Chicago currently holds regularly-scheduled mayoral elections once every four years, in years prior to a presidential election.
Beginning with its 1999 mayoral election, Chicago has used a nonpartisan two-round system. Under this system, if no candidate secures an outright majority of the first-round vote a runoff will be held between the top-two finishers. No runoff is held if a candidate has secured an outright majority in the first round. Thus far, three elections (2015, 2019, 2023) have necessitated a runoff.
Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833. At that point it was governed by a board of trustees who were elected annually at large and elected a president from among themselves. Chicago's incorporation as a city in 1837 eliminated such a model in favor of a common council elected from wards and a separate office of mayor who was elected at large.[1]
From 1838 through 1860, mayoral elections were held on the first Tuesday of March.[2] From 1861 through 1867 they were held on the first Monday in April.[2] From 1869 through 1875 they were held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.[3] After 1876, they were held on the first Tuesday of April.[4]
An act passed on March 4, 1837, had required that voters in municipal elections would need to be residents of the wards in which they voted and must be freeholders. An act passed on March 1, 1841, removed the requirement that voters be freeholders.[3] Under the law of 1849-50 requirements were added, mandating (at the time) that voters reside in the town where they voted and must have lived in the state of Illinois for at least a year.[3]
In 1875, the election guidelines outlined in the original city charter were abandoned in favor of those outlined in the Cities and Villages Act of 1872, which changed the date of mayoral elections (mandating that they be scheduled for the last Tuesday in April of odd-numbered years).[4] Ambiguity concerning the effect this would have on the scheduling of the next election led to the April 1876 election that was later considered by the courts to be null and void.[4][3] In addition, the mayoral term length (which up to this point had been one year) was extended by the 1872 Act to two years. Term length was subsequently further extended to four years in 1907.[5]
In time for the 1911 election the Illinois legislature passed a law which scheduled Chicago mayoral party primaries for the last Tuesday of February.[6]
On June 26, 1913, Illinois became the first state east of the Mississippi River to grant women's suffrage.[7]1915 was the first Chicago mayoral election to be held following this change.[8]
Since 1935, elections to the Chicago City Council (which were extended to four years) have coincided with all regularly-scheduled mayoral elections.[1]
The 1995 election was the final mayoral election to be partisan. Beginning in 1999, elections have taken place on a non-partisan basis, with a system requiring that a candidate obtain a majority of the vote (if no candidate achieves this in the initial vote, a runoff is held between the top-two finishers).[6] Under this new system, the initial round of voting is held on the last Tuesday of February (when party primaries were formerly scheduled),[6] with any runoff taking place in April.[6]
Additionally, the change in election laws that took effect for the 1999 election raised the number of signatures required for candidates to be included on the ballot from 3,000 to 25,000.[9] This requirement, however, was halved to 12,500 before the 2007 election.[9]
Term length
There is not currently, nor has there ever been, a term limit on the mayoralty of Chicago. Terms were originally one year in length before being extended to two years in 1875 by the Cities and Villages Act of 1872.[4][3] Term length was subsequently further extended to four years in 1907.[5]
Years
Term length
1837−1875
1 year
1875−1907
2 years
1907−present
4 years
Current election laws
There are no term limits for Chicago's mayoral office.
Chicago's mayoral elections are currently nonpartisan. A candidate receiving a majority of votes cast will be declared elected. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff election will be held between the two candidates who received the highest and second highest number of votes in the first round.[10] The initial round of voting takes place on the last Tuesday of February, and any runoff takes place in April.[6]
Mayoral candidates must be a registered voter who has resided in the City of Chicago for at least one year before the date of the election.[10]
Individuals will be barred from taking office if, at the time required for them to take the oath of office, they are in arrears in the payment of tax or other indebtedness due to the City of Chicago.[10] They will also be unable to take office if they have been convicted in any United States court of any infamous crime, bribery, perjury, or other felony.[10]
A term of office lasts four years, from the third Monday in May until a successor is elected and qualified to assume office.[10]
In order to be included on the ballot candidates must submit 12,500 valid signatures.[10] Signatures cannot be collected more than four months in advance of the submission of a candidate's petition.[10] Individuals are not permitted to sign multiple candidates' petitions, they may sign only a single mayoral candidate's petition.[10][11]
Any candidate may have their petition challenged.[10] Those candidates with properly-filed challenges against their petitions will have their candidature subjected to hearings and procedures which will to assess the validity of their petitions.[10]
If any candidate fails to file a statement of economic interests within five days of having their petition certified, then their certification will be revoked.[10]
Write-in candidates must file a notarized declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate by a deadline.[10][12] An extended deadline to do this is allotted to candidates whose petitions were rejected after this deadline due to the outcome of a challenge.[10]
The order in which the candidates are listed on ballots is determined by the order in which their petitions were received (with those received earlier listed first and those received later being listed last).[10] Lotteries are held to resolve instances in which petitions which were received simultaneously.[10] The ballots of all candidates who were waiting in line to submit their petitions at 9:00a.m. on the first day for petition filing will be deemed as having simultaneously filed at 9:00a.m. They will be the first candidates listed, with a lottery being held to determine their order.[10] Similarly, all candidates that filed within the last hour of the filing deadline will be deemed to have filed simultaneously. They will be the last candidates listed, and a lottery will be held to determine their order.[10]
Candidates
Demographics
All but three of the individuals that have been elected mayor of Chicago have been Caucasian (the exceptions being African-American mayors Harold Washington, Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Johnson). Additionally, all but two of the individuals that have been elected mayor of Chicago have been male (the exceptions being Jane Byrne and Lori Lightfoot).
