The race for Chicago mayor enters its final stretch. Political speechwriter, debate strategist and senior lecturer at Northwestern University Jason DeSanto breaks down the latest developments in a tightening race.

Efforts by the leaders of large cities across the country to bring back officers amid a nationwide staffing crunch have fallen short, and experts on policing told WTTW News there is no evidence that Chicago will prove to be any different.

An elected school board. A new teachers union contract. The end of a moratorium on school closures. Those are among the biggest education hurdles Chicago’s next mayor will have to navigate over the next four years

The race for Chicago mayor continues to focus nearly entirely on the crime and violence that both candidates agree threaten the city’s economic vitality. They offered wildly different solutions to the seemingly intractable problem.

Jesús “Chuy” García’s endorsement is designed to unite the city’s progressives behind Brandon Johnson, a critical part of Johnson’s path to defeating Paul Vallas, who has consolidated Chicago’s conservative political establishment under his banner.

Sanders said he backed Johnson because the Cook County commissioner “understands the struggle of working people.”

The voters of Chicago have spoken, and the message is loud and clear: The next mayor needs new strategies to reduce crime. The two contenders for Chicago’s mayoral runoff, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson, have differing views on how to address crime and violence.

SEIU Local 1, which represents 45,000 janitors, security officers, airport workers, home care workers and window washers, is the first major labor organization to back a candidate for mayor after the Feb. 28 election. 

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson can now raise nearly unlimited amounts of cash for their mayoral campaigns, after Vallas loaned his own campaign $100,100 two days after advancing to the April 4 runoff.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for reelection Tuesday. Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas are now headed to an April 4 runoff election. Our politics team weighs in on that story and more.

Chicago mayoral candidates Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson are off to the races with little more than a month before the April 4 runoff election. Johnson joined “Chicago Tonight” Wednesday for a one-on-one conversation. 

Lori Lightfoot’s bid for a second term as Chicago mayor has come to an end, as former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson lead in the race for Chicago mayor, according to early returns.

Facing eight challengers, it is unlikely Mayor Lori Lightfoot — or anyone else, for that matter — will win more than 50% of the vote. That means the top two finishers Tuesday night are likely headed to an April 4 runoff.

While polling on the Chicago mayoral race has been somewhat inconsistent, what appears clear from multiple polls is that incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot and challengers Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson and U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García have pulled clear from the pack.

The Chicago Teachers Union is under fire from within, and the union has been forced to make changes to its election filings or risk violating state law. The union has been front and center with its support of one of its own, Brandon Johnson, as a candidate for Chicago mayor. The big bucks and election actions are now causing some CTU members to speak out.

In an appearance after casting her ballot, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she believed the Feb. 28 mayoral contest had narrowed to a two-person race between her and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas.