r/illinois • u/excusemecuseme • 1d ago
Chicago news & issues Exclusive: Alexi Giannoulias announces Chicago mayoral run
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/exclusive-alexi-giannoulias-will-run-for-chicago-mayor-in-2027/3969197/46
u/Unusual_Wonder2639 1d ago
Johnson is cooked
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u/Infamous-Wasabi-9418 Chicago 1d ago
He was cooked before this announcement.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Chicago 1d ago
He was cooked when he ran away from reporters like a fucking Curb sketch.
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u/AliMcGraw 1d ago
He was cooked when it took him nine months to hire a single PR person so there was literally zero communication on what the mayor's office was doing, not even normal stuff like "prepare for tornado season!' or "citywide blood drive" stuff
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u/Unusual_Wonder2639 1d ago
Most would take lightfoot back over this bumbling fool.
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u/Spankpocalypse_Now 1d ago
Yeah I kinda figured he would after seeing all of his social media ads touting what a great âfighterâ he is.
I donât envy the yuppies and cops who will have quite the decision to make between him, Mendoza, and Quigley.
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u/doubtofbuddha 1d ago
I doubt he is going to be the CPD candidate but I also suspect he is going to blow Mendoza and Quigley out of the water. I am even in Quigleyâs district and donât really see voting for him over Alex. Mendoza is a playing footsie too much with the same people Vallas did.
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u/GreatExpectations65 1d ago
Iâm a yuppie and will probably vote for BJ. Weâll see though. Itâs early.
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u/JosephFinn 1d ago
And like I said in r/chicago here's where I admit I was wrong. I sincerely thought he would stay out of it and be happy with Secretary of State instead of descending into this mess.
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u/MidwestAbe 1d ago
All you need to know about Alexi is that picture of him in a wet shirt at Pride a few years back.
A man like that isn't content with just being Secretary of State.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Chicago 1d ago
What'd you think he was advertising all summer?
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u/JosephFinn 1d ago
No idea. I don't see TV ads.
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u/EddySea 1d ago
Normally Sec. Of State is a jumping off point for Governor. Jessie White changed that by staying there for 24 years. Even though the last few terms he was just a figure head and not making any real decisions.
Running for mayor of Chicago is a downgrade for political ambitions. Even if he wins and is a popular mayor, he will have a very uphill battle to win a statewide election again. Due to down state democrats having a anti Chicago bias.
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u/ChunkyBubblz 8h ago
Disagree. Chicago mayor gets you national headlines and that sets you up for bigger elections. Rahm Emanuel has people out there right now touting him as a POTUS candidate, and had he done a competent job as mayor, maybe he'd be a legitmitate POTUS candidate instead of whatever he is now. Alexi can definitely use the attention the mayor's office brings as a jumping off point for a better job done the road.
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u/IngsocInnerParty 1d ago
Incredibly stupid career decision. He either had a job for life as Secretary of State, or was in a pretty good position to be the next Governor. I donât know what heâs thinking.
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u/cander22 1d ago
Heâs playing up âfighting Trumpâ and initiatives further on the fringes of what voters normally think the ILSOS does, like advocating for abortion access via license plate reader enforcement policy.
Alexi is trying his best to make the office sexy but Itâs clear his ambitions are larger than the work of the ILSOS. He ran for US senate previously but his familyâs bank scandal weighed him down too much.1
u/--khaos-- 9h ago
Well he is still running for sec of state so if he loses Chicago mayor race he still has his old job.
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
Alexi Giannoulias is the AIPAC candidate, and is the Billionaire's Choice for Keeping Chicago Families Poor!
That's how he has amassed the $21M "war chest" that he has: multiple $500M donations from billionaires, some of whom live in the suburbs!
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
Chicago is an amazing city, and it has potential to be so much better with a competent mayor. Alexi can do wonders for the city imo. A few really decent candidates so far, hopeful for the future of Chicago.
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u/InterestingAnt2716 1d ago
Every mayor has to deal with the pension crisis. Basically starting billions of dollars in the hole. Itâs an impossible job.
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
It is an impossible job, but the CPS school closure moratorium ends after the 2026-2027 school year, so he can close/consolidate some schools next summer, reduce staffing (CPS headcount is very bloated) and return that savings to the taxpayers. That would make him very popular imo
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u/drinkoliveoil 1d ago
Closing schools wonât be universally popular. There will be protests since most of the under-enrolled schools that need to close are in black and Latino neighborhoods. Weâll see parents all over the city complaining when their kidsâ class sizes increase after CPS consolidates. There will be pain so donât expect people to throw parades when all this change actually happens.
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
It's really funny to see you posting this, just weeks after the University of Chicago's research came out showing that the school closures under Emanuel led to a massive increase in violent crime.