The 2019 election made history not just by electing Chicago's first Black woman as mayor, but by having two African American women candidates, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle, be the ones to advance to the runoff. Additionally, a record eleven African American candidates filed to run in the 2019 election (Conrien Hykes Clark, Dorothy Brown, Amara Enyia, La Shawn Ford, Ja'Mal Green, Neal Sales-Griffin, Lori Lightfoot, Sandra Mallory, Toni Preckwinkle, Roger L. Washington, Willie Wilson).[15] William "Dock" Walls and Troy LaRaviere had also been candidates in that election, but dropped out without officially filing petitions.
In the 2023 Chicago mayoral election, seven of the nine candidates on the ballot are Black (with one remaining candidate being Latino and the other being White).[22]
Asian Pacific American candidates
No Asian Pacific American has either been elected or otherwise served as mayor of Chicago[23] One Asian Pacific American candidate ran in the 2019 mayoral election, (Neal Sales-Griffin[24])
No Hispanic individual has either been elected or otherwise served as mayor of Chicago The first "hispanic" (Mexican/Native American) to run for mayor was former 25th Ward Alderman and Illinois State Representative, Attorney Juan M. Soliz.[23][27] Several Hispanic candidates have unsuccessfully sought election as mayor in the past including William E. Rodriguez in 1911; Gery Chico and Miguel del Valle in 2011; Jesús "Chuy" García in 2015; Gery Chico, Neal Sales-Griffin,[24][28] and Susana Mendoza in 2019.
1983 Rahm Emanuel is the only Jew to have been elected mayor. No Jews have otherwise served as mayor[33] Jews who had unsuccessfully sought election as mayor prior to Emanuel's first successful campaign in 2011 include William Singer in 1975 and Bernard Epton[34] in 1983.
LGBT candidates
No openly LGBT individual had previously been elected or otherwise served as mayor of Chicago before 2019. In 2019, Lori Lightfoot became the first openly lesbian mayor in Chicago history[35]
Women candidates
Jane Byrne and Lori Lightfoot are the only women to have been elected mayor of Chicago. No woman has otherwise served as Mayor of Chicago
Women who had unsuccessfully sought election as mayor prior to Byrne's successful campaign in 1979 include Grace Gray in 1935 (the first woman ever to file to run for mayor of Chicago)[36] and Willie Mae Reid in 1975
Among the notable unsuccessful mayoral contenders who were foreign born was 2015 runner-up Jesús "Chuy" García and 1899 independent candidate (and unsuccessful 1901 contender for the Democratic nomination) John Peter Altgeld.
Familial relations
Over the years there have been a number of familial relations between elected mayors, as well as between mayoral candidates.
The Daley family has had a strong presence in Chicago mayoral politics. Richard J. Daley and his son Richard M. Daley both served as mayor. Richard J. Daley's son (and Richard M. Daley's brother) William Daley unsuccessfully ran in the 2019 mayoral election, finishing third in the first round of voting.
While write-in candidates have been permitted, none have achieved much success in general elections. The only arguable exception to this is Thomas Hoyne, who ran a write in campaign in the disputed April 1876 election that courts ruled invalid.
Under Chicago's previous partisan election system, write-in candidates were allowed in party primaries as well as the general election. Ed Vrdolyak won the 1989 Republican primary as a write-in candidate.
Number of candidates on ballot
The following graph and table provide information regarding the number of candidates who participated in each election. The graph and table only consider candidates that were listed on the ballot/ticket (thus, write-in candidates are not counted). It also excludes any candidates for which all votes were counted as "invalid".
