The victory was a coup for Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who urged national Democrats to pick Chicago, even though Illinois has not been a true swing state for more than a generation.

It’s now the job of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability to lead a search and to nominate three police superintendent candidates for Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson to consider.

While the Chicago State strike continues, faculty and staff at south suburban Governors State University are preparing to go on strike and instructors at Eastern Illinois University continue a work stoppage that began last week.

“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.

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

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.

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. 

Voter turnout sat at 33.2% when polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with 530,382 ballots cast, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. That's compared to 32.1% turnout for the Feb. 28 election.

Chicago will elect a new mayor and voters in 14 wards will also elect a new alderperson to the Chicago City Council. 

Both Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas will spend the final days of what is expected to be the closest election in Chicago history scrambling for any possible advantage – and trying to make sure their supporters cast a ballot.

A group of teachers has filed legal action against the CTU, alleging union leaders are wrongly spending dues money on political organizations supporting Brandon Johnson for mayor. They said it’s not about politics, but about their contention that their own union has deceived them.

Polls show Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, and Paul Vallas, the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, running neck and neck with a large portion of voters undecided.

The next mayor will face a number of education hurdles, including the transition to an elected school board, a new teachers union contract, securing school funding and the end of a moratorium on school closures.

Mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas made their case to voters at a packed forum held in Pilsen, and the words “crime” and “police” didn't come up once.

The independent expenditure funded by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, paid for $258,000 in cable television advertisements on March 16 and $359,000 in digital advertising on March 15, records show. 

Much of the focus has been on the mayoral candidates’ public safety plans, but whoever emerges victorious on April 4 will also inherit environmental and climate-related challenges.