The 2027 Chicago mayoral election will be held on February 23, 2027, to elect the mayor of Chicago. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, a runoff election will be held on April 6, 2027.
Incumbent first term mayor Brandon Johnson has continually suffered poor approval ratings which have hovered at about 31% after he suffered defeat in his "Bring Chicago Home" referendum to replace Chicago's flat real estate tax with a progressive scheme which has left the 2027 election open to challengers. As of March 23, 2026, Johnson has continuously dodged the issue of if he is going to run for re-election although he still has a strong base with 30 to 40 percent of the Black vote.
The first candidate to formally announce was Joe Holberg a local entrepreneur who founded and sold a money management firm, doing so on October 6, 2025. However, by then the major players in the Chicago political scene, such as State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Secretary of State of Illinois Alexi Giannoulias, City Councilman Bill Conway, Representative for the 5th District Mike Quigley, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, and Mayor Johnson, have all formed Political Action Committees to begin fundraising for the 2027 election, despite not announcing their candidacy yet.
The first elected official to announce their candidacy was Pappas, doing so on November 17. Pappas is also simultaneously running for the 2026 County Treasurer election stating that race is her first priority and that she is only in the mayoral race "unofficially" until the Treasurer election concludes, but that "IâÂÂm in. When I get in, IâÂÂm in." Pappas has routinely challenged Johnson's more progressive taxation schemes, from the aforementioned property tax referendum, to a bid to increase corporate tax by $600 million per year that was rejected in 2025. In September Pappas also commissioned the first poll of the election, a head-to-head poll between her and Johnson with a sample size of 800 that showed Pappas having a 56%-23% lead with 21% being undecided.
Representative Quigley would announce his bid on January 6, 2026. He is also simultaneously running for re-election to his congressional seat in 2026. In his announcement Quigley stated that "Chicago is in crisis" and that it cannot tax its way out of financial trouble centering his campaign around a pro-Business outlook. He would be joined on February 22 by Liam Stanton, a small business owner and founder of the neighbord advocacy group "The Chicago Style Project."
The following individuals have received media speculation as being prospective candidates:
Official campaign websites