For partisan elections (those held up through 1995), the number of candidates represented are those on the general election ballot. For elections held under Chicago's current (nonpartisan) system (first implemented in 1999), the following graph and table represents the number of candidates in the initial round (February election).
The 2019 election saw a record 14 candidates on the ballot.
Number of candidates by election
The following table lists the elections in which specific numbers of candidates ran.
Starting with the 1999 election, all Chicago mayoral elections are nonpartisan. Additionally, a second-round (runoff) is held when no candidate reaches a majority in the initial vote.
A number of individuals have been elected by a vote aldermen to fill mayoral vacancies, either as acting or interim mayor.
Lester L. Bond (1873)
On August 18, 1873 Lester L. Bond was appointed as the first "acting mayor" in the city's history.[117][26]
Incumbent mayor Joseph Medill, per city charter, informed the council that he planned to be absent from the city for an unspecified length of time "requiring the City Council to appoint an 'Acting Mayor' to serve during my absence"[26]
The same day, the City Council held a narrow vote to appoint Bond, alderman from the Tenth Ward, to this post.[26]
Bond was sworn in as Acting Mayor on August 22.[117]
Medill ultimately did not return until after the remainder of his term had passed, leaving Bond to serve out the rest of his term.[26]
On March 14, 1933, Frank J. Corr was elected mayor pro tempore by the city council following the assassination of Anton Cermak.[119][120][121] Corr had been chosen by Chicago Democratic bossPatrick Nash, who believed Corr to be neither charismatic nor ambitious, and thus an ideal individual to reliably serve as a placeholder.[120]
Corr was sworn in on March 16.[119] He resigned on April 13 after serving for 29 days.[119]
The election came after a brief power dispute. City Council President Pro-Tempure Wilson Frost had declared himself to be acting mayor following Daley's death (which would have made him the first African American to serve as the city's mayor).[123] However, City Corporation Counsel William R. Quinlan disputed this, ruling that, since the city did not have a statute specifically outlining succession, the city council would need to elect the interim mayor.[123]
The result of the City Council vote, effectively a yay or nay vote on appointing Bilandic, was as follows:[124]
In support of Bilandic: 45 (93.75%) Rejecting Bilandic: 2 (4.17%) Abstaining: 1 (2.08%)
The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and recommendations to the Chicago City Council, is active in the enforcement of the city's ordinances, submits the city's annual budget and appoints city officers, department commissioners or directors, and members of city boards and commissions.
Michael Anthony Bilandic was an American Democratic politician and attorney who served as the 49th mayor of Chicago from 1976 to 1979, after the death of his predecessor, Richard J. Daley. Bilandic practiced law in Chicago for several years, having graduated from the DePaul University College of Law. Bilandic served as an alderman in Chicago City Council, representing the eleventh ward on the south-west side from June 1969 until he began his tenure as mayor in December 1976. After his mayoralty, Bilandic served as chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court from 1994 to 1997.
Thomas M. Tunney is an American politician and entrepreneur from Chicago, Illinois. From 2003 to 2023, he served as an alderman on the Chicago City Council. He represented the 44th Ward of the city, which includes major tourist destinations, Northalsted and Wrigleyville neighborhoods. He was also vice mayor from 2019 to 2023.
Susana A. Mendoza is an American politician. She is the 10th comptroller of Illinois, serving since December 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, she formerly served as Chicago city clerk and as an Illinois State Representative, representing the 1st District of Illinois.
Toni Lynn Preckwinkle is an American politician and the current County Board president in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was elected to her first term as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the executive branch of Cook County government, in November 2010, becoming the first woman elected to that position.
The Chicago mayoral election of 1995 resulted in the re-election of Democratic Party nominee incumbent Richard M. Daley over independent candidate Roland Burris, with 359,466 votes to Burris's 217,024. Daley won 60.1% of the total vote, winning by a landslide 24-point margin. The Republican candidate, Raymond Wardingley, fared poorly with only 2.8% of the vote. A fourth-place candidate, Harold Washington Party nominee Lawrence Redmond, won 0.9% of the votes.
The Chicago mayoral election of 1989 saw Democratic nominee Richard M. Daley win election to the remainder of an unexpired mayoral term with a 14% margin of victory. This marked a return for the Daley family to the office of mayor. Daley was elected over Alderman Timothy Evans, the nominee of the newly formed Harold Washington Party, and the Republican nominee Ed Vrdolyak.
Jesús G. "Chuy" García is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 4th district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, as well as in the Illinois Senate and on the Chicago City Council before his election to Congress. He was also a candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2015 and 2023. Throughout his career in Chicago and national politics, he has been described as a progressive.
Willie Wilson is an American businessman and perennial political candidate from Chicago, Illinois. He unsuccessfully ran in the 2015, 2019, and 2023 Chicago mayoral elections, the 2016 United States presidential election, and for the United States Senate in 2020.
The Chicago mayoral election of 1977 was a special election held on June 7, 1977, to complete the remainder of the unexpired mayoral term of Richard J. Daley who died of a heart attack in December 1976. The election saw Interim Mayor Michael A. Bilandic win the election. Bliandic defeated Republican city council member Dennis H. Block by a landslide 56% margin.
The 2019 Chicago mayoral election was held on February 26, 2019, to determine the next Mayor of the City of Chicago, Illinois. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election was held on April 2, 2019, between the two candidates with the most votes, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle. Lightfoot defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff election to become mayor, and was sworn in as mayor on May 20, 2019.
The 2019 Chicago elections took place in two rounds on February 26, 2019, and April 2, 2019. Elections were held for Mayor of Chicago, City Clerk of Chicago, City Treasurer of Chicago, and all 50 members of the Chicago City Council. The candidates who won in these elections were inaugurated on May 20, 2019. Four ballot referendums were also voted on in certain precincts. The elections were administered by the Chicago Board of Elections.
Lori Elaine Lightfoot is an American politician and attorney who was the 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown and held various government positions in Chicago. She served as president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. In 2019, Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election for Chicago mayor. She ran again in 2023 but failed to qualify for the runoff, becoming the city's first incumbent mayor to not be reelected since Jane Byrne in 1983.
The Chicago mayoral election of 1975 was held on April 1, 1975. Democratic Party incumbent Richard J. Daley was elected to a record sixth term as mayor by a landslide 59% margin over Republican nominee John J. Hoellen Jr. Only one other individual has since matched Daley's feat of winning six Chicago mayoral elections. This was the first Chicago mayoral election since the ratification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
In the Chicago mayoral election of 1935, incumbent Interim Mayor Edward J. Kelly defeated Republican Emil C. Wetten and independent candidate Newton Jenkins by a landslide 60% margin of victory.
The 2019 Chicago aldermanic election took place in two rounds on February 26 and April 2, 2019, to elect 50 aldermen to the Chicago City Council. Each alderman represents one of Chicago's 50 wards. The elections are non-partisan and use a two-round system where the top two finishers compete in a second-round run-off if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round. The elections were party of the 2019 Chicago elections, which included elections for Mayor, City Clerk, City Treasurer.
The 2023 Chicago mayoral election was held on February 28, 2023, to elect the mayor of Chicago, Illinois. With no candidate receiving a majority of votes in the initial round of the election, a runoff election was held on April 4. This two-round election took place alongside other 2023 Chicago elections, including races for City Council, city clerk, city treasurer, and police district councils. The election was officially nonpartisan, with winner Brandon Johnson being elected to a four-year term which began on May 15.
Dick Weldon Simpson is an American professor, author, politician, activist, political consultant, and filmmaker who formerly served as a Chicago alderman from 1971 through 1979.
The 2023 Chicago aldermanic election took place in two rounds on February 28 and April 4, 2023, to elect 50 alderpersons to the Chicago City Council. Each alderperson represents one of Chicago's 50 wards. The elections are non-partisan and use a two-round system where the top two finishers compete in a second-round runoff if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round. The elections are part of the 2023 Chicago elections, which include elections for Mayor, City Clerk, and City Treasurer.
Ja'Mal Green is an American community activist from Chicago, Illinois. A Black Lives Matter activist, he was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2019 and 2023.
↑ Biography of Elihu Benjamin Washburne Congressman, Secretary of State, Envoy Extraordinary: Volume Six: Remaining Years in France as American Minister by Mark Washburne, Oct 14, 2016
1 2 Elections – City of Chicago – April 5th, 1927. The Board of Elections of Chicago (and ex officio that of the Town of Chicago Heights, the Town of Cicero and the Village of Summit). 5 April 1927.
1 2 History of Chicago, Illinois: Pre-historic agencies; Rise and fall of French dominion; First permanent settlement; The massacre; Rudimentary by John Moses, Munsell & Company, 1895
1 2 Goodspeed, Weston A. (Feb 6, 2017). History of Cook County, Illinois – Being a General Survey of Cook County History, Including a Condensed History of Chicago and Special Account of Districts Outside the City Limits; from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time Volume I. Jazzybee Verlag. p.132.
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