Chicago mayoral candidates began circulating nominating petitions Tuesday, and Brandon Johnson still had not said whether he will seek reelection. Susana Mendoza opened her drive at a restaurant in Little Village, while volunteers for Mike Quigley were collecting signatures in Lakeview.
Mayoral candidates must collect 12,500 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, and candidates for the February municipal election can begin submitting petitions on Oct. 19 before the Oct. 26 deadline. Johnson said during his weekly briefing with reporters that he was not waiting on other candidates before deciding.
Susana Mendoza in Little Village
Mendoza told supporters, "What I always guarantee is that I'll be the hardest worker in anything I set my mind to do," and added, "I want to be the candidate for mayor that's on everyone's ballot, and in order to do that, I'm not going to leave anything to chance. So, the first minute I'm able to circulate is the first minute I'll start circulating." Her stop in Little Village put her on the ground at the start of the petition period, when every valid name gathered now reduces the pressure later.
Johnson described his own timetable as separate from the scramble around him. "I don't make any decision based upon someone else's, someone else's desire," he said. "As much as I know that there is this hurry to get to February, I'm in no rush." He also said, "I'm able to skip and whistle at the same time. There will be plenty of time for that."
Chicago's 2027 mayoral race
The race opened Tuesday even though Johnson and Alexi Giannoulias had not announced their plans. Nine candidates had already declared, and the petition phase now gives anyone seeking the ballot a fixed window to gather signatures before filing starts on Oct. 19.
That window is the practical hurdle in the race: candidates need 12,500 valid signatures, not just raw contact lists or enthusiastic crowds. A recent email also showed Wendee Lee Curtis, who runs the Creator Engagement Program for Johnson's campaign committee, Friends of Brandon Johnson, recruiting Chicago content creators for a Content Creator House with creators who have a combined audience of more than 2.5 million followers, even as Johnson said the support was "organic."
The question now is whether Johnson will make his announcement before the filing period begins. If he does run, he enters a race already moving without him; if he does not, the field keeps widening around a deadline that is now set.
