As a public school teacher, union organizer and Cook County commissioner, Brandon Johnson is the only candidate for mayor of Chicago who has been a leader in our communities in the fights for fully funded public schools, affordable housing, green jobs and access to mental health care. As mayor, he will provide the leadership to put Chicago on the right track. Brandon stands for the people, not entrenched special interests and political insiders. He will advance smart, innovative solutions that address the root causes of violence and poverty.

We are proud to endorse Brandon because as mayor, he will chart a new strategy for public safety, rather than relying on the same failed approaches that have brought trauma to communities across the city. He will work with police and first responders to invest in community-based interventions that de-escalate conflict, reduce violence and make our neighborhoods safer. He will also create an Office of Community Safety, reopen the city’s mental health clinics, fully fund year-round youth employment, and foster partnerships between communities and law enforcement to make critical investments preventing crime before it happens.

‍Brandon will make sure that the Chicago Police Department comply with the federal consent decree and increase its homicide clearance rate. He will work closely with the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability to hold police accountable and evaluate the goals and performance of the CPD, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the Police Board. He will remove the flawed gang database and support Treatment Not Trauma, reduce inefficiencies in public safety spending, and direct more funds to violence prevention and community safety programming that address the root causes of community violence.

His administration will attack these root causes of crime and poverty by investing in the basics: good schools, good jobs, housing and mental health.

Meanwhile, his opponent Paul Vallas has said that he is “more of a Republican than a Democrat” and is being supported by Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police. He said that he wants to hire more police and take the “handcuffs” off them. This is particularly troubling because the Chicago PD has been under a federal consent decree with the DOJ since 2019 for a “pattern of using excessive force, including deadly force, in a manner that disproportionately harms Chicago’s African American and Latino residents.”