Bernard Sanders is an American politician and activist who is the senior United States senator from Vermont. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, but maintains a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and sought the party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020.
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and diplomat currently serving as United States ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives for three terms from 2003 to 2009. He was the White House Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama and served as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019.
William Michael Daley is an American lawyer, politician and former banker who served as the 24th White House Chief of Staff from January 2011 to January 2012, under President Barack Obama. Prior to this, he served as the 32nd U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997 to 2000, under President Bill Clinton.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the fourth-largest school district in the United States, after New York, Los Angeles, and Miami-Dade County. For the 2023–24 school year, CPS reported overseeing 634 schools, including 477 elementary schools and 157 high schools; of which 514 were district-run, 111 were charter schools, 7 were contract schools and 2 were SAFE schools. The district serves 323,251 students. Chicago Public School students attend a particular school based on their area of residence, except for charter, magnet, and selective enrollment schools.
Forrest Edward Claypool is an American politician who has held several positions in the governments of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from July 27, 2015, until December 8, 2017. Previous offices held by Claypool include Superintendent of the Chicago Park District from 1993 to 1998, Chief of Staff to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and President of the Chicago Transit Authority. In 2007–2008, Claypool served as a key member of Barack Obama campaign's media team, in his capacity as a longtime partner of David Axelrod.
Paul Gust Vallas Sr. is an American politician and former education superintendent. He served as the superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut and the Recovery School District of Louisiana, the CEO of both the School District of Philadelphia and the Chicago Public Schools, and a budget director for the city of Chicago.
Paul James Finnegan is a Chicago-based investor and philanthropist. In 1992, he co-founded Madison Dearborn Partners and currently serves as the firm's co-CEO. From 2014 to 2023, served as the Treasurer of the Harvard Corporation and the Chair of the Harvard Management Company.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a labor union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians in the Chicago public school system. The union has advocated for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, and it has opposed efforts to vary teacher pay based on performance evaluations. It also called for improvements in the Chicago schools, and asserts that its activities benefit students as well as teachers.
Gery J. Chico is an American politician, lawyer, public official and former Democratic primary candidate for United States Senate from Chicago.
Jean-Claude Brizard is an American former school superintendent. He served as chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2011 to 2012. Directly before coming to Chicago, Brizard served as the superintendent of the Rochester City School District. Brizard is best known as an education reformer, a strong charter school advocate and a champion of labor reform, particularly in regards to limiting teacher tenure status. Brizard started his career as a teacher, then an administrator, in the New York School System. He now works part time as a consultant for education reform organizations in America but primarily focuses on raising his children.
Bridget Gainer is an American politician serving as a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners from the 10th district. She was appointed to the position in 2009.
Karen Lewis was an American educator and labor leader who served as president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Chicago's division of the American Federation of Teachers, from 2010 to 2014. For nearly 20 years before becoming president of the teachers union, she was a high school chemistry teacher.
An election took place on February 24, 2015, to elect the mayor of Chicago. The election was non-partisan and no candidate received a majority. A runoff election was held between the top two finishers on April 7, 2015, and resulted in the reelection of incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel. The elections were concurrent with the 2015 Chicago aldermanic elections.
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 murder of Laquan McDonald took place on October 20, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois. McDonald was a 17-year-old who was fatally shot by a Chicago Police Officer, Jason Van Dyke. Police had initially reported that McDonald was behaving erratically while walking down the street, refusing to put down a knife, and that he had lunged at officers. Preliminary internal police reports described the incident similarly, leading to the shooting being judged as justifiable, and Van Dyke not being charged at the time. This was later disproved after a video of the encounter was released, showing that McDonald was walking away.
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.
The 2019 Chicago Public Schools strike was a labor dispute between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union and the Service Employees International Union Local 73 that lasted 14 days. The strike began on October 17, 2019, when both unions failed to reach a contract agreement with Chicago Public Schools over compensation, benefits, staffing, wrap-around services such as counselors, nurses, and librarians, and caps on class sizes. On October 31, the strike officially ended when the mayor and the Chicago Teachers Union reached a tentative agreement allowing students to go back to class on November 1, 2019. The agreement included millions of dollars dedicated to reducing class sizes, hundreds more social workers, nurses and librarians, and a 16 percent salary increase over the coming five years, but did not achieve all the main goals of the unions.
Janice K. Jackson is an American educator, educational administrator and former schools superintendent. Jackson served as the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, the school district's superintendent position, from December 8, 2017, until June 30, 2021. Prior to her term as superintendent, Jackson was the chief education officer of the district.
