Willie Wilson, Ja’Mal Green, state Rep. Kam Buckner, Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson and Ald. Sophia King (4th Ward) all filed to run for mayor of Chicago.

A wide-ranging and still-growing field of challengers are seeking to deny incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot a second term in February 2023. 

The last time Chicago voters passed a binding referendum that applied to the entire city was 1885, according to city records. As supporters’ paths to the ballot have been nearly closed off, they have begun shifting the fight to the 2023 campaign for mayor and City Council.

Austin, 73, pleaded not guilty to charges that she accepted bribes from a developer and lied to FBI agents. Indicted in July 2021, Austin has never appeared in person before Judge John Kness because of her ill health and restrictions put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19. 

The former governor said he will instead focus on reform efforts designed to expand the initiative effort. Instead, Quinn said he would focus on efforts to beef up the ability of voters to reform Illinois government through the initiative and referendum process.

The applicants include Anabel Abarca, Ald. George Cardenas’ former chief of staff and a candidate in the Feb. 28 election.

Lightfoot formally introduced a proposal on Wednesday to the Chicago City Council to create a new tax-increment financing district along the southern branch of the CTA Red Line to fund the extension of the train line first envisioned by former Mayor Richard J. Daley in the 1950s. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially opposed efforts by members of the City Council to require the heads of the city’s sister agencies to answer questions from the City Council but dropped her objections Wednesday. 

Dozens of Chicagoans who waited hours to get their turn to address the Chicago City Council were prevented from speaking because a majority of the Chicago City Council attended Monday's special meeting.

The 90,000-member union that represents hospital, nursing home, home care and child care workers throughout the Midwest backed Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, four days after U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García entered the race for mayor, scrambling the contest.

Supporters of the proposal say the change will help the nearly 66,000 Chicagoans who are unhoused by generating approximately $160 million annually.

Ten major candidates have already launched campaigns to deny Mayor Lori Lightfoot a second term. 

The Chicago City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted 4-10 to reject the proposal introduced by Alds. Maria Hadden (49th Ward) and Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) eight months ago.

In a video posted early Thursday morning, García said he was running for mayor because “Chicagoans are calling out for help” after suffering though a pandemic and experiencing a “racial reckoning that underscored our painful history of inequity.”

Pedro Martinez, appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in September 2021 to lead the Chicago Public Schools, has never answered questions during a City Council meeting.

Dian Palmer, the president of SEIU Local 73, said Johnson was the “progressive candidate who will unite a multiracial, working-class coalition to unify Chicago into a city that works for all people.”