Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will run for a second term, he told the New York Times in an interview published Sunday, ending months of speculation about whether the first-term Democrat would seek reelection in a city still wrestling with persistent violent crime.
Johnson, 50, spoke with the newspaper at his downtown campaign office and said he intends to “double down” on his progressive agenda while pressing for a city that is accessible to working-class residents. A formal announcement was expected Sunday at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, according to the Times.
“I made a commitment through the lens of working-class leadership that we would take on the billionaires and the corporate interests to prioritize working people to build the safest, most affordable big city in America,” Johnson told the Times. “That’s what we’re doing.”
The mayor also posted a “four more years” video to social media, in which he highlighted his record in office.
A record shadowed by violence
Johnson’s announcement lands against a backdrop of sustained gun violence, particularly in struggling neighborhoods on the city’s south side. Breitbart News reported that 38 people were shot, eight fatally, over Labor Day weekend alone. The final weekend of August saw 40 people shot, two of them killed.
According to ABC7’s Neighborhood Safety Tracker, there were 435 homicides reported in the 12-month period preceding September 4. The tracker noted that the risk of being murdered in Chicago is “already considerably higher than the risk of dying in a vehicle crash in Illinois.”
Chicago’s overall homicide rate is lower than several other American cities when adjusted for population, but its total body count consistently leads the nation because of its size. The city is currently averaging about eight homicides a week, down from ten in 2019 and below the yearly average of the past three years — one of the few encouraging data points in the mayor’s tenure.
Immigration fight with Washington
Johnson has drawn sharp criticism from moderates and conservatives over Chicago’s sanctuary-city policies and his opposition to Trump administration immigration enforcement efforts. That friction included Johnson issuing an “ICE On Notice” order directing Chicago police to investigate federal immigration agents.
Citing city records, Breitbart News reported that Johnson’s administration spent nearly $640 million over a two-year period to care for illegal immigrants rather than directing those funds to Chicago’s struggling public school system.
A crowded field forming
Johnson, a former labor organizer, unseated incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2023. The nonpartisan mayoral election is scheduled for February 2027, with a runoff in April if no candidate clears 50 percent of the vote.
Several challengers have already entered the race. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is running and is widely seen as a more moderate progressive than Johnson. U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, whose district covers Chicago’s north side, has also declared, as has state Comptroller Susana Mendoza.
The Times described the coming contest as a “formidable test” of Johnson’s “brand of progressive politics” — a framing that captures both the mayor’s national profile on the left and the local headwinds he faces.
Whether Johnson can translate his coalition of working-class and progressive voters into a second term will depend in large part on how Chicagoans weigh his ideological commitments against the day-to-day realities of public safety and city services. The campaign now stretches ahead for roughly 17 months before voters weigh in.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/09/13/brandon-johnson-will-seek-another-term-as-mayor-of-homicide-plagued-chicago/