A lifelong Chicago resident, Paul Bruton got his start in public service working for I-GO Car Sharing, a Chicagoland non-profit dedicated to car-sharing to protect the environment and curb high transportation costs. He then went on to get his public policy master’s degree at Northwestern University before working for the Chicago Inspector General’s Office. He said in his campaign bio that his work in the community in the Inspector General’s office made him realize “how often city workers were expected to get the job done without the right tools, technology, and training that they needed to effectively do their work.” He left the office in 2018 to raise his two children but decided to throw his hat in for the 13^th ward “to fight Chicago’s legacy of corruption,” he wrote in his campaign bio.

Ald. Marty Quinn (13) has served as alderman since 2011 and served as an aide to indicted former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. Quinn handily won reelection in 2019 against his opponent David Krupa with 86 percent of the vote, though Krupa filed a civil rights lawsuit against Quinn and Madigan ahead of the election, accusing them of trying to strong-arm him off the ballot. Krupa filed a defamation suit against Quinn and the Chicago Teachers Union as well.

In 2020, former Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson accused Quinn of putting his and Madigan’s names on an instrument meant to blast graffiti, which Ferguson called a “prohibited political activity.”

Heather Wills has worked in community organizing for over two decades, according to her campaign website. Her professional background began as a Senior Customer Service representative for Marquette Bank, then as a Senior Disability Representative for Sedgwick Claims Management Services and most recently as a Campaign Organizer for the Service Employees International Union Healthcare. Wills also founded POW3R, a Chicago-based non-profit dedicated to empowering and educating the inner-city kids through positive programming. The organization has held a slew of expos and workshops, focused on teaching participants “self-love, self-care and self-expression.”  Wills said on her campaign site that she decided to join the race based on the belief that “all communities should have: developing residentia and commercial infrastructure, advancing community resources for all and community engaged public safety.”

Ald. Derrick Curtis (18) has represented the 18^th Ward on the City Council since 2015 and since 2012, Curtis has served as the 18^th Ward Democratic Committeeman following his service as Ward Streets and Sanitation Superintendent. Curtis, who is a concealed-carry firearm license instructor, has been involved in two accidental shootings in the last several months — one in which he was injured and another in which his daughter was injured.

In January 2023, Curtis told the Sun-Times he was “having second thoughts about his support for Mayor Lori Lightfoot — and his role as her “No. 1 cheerleader” — because of the mayor’s ‘coldness,’ including her failure to reach out to him after he accidentally shot himself.” Before serving as alderman, Curtis was a local school council member, little league coach and was known for being active in his neighborhood.

Esteban Burgoa Ontañon moved to Chicago from Mexico when he was 16, according to reporting from Block Club Chicago. For decades, he was involved in the local school politics in his community, and he served in the U.S. Navy overseas during the Iraq War. Ontañon landed in hot water in 2019 when he filmed inside the residence of 30th Ward aldermanic candidate Jessica Gutierrez — allegedly in support of Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30). Ontañon posted the footage on social media, revealing Gutierrez’s address, which led her to file a police report, Block Club Chicago reported.

Denali Dasgupta is a progressive candidate and data researcher who has performed data work and analysis for New York City’s Citizens’ Housing and Planning Council and for the policy division of the city’ s Comptroller’s Office. Dasgupta earned a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Yale University and a master’s degree in urban planning, housing and economic development from New York University. She has lived in Chicago since 2011 and she has her own business called Higher Ground Data. Dasgupta has worked with 39th Ward Neighbors United, according to Block Club Chicago , as well as campaigned for Michael Rabbit, a candidate for Illinois’ 15th House District who lost to incumbent state Rep. Mike Kelly. Dasgupta is endorsed by the progressive group United Working Families.

Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) has served in the City Council since 2015 and is politically independent, remaining one of the few aldermen not a member of any caucus.

Napolitano has an emergency responder background. He’s a former Chicago Police officer who worked both rapid response on the West Side and as a gang officer in the Austin neighborhood.

He is also a former Chicago firefighter. He has often supported pro-police policies and opposed police reform while on the council.

Elected: 2007

Brendan Reilly began his career in Illinois politics in 1995 as a staffer for former state House Speaker Michael Madigan. He then served as communications director for the Illinois Democratic party, before taking a brief hiatus from public service in 2001. In the interim he worked as a vice president at AT&T prior to making his bid for the 42^nd Ward seat, held by Ald. Burton Natarus for over 30 years. Reilly defeated Natarus with 55 percent of the vote, as Natarus’s constituents grew tired of his laser focus on development.

