— Chicago Tribune | Jake Sheridan —
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza announced Wednesday she will make a second run for mayor of Chicago, marking the biggest entry yet in a sure-to-be-crowded field of candidates.
Mendoza, the state’s chief fiscal manager since 2016, touted herself as a proven leader capable of addressing the city’s fiscal woes, decreasing crime and restoring faith in city government during a launch party at Taquería Los Comales in Little Village.
She positioned herself as a pragmatist, standing onstage in the restaurant surrounded by signs emblazoned with the slogan “progress is greater than promises,” a phrase she repeated throughout her mayoral launch speech. Mendoza urged voters to focus on her record of getting things done during 25 years in elected office.
She ran for mayor once before, placing fifth in the first round of the city’s 2019 election ultimately won by Lori Lightfoot.
The moderate Democrat, who previously served as city clerk and a state representative, officially got into the race after a long run-up that made her candidacy seem inevitable.
Mendoza has positioned herself as a critic of Mayor Brandon Johnson for months, pushing herself into city issues far from the purview of her statewide office.
She published a Tribune op-ed Tuesday addressed to Chicago Public Schools educators that called for open dialogue about how to improve the school district. On Monday, she made headlines by going on WFLD-Ch. 32 to call for tougher law enforcement to break up large youth gatherings.
“We don’t see our government doing that,” she said. “That means arresting kids, even holding parents accountable if their children are committing this type of action.”
Later that day, she posted a video to social media depicting her standing on a concrete road island outside the Millennium Park garages as a white car stops and the driver shouts “You’ve got my vote, girl!”
It was just one of dozens of videos Mendoza has posted since she announced last July she would not seek reelection as comptroller, showing her visiting neighborhood businesses or sharing thoughts on how Chicago’s biggest challenges should be tackled — the sort of nod to small-business owners that was core to her message Wednesday.
Now that she has ended her will-she-or-won’t-she phase with Wednesday’s announcement, Mendoza will briefly have the stage to herself before other high-profile candidates get in the 2027 mayoral race.
Johnson, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley have publicly signaled plans to run. Downtown Ald. Bill Conway and veteran lobbyist John Kelly have also hinted at entering the race. Entrepreneurs Joe Holberg and Liam Stanton have declared runs.
Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has dominated fundraising among potential candidates. His war chest grew to $18.3 million last quarter, mostly because of contributions from high-dollar Democratic megadonors and trade unions that Mendoza had surely hoped to court.
Mendoza had $1.6 million in her state campaign account at the time, the second-largest sum among declared or potential candidates.
By announcing now, Mendoza could hope to lock down support from moderate voters who Giannoulias would also see as an important part of his base in the city.
In 2019, Mendoza appeared an early mayoral favorite, but her campaign was upended by the corruption probe that landed former Ald. Edward Burke in prison.
Mendoza’s ties to Burke, who backed her first Illinois House races before she got married at his Southwest Side home, became a key point of attack for other candidates, who painted her as a product of Chicago’s Democratic machine.
But on Wednesday, Mendoza pitched herself as unburdened by political connections with a shot that appeared aimed at Johnson’s link to the Chicago Teachers Union and Giannoulias’ to wealthy political insiders.
“I’m running against a system that will spend millions against me, against us, so they can continue to pull the strings on the fifth floor,” she told the crowd of supporters. “When I’m your mayor, you’ll know that I’m your mayor. There won’t be some shadow mayor pulling the strings or calling the shots.”
She touted key policy wins from her 25-year career in elected offices, including the modernization of the city’s vehicle sticker program from her time as clerk and her efforts to eliminate a towering backlog of bills as comptroller.
With experience like that, Mendoza argued, she can come in and put the city on stable ground.
“I have the trifecta of critical, relevant experience — legislative, City Council, executive and successful state financial crisis management,” she said. “My superpowers are finding great people, building great teams, and getting things done.”
She zeroed in first on stabilizing city finances as a top priority, pledging to end the practice championed by Johnson of surplussing tax increment financing district funds and improving the handling of the city’s daunting pension debt problem.
“We’re going to curb the city’s addiction to spending, stop the hemorrhaging of our city’s finances and find efficiencies everywhere we can,” she said. “We are going to provide better service to Chicago taxpayers at lower cost.”
She also promised to “stand behind” police and accused Johnson of cherry-picking data as he argues his efforts have reduced crime. The city hit record lows in violent crime last summer and ended the year with a sharp decline in murders and shootings, according to Chicago Police Department data.
But the numbers belie the high levels of crime that continue to end lives and tear families apart, she argued.
“The people I met in Woodlawn, they’re not comforted by data from a city hall trying to tell them it’s getting better. They don’t feel safe,” she said. “We’ve become numb to what’s happening because City Hall doesn’t want to give attention to what’s happening outside of the story that they want to tell.”
Asked by the Tribune about her specific plans, Mendoza said she will be a more vocal champion of police and direct the department to more quickly make arrests during chaotic gatherings.
“We will be arresting people who are committing violent crimes, and I think that’s policy number one,” she said.
Mendoza, endorsed Wednesday by Alds. Raymond Lopez, 15th, and Silvana Tabares, 23rd, also promised to lead an effort to amend the state’s controversial SAFE-T Act that ended cash bail so that people accused of murder, attempted murder and predatory sexual assault cannot be released on electronic monitoring.
Mendoza also called for the city to spark more development, in part by using TIF funds, and also by cutting bureaucratic roadblocks.
“We’re going to streamline permits, modernize city services, lean into innovation and use (artificial intelligence) intelligently. We’re going to support entrepreneurs and business owners, because when businesses grow, jobs grow, wages grow, working families grow,” she said.
She focused her campaign launch on the city’s neighborhoods, including her own upbringing in Little Village as the daughter of two Mexican immigrants, while invoking the city’s “tough and gritty” character.
“We stand together when you disrespect our city, because we’re Chicagoans. We’ve made it through the great fire and a great flood, and made ourselves bigger and stronger every time,” Mendoza said.
She also accused Johnson of doing too little to address antisemitism, misspending on migrant shelters and excusing the large youth gatherings known as “teen takeovers.” Johnson spokesperson Christian Perry declined to comment on her announcement.
And she jabbed at Giannoulias, who has so far carefully avoided discussing a mayoral run in public and not declared his candidacy.
“I think (voters) should be looking at Alexi Giannoulias for secretary of state, that’s what he’s running for right now,” she said. “People should be looking at who has actually had the courage to step up and run for mayor.”
But she notably did not mention a challenge from just last fall that hit the same heavily immigrant neighborhood she spoke in: the barrage of aggressive deportation enforcement actions from President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” across the city.
In fact, Mendoza did not talk about Trump at all, a sharp contrast from Johnson, Giannoulias, and Quigley. Asked about the decision, she promised to “work with anyone and everyone” to support the city.
“I want to focus on results and progress,” she said. “This election isn’t about Donald Trump, it’s not even about Brandon Johnson or any other candidate. This election is about the people of Chicago and what a mayor can do to move our city forward.”
