Chicago City Council will look a lot different this year following Tuesday’s runoff election — made up of many younger, more progressive alderpeople who will be working with Chicago’s Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.

According to Chicago Board of Elections data, there was a 32% increase from Feb. 28 to April 4 of votes cast by voters ages 18 to 24. Voters ages 25 to 34 increased their votership by 24%.

Chicago chooses Brandon Johnson for mayor. Turnover on the City Council. And former President Donald Trump battles indictment.

“Those who want to see our city divided, today this is a very clear day, an indication that those are the politics of old,” Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said Friday.

“We should put the right to choose on every ballot across the country in 2024 — not just with the candidates we choose, but with referendum efforts to enshrine reproductive rights in states where right-wing politicians are stripping those rights away,” Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker told CNN.

The proposed rule sends a political counterpunch toward a wave of Republican-led states that have sought to ban trans athletes from competing in school sports that align with their gender identities. If finalized, the proposal would become enshrined as a provision of Title IX, the landmark gender-equity legislation enacted in 1972.

Spending on the race topped $42 million, nearly triple the national record for a court race. Almost 40% of the state’s eligible voters cast a ballot, the highest turnout for a spring election that didn’t feature a presidential primary in 20 years.

There’s an effort to implement ranked choice voting in Illinois as early as the 2024 presidential primary. Proponents say ranked choice voting helps ensure representative outcomes; opponents say it’s confusing to voters.

The move is the latest development in a fight over historic preservation and courthouse security. The government has also been pushing to demolish the Century and Consumers buildings, two early 20th century skyscrapers located to the east of the Dirksen Federal Building.

The mayor-elect has just 41 days to set up his administration and prepare to tackle the myriad problems facing Chicago.

The report of the connection between Thomas and conservative businessman Harlan Crow is already adding to calls that Congress investigate potential ethical lapses. Key Senate Democrats were previously mulling using this year’s funding legislation for the Supreme Court to pressure the justices to adopt some sort of ethics code.

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.

Nearly a quarter of the city will get new political leadership in 2023, a result of an unprecedented exodus of veteran alderpeople that led to a generational shift in Chicago politics, with six Black, Latina and Asian American women replacing veteran City Council members, all of them men.

What if there were a different way? What if you could rank your choices in order of your preference? Well, there is a system like that and it’s already being used in some jurisdictions. It’s called ranked choice voting. It has its backers as well as detractors.

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. 

Nearly a quarter of the city will get new political leadership in 2023, a result of an unprecedented exodus of veteran alderpeople that will herald — along with the election of a new mayor — the start of a new era at City Hall.