— Daily Mail | Jack Toledo —
2026_0826 ARTICLE: Is this the woman who’ll save Chicago? Sensible Democrat ran huge department so frugally she RETURNED cash to city every year… now she wants to lead troubled Windy City
With the first round of voting in the Chicago mayoral race less than six months away, a sensible candidate with an impressive resume has plenty of support behind her as she hopes to take control of the Windy City.
Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, 54, launched her bid for mayor in June and is a top contender in what is expected to be a race with a deep pool of candidates.
Mendoza, a Democrat, hopes to unseat Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has yet to announce whether he will seek reelection after abysmal approval ratings surfaced.
A gold-standard poll by the University of Chicago’s Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation found that just 13.6 percent of Chicagoans want Johnson to run again, while 58 percent said they are not excited about another campaign by the mayor, according to CBS News.
That same poll found that 47 percent of voters were enthusiastic about Mendoza’s candidacy, trailing only Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who received support from 52 percent of respondents.
Mendoza’s promising start comes after a decade as Illinois state comptroller, during which she made a splash with budget cuts in her first few years in office.
‘Upon taking office as state comptroller, Mendoza cut the office’s budget by 10 percent and kept it there for six years, saving taxpayers more than $18.6 million, including returning $4.3 million in unused appropriations to the state treasury,’ her campaign website states.
‘She paid down $17 billion in unpaid bills, delivered the fastest vendor payment cycle in history, helped grow the state’s Rainy Day Fund from $48,000 to $2.5 billion, and delivered 10 credit-rating upgrades on her watch,’ the website adds.
Chicago has struggled fiscally while Johnson has been mayor. On Tuesday, he announced a plan to refinance about half a billion dollars in city debt.
‘These actions combined can close the shortfall while avoiding any layoffs,’ Johnson said.
However, Mendoza labeled the mayor a ‘blizzard of incompetence.’
‘Chicago has tossed mayors out of office for blizzards, corruption, and incompetence,’ Mendoza said.
‘Right now, Chicago is experiencing a Blizzard of Incompetence. We deserve better. Not just a little better, much better.’
Mendoza said her top priorities, if elected, would be addressing Chicago’s financial crisis and the city’s public safety crisis.
Mendoza labeled the mayor a blizzard of incompetence: ‘Chicago has tossed mayors out of office for blizzards, corruption, and incompetence. Right now, Chicago is experiencing a Blizzard of Incompetence. We deserve better. Not just a little better, much better’
She previously ran for mayor in 2019 but finished fifth in the election won by Lori Lightfoot.
During that mayoral race, she was criticized for her relationship with embattled aldermen Ed Burke and Danny Solis.
Burke was convicted in 2023 on racketeering, bribery and extortion charges for abusing his position as an alderman.
Solis worked with authorities as an informant to help convict Burke after facing his own bribery charge, according to WTTW.
Mendoza gave away donations she received from Burke but was still criticized by her opponents.
Mendoza labeled the mayor a blizzard of incompetence: ‘Chicago has tossed mayors out of office for blizzards, corruption, and incompetence. Right now, Chicago is experiencing a Blizzard of Incompetence. We deserve better. Not just a little better, much better’
Burke endorsed Mendoza in two previous elections, and his wife, former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, officiated Mendoza’s wedding.
Mendoza addressed her ties to the disgraced alderman in an interview on Chicago Tonight: ‘Any elected official who has ever served for more than 10 minutes over the last 20 to 30 years would have had a working relationship with him (Burke) and many other elected officials, in the same way I’ve worked with Barack Obama. I have photos with him, so it’s really ridiculous to even bring that up.
‘I’ll tell you why: If you go talk to any Chicagoan out on the streets, they’re going to tell you they don’t even know who that is for the most part. But they do care about the violence in their neighborhoods, and they care about the fact that we’re hemorrhaging money and charging them more in property taxes.’
‘I will be the mayor who focuses on the real issues that people care about because nobody really cares about that nonsense,’ she added.
Mendoza finished with just nine percent of the vote in the 14-candidate race.
It’s likely that her greatest rival will be Giannoulias, who leads in campaign fundraising, has high name recognition and is supported by trade unions, according to CBS News.
He is running for reelection as Illinois secretary of state in November 2026 while simultaneously seeking election as mayor in 2027.
Chicago’s next mayoral election is set for February 23, 2027.
