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Brandon Johnson (born March 27, 1976) is an American educator and politician serving as the 57th mayor of Chicago. A member of the Democratic Party, Johnson was elected mayor in April 2023. He previously served on the Cook County Board of Commissioners from 2018 to 2023, representing the 1st district. Johnson was first elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2018 after defeating incumbent Commissioner Richard Boykin in the Democratic primary election and winning the general election unopposed. Johnson won reelection to the County Board in 2022. Johnson was elected mayor of Chicago in 2023. In the first round of the election, he and Paul Vallas advanced to a runoff, unseating incumbent mayor Lori Lightfoot. Johnson defeated Vallas in the runoff election and was elected to serve as the 57th mayor of Chicago. He is the city's fourth African-American mayor. Johnson is considered to be a political progressive. Early life and education Johnson was born in Elgin, Illinois. He was one of ten children born to Andrew and Wilma Jean Johnson. Johnson grew up in Elgin with his nine siblings. His father was a pastor and his parents were occasional foster parents. Johnson's father, Andrew Johnson, also worked at the Elgin Mental Health Center. When Johnson was nineteen years old, his mother died of congestive heart failure. Johnson married Stacie Rencher. Johnson earned a bachelor's degree in youth development and a master's degree in teaching from Aurora University. Early career Johnson worked as a social studies teacher at Jenner Academy Elementary and George Westinghouse College Prep, both part of the Chicago Public Schools system. He became an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union in 2011, and helped organize the 2012 Chicago teachers strike. He also helped lead field campaigns during the 2015 Chicago mayoral and aldermanic elections. Cook County commissioner (2018–2023) Johnson ran against incumbent Richard Boykin in the 2018 election for the Cook County Board of Commissioner's 1st district. He was endorsed by a number of labor organizations and progressive advocacy groups, including the Chicago Teachers Union, Grassroots Illinois Action, Our Revolution, and SEIU Locals 1 and 73. He was also endorsed by Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle. He won the Democratic Party primary election on March 20, 2018, defeating Boykin by 0.8 percentage points (437 votes), and ran unopposed in the general election on November 6, 2018. Johnson was sworn in as a Cook County commissioner on December 3, 2018. Johnson was the chief sponsor of the Just Housing Ordinance, which amended the county's housing ordinance by prohibiting potential landlords or property owners from asking about or considering prospective tenants' or homebuyers' criminal history. The ordinance was passed in April 2019. In October 2019, Johnson spoke at a solidarity rally supporting striking teachers and support staff during the 2019 Chicago Public Schools Strike, and wrote supportive letters to the editor in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. Johnson worked as a paid organizer for CTU, focusing on legislative affairs. Politico's Illinois Playbook reported after the strike that Johnson was rumored as a potential mayoral candidate in the 2023 election; Johnson responded by calling the rumors "laughable" and criticizing the publication for making a connection between the strike and his electoral career. In November 2019, Johnson wrote an essay in a CTU publication drawing a distinction between the union's organizing model and "top-down school governance." Johnson endorsed Toni Preckwinkle ahead of the first round of the 2019 Chicago mayoral election. He also endorsed Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the 2019 Chicago city treasurer election. In August 2019, Johnson endorsed the candidacy of Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. In the summer of 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, Johnson authored the "Justice for Black Lives" resolution that was adopted in July 2020. The resolution called for reallocating funding "from policing and incarceration" to "public services not administered by law enforcement that promote community health and safety equitably." In an interview that year, Johnson praised the political catchphrase "defund the police" as a "real political goal". He would later walk back his embrace of the phrase "defund the police", especially making an effort to disassociate himself from it during his 2023 mayoral campaign. Johnson was reelected in 2022. During Johnson's tenure on the Board of Commissioners, Board President Toni Preckwinkle exerted strong influence on the policy pursued by the body. Johnson had generally been allied with Preckwinkle. 2023 mayoral campaign Johnson was elected the mayor of Chicago in the city's 2023 mayoral election. He became the third black person to be elected mayor of Chicago. Johnson is the fourth black person to serve as the city's mayor, as Eugene Sawyer had been appointed to serve following Washington's death in office but was never elected. He also became the first mayor to hail from the city's West Side since the tenure of Anton Cermak in the 1930s. Johnson was sworn-in as Chicago's 57th mayor on May 15, 2023. First round As early as November 2019, there had been speculation that Johnson might run for mayor of Chicago in 2023. On September 13, 2022, Johnson launched an exploratory committee to consider running for in the 2023 mayoral election. In the weeks that followed, he received endorsements from United Working Families, the Chicago Teachers Union, and progressive independent political organizations in the 30th, 33rd, 35th, and 39th wards. On October 23, the American Federation of Teachers pledged to donate $1 million to Johnson's campaign should he enter the race. On October 27, Johnson formally announced his candidacy. Johnson's campaign was supported by what Heather Cherone of WTTW News described as a "coalition of progressive groups". Johnson was the beneficiary of Chuy García's decision to wait until after the 2022 United States House of Representatives election to announce his mayoral candidacy, as a number of groups that had supported García 2015 mayoral campaign, such as the Chicago Teachers Union and the United Working Families, grew impatient of waiting for a decision by García on whether he would run and instead pledged their support to Johnson. Johnson was described as a "progressive" and a favored "candidate of the left." His campaign emphasized funding and resources for public schools, a public safety platform that includes efficiency audits and non-police responses to mental health emergencies, support for a real estate transfer tax to fund homelessness response and prevention, and a budget that proposes raising $1 billion in new revenues, including through new or increased taxes on airlines, financial transactions, high-value real estate transfers, and hotels. Amid pollin.... Discover the Brandon R Hill popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Brandon R Hill books.