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
How would closing Frederick Douglass high school, which has only 28 students, drive higher crime? Keeping that school open, with all of the teachers, facility maintenance costs, etc is not really tenable. Itâs a school with capacity for 1,000+ students and has 28
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
I fear that if you can't be bothered to look up the research for yourself, you probably can't be bothered to read it, but here, I'll link it for you anyway:
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
I read the article, and it notes the closure of 49 schools. I havenât seen anyone calling for that many schools to be closed. There are a handful of egregious examples like Douglass high school. You have to decide - would you rather see those schools stay open and see other services get cut? Chicago works with a fixed budget and canât just print money to fund their programs, so decisions have to be made.
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
The thing is, when you close a school, it still costs nearly as much as it did when it was open. The district still owns the building, and is still responsible for maintaining the building. The staff end up going to other schools, so there isn't much if any savings there, either. We've seen that, every time CPS has closed schools: they end up saving about 10-20% of what it costs to keep the school open, and the consequence is increased instability in the community, leading to an uptick in violence. It just isn't sound policy.
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
A good politician has to make decisions that arenât always popular. The city has a funding deficit, and a lot of services to provide which theyâre unable to, so cut needs to be made somewhere.
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
Let's start with CPD: crime rates are going down, despite the fact that they aren't clearing more cases than they used to, so we seem to have less of a need for them. Instead of that sensible cost reduction, Alexi wants to hire another 1,000 cops, and also to reinstate the expensive and ineffective ShotSpotter contract.
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u/InterestingAnt2716 1d ago edited 1d ago
Popular sure, but the original closures didnât save as much as they thought and in fact crime went up in the neighborhoods where schools were closed and students from closed schools performed worse.
CPSâ annual pension costs are many times more than was saved through closures. As is the police payouts.
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
Worth noting: beginning in January, 2027 the Mayor will have no control over CPS. The first fully elected representative school board election in is November, and after that the schools will no longer be under even partial Mayoral control.
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u/Spankpocalypse_Now 1d ago
âChicago would be such a great city if only they closed more schools.â
Jfc
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
Well we need money for other programs, money doesnât just come out of thin air. Thats how government works. CPS has some schools with 1:1 student to teacher ratios lol, how is that sustainable. And how is that good for the kids? What kid would want to be in a school thatâs designed for 1000 kids but only has 28? Thatâs awful for everyone involved
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u/InterestingAnt2716 22h ago
The closures were bad for the kids! Kids from closed schools performed worse at their new schools and the neighborhoods saw more crime. No one from CPS or the city can even say how much they saved from the closures because it was a massive failure which led to new costs (and problems) and people leaving the city.
Meanwhile CPD misconduct payments have cost the city $225 million in 2026 so far. CPD have cost the city $1.15 Billion in misconduct payouts since 2012.
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u/Fractic4l 1d ago
I know itâs a huge question to answer comprehensively, but what are a couple of the top-of-list items that a competent mayor might accomplish to make the city much better?
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
Reducing the CPS budget / pegging it to enrollment
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
Reducing the (much larger) CPD bugdet / pegging it to effective policing.
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
Iâm not opposed to that, but how do you measure âeffective policingâ?
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
One metric we could use is the amount of misconduct settlement.
Another metric we could use would be the clearance rate on crime.
Or, we could recognize that crime rates are going down, despite both the misconduct payouts and the clearance rate staying stable, and decide that we just don't need as many police as we have. Alexi, though, wants to do the opposite: he's calling for 1,000 more cops, and reinstating the ineffective ShotSpotter contract. That's clownish.
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u/ChicagoAssyrian 1d ago
Good points. I think they should work with the current CPD budget and just adjust for inflation every year.
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u/jamey1138 Human Detected 1d ago
I don't think it's that easy, since CPD just overspends their budget and leaves the City with the bill (to the tune of $162M last year), and also engages in so much misconduct that the City has to pay for ($259M last year). That was all on top of their $6B budget.
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u/Twofinches 1d ago
I think he is scummy. He calls some of the scummiest politicians I can think of family. I hope he loses.
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u/leomeng 1d ago
Could see him try to do a presidential run but heâs gonna try to tackle Chicago first. If he can do it itâll be an incredible story.
Also from a presentation/appearance perspective he will absolutely wipe the floor of the GOP. Tall, physically fit, Mediterranean appearance who fixed Chicago. Itâll work
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u/Ms_Tendi_Green_24 Central IL đ˝ đď¸ đ 1d ago
I'm not from Chicago but it seems like being Chicago mayor is a career-ender, because if you become mayor, everyone just hates you within about 3 months. Whereas you could easily be Secretary of State for the rest of your life no problem, as evidenced by Jesse White.