwide staffing crunch have fallen short, and experts on policing told WTTW News there is no evidence that Chicago will prove to be any different.

(WTTW News)
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An elected school board. A new teachers union contract. The end of a moratorium on school closures. Those are among the biggest education hurdles Chicago’s next mayor will have to navigate over the next four years

Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas face off in a debate hosted by WGN-TV. (WTTW News)

The race for Chicago mayor continues to focus nearly entirely on the crime and violence that both candidates agree threaten the city’s economic vitality. They offered wildly different solutions to the seemingly intractable problem.

U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García appears on Chicago Tonight” on Nov. 22, 2022. (WTTW News)

Jesús “Chuy” García’s endorsement is designed to unite the city’s progressives behind Brandon Johnson, a critical part of Johnson’s path to defeating Paul Vallas, who has consolidated Chicago’s conservative political establishment under his banner.

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will compete in the mayoral runoff. (WTTW)

Sanders said he backed Johnson because the Cook County commissioner “understands the struggle of working people.”