Politics
Election 2027 Begins: Candidates for Chicago Mayor, City Council Are Gathering Signatures Earlier Than Ever
Chicago voting booths are pictured in a 2023 file photo. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
Summer may still be in full swing, but candidates hoping to qualify for the Feb. 23 contest that will determine who will serve as Chicago’s mayor and on the City Council can start collecting signatures on nominating petitions on Tuesday.
This year’s mayoral and aldermanic contests started earlier than ever before thanks to a little-noticed change in state law that accelerated the timeline and may complicate efforts by candidates to run for more than one office at the same time.
Candidates will hit the street to gather thousands of autographs from registered voters a month earlier than aspiring candidates did four years ago, the last time all 50 alderpeople, the mayor, city clerk and city treasurer faced voters.
Also up for grabs will be all 66 seats on the city’s 22 Police District Councils.
Read more: Who Is Running, or Thinking About Running, to Become Chicago’s Next Mayor
A bill signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2024 moved up the deadline for candidates to qualify for elections by a month in most cases, giving elections officials more time to review petitions and decide challenges.
This upcoming municipal election is the first to have to meet those new rules, forcing candidates to end their summer vacations early to ensure they make it on the ballot.
Chicago law continues to give candidates 90 days to qualify for the ballot, requiring the earlier deadline, said Julie Metea, a spokesperson for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
“By moving up the window, the board is allowed more administrative time to process petitions, address ballot objections, conduct hearings for candidate petition objections, print ballots and manage ballot distributions,” Metea said.
Those who want to run for mayor, city clerk or city treasurer must submit no fewer than 12,500 signatures from registered Chicago voters.
Candidates for City Council must submit at least 473 signatures of registered voters from their wards, according to the rules.
Most serious candidates will submit three times that amount, to ensure their petitions can withstand the inevitable challenges filed by their opponents.
That means eager candidates — and their supporters — will flock to grocery store entrances, ‘L’ stations or other high-traffic areas, clipboards in hand, pleading with Chicagoans to help them qualify for the ballot.
The fruits of that labor will pay off starting at 9 a.m. Oct. 19, when candidates will line up in the Pedway outside the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners office.
Everyone in line when those doors finally open will be entered into a lottery to get the first slot on the ballot, which could give them an advantage in what promises to be a very crowded race.
The deadline for candidates to file nominating petitions is 5 p.m. Oct. 26 — and everyone in line at that moment will be entered into a lottery, which could give them an advantage in what promises to be a very crowded race.
That means U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley must formally ask Chicagoans to elect him as mayor just days before he asks some of those same voters to send him back to Congress for another two years to represent Illinois’ 5th Congressional District, which covers most of the city’s North Side.
Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias will face a similar conflict, if he runs for mayor as widely expected. On Nov. 3, Giannoulias will ask Illinois voters for another four-year term as secretary of state, facing Republican nominee Diane Harris. By then, Giannoulias could be in the thick of a bid for another position.
In addition, Cook County Board of Review Member George Cardenas’ is also seeking reelection on Nov. 3. He is unopposed. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, who has said she plans to run for mayor, is also running unopposed for reelection on Nov. 3.
That conflict prompted Comptroller Susana Mendoza not to run for reelection — allowing her to concentrate on her mayoral bid and avoid the criticism that helped doom her 2019 bid for mayor, which occurred as she ran for reelection as comptroller.
All objections must be filed by Nov. 2, and the ballot is scheduled to be certified by Dec. 17, records show.
In addition to filing a statement of candidacy with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, would-be mayors, clerks, treasurers and alderpeople must file a statement of economic interests with the Cook County Clerk and the Chicago Board of Ethics.
If they want to raise and spend more than $5,000 on their bid for office, candidates will also have to form a campaign committee with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Entrepreneur Joe Holberg loaned his campaign $400,000 on Dec. 26, which will allow all candidates to nearly unlimited amounts of cash for their campaigns.
The law is designed to even the playing field between wealthy candidates and those who cannot self-fund their campaigns by allowing them to raise bigger amounts from contributors.
State law limits individual donors to no more than a $7,300 contribution to a single campaign in most races. Businesses can contribute no more than $14,600 and political action committees are capped at $72,800, according to the rules.
Limits on campaign contributions imposed by city laws remain in place. Companies and people doing business with the city or its sister agencies are limited to contributing $1,500 to any one candidate per year, according to the city’s campaign finance ordinance.
Mail-in ballots are scheduled to be sent to voters on Jan. 14, the same day early voting is set to start.
Voters will finally have their say on Feb. 23 — unless no candidate gets 50% of the vote plus one. In that case, the top two candidates head to the runoff on April 6.
The new term for the mayor, city clerk, treasurer, all 50 members of the Chicago City Council and the members of the District Councils starts May 17.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
