* Gov. JB Pritzker has yet another ad running on Chicago-area broadcast TV and digital platforms…
Today, JB for Governor released a new ad called “Says,” amplifying Darren Bailey’s anti-women stances, including that women are inferior to men and his strong opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.
The ad shows Illinois women frustrated by Bailey’s prehistoric beliefs and rejecting his bid to be governor.
Bailey’s record proves he is a threat to women across the state. Recent reporting revealed that his school teaches women are inferior to men in the household. He has also called for an end to abortion, compared women’s right to choose to the atrocities of the Holocaust, and opposed Gov. Pritzker’s fight to protect abortion rights in Illinois. During his current campaign, he even asserted, “there’s no one here more pro-life… than I.”
The ad will air on broadcast and digital platforms in the Chicago area.
Join WTTW News for a live televised candidate forum on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 8 pm, at 5400 N. Saint Louis Avenue in Chicago.
Chicago Tonight anchor Brandis Friedman will moderate a live discussion featuring U.S. Senate candidates Juliana Stratton (D) and Don Tracy (R) to provide voters with an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates as they discuss key issues ahead of the 2026 general election on November 3, 2026.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has opened a sizable early lead in the race for Chicago mayor, while incumbent Brandon Johnson is struggling to retain even the voters who elected him, according to a new University of Chicago poll.
Giannoulias was the first choice of 25% of likely voters surveyed, nearly double Johnson’s 13.6%. Former city Clerk Susana Mendoza trailed at 9.5%, followed by businessman Willie Wilson at 6%.
Giannoulias also led in second-choice preferences, with 21.3% of likely voters naming him as their backup candidate, compared with 15.6% for Mendoza and 13.8% for Johnson. The results suggest Giannoulias has room to expand his support as the field takes shape, while Mendoza could also benefit if other candidates fall out of contention.
But the race remains wide open: Nearly 34% of likely voters said they were undecided, a larger share than supported any individual candidate.
The survey of 1,108 adult Chicago residents, including 935 who identified themselves as likely voters, found 53% of Chicagoans overall disapproved of Johnson’s job performance while only 22% approved. Another 25% had no opinion.
Among likely voters, 55% said they were not enthused by Johnson’s candidacy and, among those who said they voted for Johnson four years ago, only a quarter said he was their first choice for mayor in the 2027 race. […]
Johnson’s disapproval was highest on the Northwest Side at 64.5%. It was lowest in his West Side home base, at 44%, and on the South Side, at 49%. Although more than 53% on the Southwest Side disapproved of how he is doing his job as mayor, the area also gave him his highest approval rate, at 25%. Nearly 33% on the West Side, where Johnson lives in the Austin community, said they had no opinion on his job performance.
The survey included 1,108 Chicagoans age 18+ and was completed between September 13 to September 23 as part of the quarterly ChicagoSpeaks® panel. 935 respondents identified themselves as likely voters. Conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, ChicagoSpeaks is a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the city of Chicago household population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4.11 percentage points. Since its founding in 2024, ChicagoSpeaks has produced quarterly surveys. ChicagoSpeaks is the most scientifically rigorous multi-client Chicago panel available in the U.S. market.
The first batch of candidates seeking to deny Mayor Brandon Johnson a second term each filed tens of thousands of signatures Monday to officially get on the Feb. 23 ballot, waiting in line for hours among aspiring alderpeople, staff members, lawyers and candidates for other offices.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, businessman Willie Wilson, longtime lobbyist John Kelly and former Chicago Housing Authority chair Matt Brewer played their role in the quadrennial political extravaganza that did not return to the pedway beneath the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building, but instead took place this year at a vacant State Street storefront near Adams Street.
While the incumbent mayor was a major talking point for many of the candidates, Johnson himself did not file Monday, ceding the spotlight to his rivals, as well as a chance to be listed first on the ballot, since they were all in line by 9 a.m. Monday.
Other high-profile candidates including Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Cook County Board of Review member George Cardenas and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas also did not appear Monday.
As of Oct. 13, Matt Dietrich of the Illinois State Board of Elections said approximately 67,000 early votes had already been cast. Election officials have also received about 202,000 vote-by-mail ballots.
“About 1.1 million people as of right now have requested vote-by-mail ballots, so we know that there are a lot of them that are still outstanding,” Dietrich said, noting he anticipates about 1.3 million vote-by-mail ballots cast in this election as applications don’t close until Oct. 29. […]
Illinois requires vote-by-mail ballots to be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received within 14 days of Election Day to be counted. To avoid potential postal delays, Dietrich encouraged voters to use a designated drop box location, “usually located right outside the county clerk’s office.”
“If you’re voting by mail and you don’t want to put your ballot in the hands of the postal service, you can go directly to the secure drop box to drop it in, and it will be picked up immediately,” he said. “Your ballot goes from you directly into the hands of your election authority.”
* Here are the latest early voting totals from the Illinois State Board of Elections, as of 10 am…
Total VBM requested: 1,106,470
Total VBM returned: 316,432
Total early vote: 103,740
* Click here for some background if you need it. Sonya Massey’s family endorsed Democrat Marc Bell today in his race against Republican Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch…
Gov. Pritzker contributed $15,000 to Bell’s campaign earlier this month.
* Rep. Daniel Didech (D-Buffalo Grove) doesn’t have a general election opponent, but that’s no reason not to have a little fun with a GOTV mailer…
Mendoza being within about the margin of error with Johnson is interesting. I’ve been assuming that Johnson had a small but solid enough base to get him to the runoff in a crowded field. Now I’m not so certain.
- fs - Monday, Oct 19, 26 @ 1:41 pm:
Mendoza being within about the margin of error with Johnson is interesting. I’ve been assuming that Johnson had a small but solid enough base to get him to the runoff in a crowded field. Now I’m not so certain.
- Lurker - Monday, Oct 19, 26 @ 1:52 pm:
That mailer is cute. Good job(bp)
- Streator Curmudgeon - Monday, Oct 19, 26 @ 2:16 pm:
“Former city Clerk Susana Mendoza trailed at 9.5%…”
After that photo of her in a hole, it appears she’s still…in a hole.