The Latest Breaking News from the Chicago Teachers Union

CHICAGO — After beating eight other candidates to become Chicago’s next mayor, buoyed by more than $2 million in support from the Chicago Teachers Union, Brandon Johnson will take the helm of Chicago Public Schools with his inauguration May 15 — embarking on a four-year term that will see Illinois’…

In its election Tuesday of Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson as its 57th mayor, Chicago chose an inspiring orator. This will be a City Hall first for most Chicagoans.

The union "has an outsized impact on working families who have no other choice on where to send their children...that power, combined with a mayor who is essentially a wholly owned subsidiary, would make them a dangerous force," says one former Chicago Public Schools executive.

“Chicago, how the heck are you?” Johnson called out, upon taking the stage at the Grand Horizon Ballroom, 2121 S. Prairie Ave., to claim victory. “Tonight is the gateway to a new future for our city.”

Six candidates were competing in the runoff to replace retiring Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th) and Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st).

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“Our downtown is half-vacant, a ghost town in the middle of the workweek. Our schools have lost a year of learning or more. Test scores have plummeted. Every public agency is facing a financial cliff,” Vallas told the City Club of Chicago.

Four community leaders vie for City Council seats left open by the departures of longtime alderpersons Sawyer and Brookins.

Mayoral challenger Paul Vallas said the CTU is behind the bogus lawn signs popping up around the city. The Vallas for Mayor signs include a red box that says, “MAGA 2024,” invoking the Trump slogan, “Make America Great Again.”