With two weeks to go before mayoral candidates can start circulating petitions to get on the ballot, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s fundraising war chest does not resemble an incumbent ready to defend his seat.
Johnson ended the second quarter with just $631,309 in his political fund after spending more than he raised, according to state campaign finance reports that were due Wednesday evening.
Johnson spent $290,437 from the start of April to the end of June but only raised $108,621, campaign finance records show.
Given that he started last quarter with an already wanting arsenal of $813,125 in available funds, that places the freshman mayor closer to the lower end of the mayoral pack among expected or declared hopefuls in the 2027 mayor’s race.
It’s an unusual position compared to how his predecessors had maintained their coffers at this point before seeking reelection. Lori Lightfoot had $2.5 million on hand by the middle of 2022, while Rahm Emanuel had $8.3 million midway through 2014.
But don’t count him out yet, Johnson warned reporters on Wednesday.
“Look, every campaign that I ran, I won,” the mayor said when asked about his paltry campaign fund. “So my confidence will always remain strong.”
Sitting above him on fundraising hauls are Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, lobbyist John Kelly, Illinois comptroller Susana Mendoza and entrepreneur Joe Holberg.
Only U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas had a lower balance than Johnson.
Like the mayor, Giannoulias has not yet announced a mayoral campaign. But his whopping $21.8 million cash on hand as he runs for another term in his state office this November and regular opining on City Hall issues suggest the Democrat has his sights on grander ambitions than an upcoming general election widely seen as uncompetitive.
Giannoulias began last quarter with $18.3 million on hand. He raised $3.6 million and spent $106,324, leaving his campaign fund as the most flush by far among potential 2027 candidates.
He received $500,000 from Chicago real estate and casino magnate Neil Bluhm and another $300,000 from Bluhm’s firm, JMB Realty, plus $200,000 from Bluhm’s son, Andrew, the founder of the management firm Delaware Street Capital. Liz Lefkofsky, philanthropist and wife of tech entrepreneur Eric Lefkofsky, also gave Giannoulias $500,000.
The mayor, meanwhile, took in some funds from out of state, including $7,000 from California-based philanthropist and Democratic donors Karla Jurvetson, Atlanta-based fast food entrepreneur Mack Wilbourn and Atlanta based NIL law group. Ta Juana Tang, the founder of the construction coordination firm Tandem Partners, gave $10,000. He raked in some smaller sums from Teamsters local unions.
Johnson’s political spokesperson Christian Perry said the out-of-state checks are by design.
The mayor is hoping to harness both the energy from Black people across America who want to protect their representation in leadership posts and from the national progressive movement that has recently notched electoral successes in other cities. Johnson plans to head to Memphis for a fundraiser with the National Black Teamsters next week, then to Atlanta the week after that for the Democratic Mayors Association, where he will also host an event with donors, Perry said.
Kelly, a lobbyist for Bally’s Casino and other clients, is sitting on the second-largest fund after Giannoulias. He received some $600,000 in loans on top of about $940,000 in contributions, according to his finance report. The loans came from his own security firm, Sentinel Security, which he runs with Jerry Reinsdorf; NPSG Global, a Marietta-based warehouse automation and retrofitting company; and Jean Keeley, the head of her own construction firm.
Kelly received 72 individual contributions for the quarter. The biggest was $250,000 from Michael Brennan, owner of industrial real estate firm Brennan Investment Group.
Mendoza, a former candidate in the 2019 mayoral race, had the third-highest total at $1.6 million at the end of June. That’s largely unchanged from where she started last quarter, though she spent slightly more than she raised.
Candidates can begin circulating nominating petitions on July 28 before the mid-October filing deadline.
Should he run again, Johnson will face a tough road. A University of Chicago poll conducted of city residents last month found only 13.6% of respondents want to see him seek another term, and 23% approve of his job as mayor. Of nine total names floated to the likely voters, Johnson also had the most unfavorables, per the survey that did not exclusively include registered voters.
Asked about him being a candidate next year, 58.5% of respondents said they were “not excited,” while 29.7% said they were excited. He placed fifth on the latter metric, trailing Giannoulias, Mendoza, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas — who has not formally launched her campaign — and Quigley, in that order.
Also included in the survey were Cook County Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas and three others who have not declared: businessman Willie Wilson and Alds. Brian Hopkins and Bill Conway.
However, every name floated in the UChicago survey except Johnson’s did see a sizable chunk of respondents say they don’t know them well enough to answer what their enthusiasm would be. That means they are yet to be tested, while Johnson has been no stranger to the rough-and-tumble of a municipal election and the mayor’s office on the fifth floor of City Hall.
Perry, from the mayor’s political team, pointed out in a phone interview that last time around, Johnsons polled at 3% as late as December 2022. Nonetheless, he became the first candidate to knock out an incumbent mayor of Chicago in 40 years despite being outspent in the runoff nearly 2-to-1.
With such a crowded field, another runoff election is likely next year. Johnson will probably again lean on the powerful Chicago Teachers Union as he navigates the best path to making the top two in February. But it’s doubtful that he will have as many allies in City Council or the influential Service Employees International Union on his side this time.
Perry acknowledged that Johnson’s potential coalition in 2027, were he to run, could look different than his last one. But he likened Johnson’s expected groups of focus to a “three-legged stool”: Black voters, Northwest Side progressives and so-called lakefront liberals.
Perry declared, “Those bases of folks … that lane, if and when the mayor decides to run, it’s Brandon Johnson’s alone.”
“People want to try to bury this mayor narratively before he’s even made a decision to announce to run again,” Perry said.
