In his concession speech, former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas pointed out that “the city is deeply divided.” About 49% of Chicago voters picked Vallas over Brandon Johnson in a narrow election.
Now, Johnson has to find a way to bring those voters into the fold. He has vowed to “build a safer, stronger Chicago that reflects the hopes and dreams of every one of us — together.”
Instead of dwelling on ideological differences, it will be important in the coming days and weeks to examine how Johnson wants to govern the city. We must measure those plans against what needs fixing and the divergent opinions on the best ways to do the fixing. Johnson’s victory is thanks in large part to the grassroots and financial support he got from the Chicago Teachers Union, for whom he has worked as a progressive organizer. Even though Vallas had more money, as Chicago magazine writer Ted McClelland put it, “Johnson’s volunteers treated his candidacy as a crusade.”
As one commentator told Politico, the union now has “a mayor who is essentially a wholly owned subsidiary” to advocate for its interests. But Johnson said many times on the campaign trail that he was running to be mayor “for all of the city of Chicago” — not just for CTU. Now he should be expected to prove it.
Here are a few ways he could start right away.
Journalists noted repeatedly on the campaign trail that if Johnson won, the union would be negotiating its contracts with one of its own. Both by law and with Johnson on the other side of the bargaining table, CTU has the power to make bold demands — and taxpayers worry they may not have a voice. The current CTU contract already is costing Chicagoans $1.5 billion over five years.
Johnson’s relationship with the union means he should also know how to navigate saying “no” to his former employers in the best interests of his new ones. He will serve Chicago better if he says “no” to demands that will drive up Chicagoans’ property taxes — something Johnson has pledged to avoid as mayor. (It’s worth remembering that just weeks before the election, nearly 70% of Chicagoans polled by the Illinois Policy Institute supported a property tax freeze.)
But he has embraced other new taxes. Johnson’s tax plan includes $800 million worth of new or revived taxes, including many on businesses in a city having trouble keeping them. In a poll of 800 registered Chicago voters conducted by Echelon Insights for the Illinois Policy Institute, the majority of respondents, 52%, said they did not want the city to raise taxes on businesses. Only 29% of Chicagoans polled said they would support raising business taxes.
According to the same polling, the majority of Chicagoans want to stay here. Still, a concerning 34% of respondents said they want to leave, citing “taxes or affordability” among the top reasons for their response. The overwhelming majority of those who would leave, 85%, said crime was their chief reason.
Pushing the kind of progressive agenda CTU has championed for 13 years would go against the more moderate approach many Chicagoans, including nearly half of runoff voters, have said they support.
A more flexible approach would prove to the whole city that Johnson wants to serve all of Chicago, not just CTU and its allies.
Some who opposed Johnson’s ideas said they’re heading for the exits. Not me. I’m buying a house. I won’t stop championing the policy ideas I believe in, just like I won’t stop cheering for our leaders to succeed and do what’s right for our city.
Matt Paprocki is president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, a free market think tank based in Chicago.
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