Reilly ruffled some feathers with the mayor’s office during his first term when he came out in opposition of former Mayor Richard Daley and the plan to relocate the Chicago Children’s Museum to Grant Park. Reilly flexed his political muscle on the Children’s Memorial Hospital development plan and was able to work out an agreement to add safety studies on the facility’s proposed heliport, a demand from Streeterville residents.

Since he was elected 2007, Reilly’s power in the Chicago City Council has only grown, as he was chosen to serve as the vice mayor to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the president pro-tempore of the council under Mayor Lori Lightfoot. An illustrious fundraiser, Reilly has aided in the elections of dozens of state and county lawmakers, including former state Rep. John Fritchey and Ald. Brian Hopkins (2).

Bennett Lawson has served as chief of staff for the outgoing Ald. Tom Tunney (44) for 15 years, according to his campaign page, and is now seeking to replace his boss as 44th Ward alderman. Lawson, who previously worked for Tunney as community outreach director, is openly LGBTQ and heads outreach to the city’s LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS community in his 44th Ward capacity to help them launch programs and obtain funding. Lawson has been district director for Democratic state Sen. Carol Rosen. Just hours after Tunney announced his retirement, Lawson launched his own campaign with Tunney’s endorsement.

Bill Conway is a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney who unsuccessfully challenged Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in the 2020 Democratic primary. Conway, who runs a solar development company that “helps schools and others develop solar solutions for their energy needs,” according to his campaign website, works as a professor of renewable energy finance at DePaul University and has also served as a reserve Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Navy.

Jim Ascot is a real estate broker who is currently the president and CEO of Ascot Realty Group. Ascot, an immigrant from Greece, ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ 7^th Congressional District in 2006 and 2010.

Vicko Alvarez got her start in public service as a union organizer while she was an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago. A child of Mexican immigrants, Alvarez was born and raised in Texas. She moved to Chicago for college, and as a student, she helped campus workers organize for fair union contracts.

After she graduated, Alvarez held on to her union roots and went on to work as the campaigns director at the United Students Against Sweatshops and Lead Worker Organizer with the United Steelworkers Union. She more recently worked as chief of staff for Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33). Many of Alvarez’s policy goals differ from Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), who is running for reelection as alderman after dropping out of bid for mayor, particularly in the realm of crime prevention.

Born in Arkansas, Gloria Williams family moved to Chicago during the 1960s and settled in West Englewood, where Williams has stayed for the rest of her life. She worked for the Chicago Urban League and UCAN Chicago Career Service soon after obtaining her bachelor’s from Chicago State University, and then went on to create Voices of Englewood – a community organization dedicated to educating Englewood residents. Her role with the organization has had her work with “all the representatives, the state senator[s], the aldermen,” she said in an interview with South Side Weekly. “We work alongside Residents Association of Greater Englewood….and we talk about social issues, the economic issues that we’re facing in Englewood.” Beyond her nonprofit work, Williams has worked as a resident service coordinator for almost eight years at the East Lake Management & Development Corporation.

Raymond Lopez was first elected alderman in 2015 in an open seat runoff after defeating Rafael Yanez to replace Toni Foulkes. Lopez won the 2015 election with support from several incumbent aldermen, including Ald. Tom Tunney (44), Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) and neighboring Ald. Ed Burke (14).

The outspoken firebrand Lopez won reelection in 2019, again defeating Yanez in a runoff. During his first term as alderman, Lopez was a generally reliable vote for former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s policies. But his support for the administration flipped after Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office. Lopez took immediate offense at Lightfoot’s mission to squelch aldermanic prerogative, and has since been one of Lightfoot’s most outspoken and consistent opponents. Lopez is a member of the LGBT Caucus and is a staunch supporter of the Chicago Police Department and of tough-on-crime policies.

Lopez first entered the 2023 election season as a candidate for mayor. He was the first candidate to formally launch a campaign in 2022, but on the first day candidates could file petitions for the Feb. 28 election, Lopez announced he was pulling out of the mayoral race for another shot at reelection as alderman.

Julia Ramirez works for Chicago Public Schools as a re-engagement specialist. Ramirez has been a community organizer and earned a master’s degree in social work from Northeastern Illinois University, according to a short biography provided by United Working Families, which has endorsed Ramirez in the 12^th Ward race.

Anabel Abarca was sworn in as alderman of the 12^th Ward during the City Council’s December meeting. Abarca filled the City Council seat left vacant by former 12^th Ward Ald. George Cardenas.A child of working-class immigrants, Abarca grew up in Belmont Cragin and worked as a real estate attorney before working under former 12^th ward Ald. George Cardenas as his chief of staff from 2013 to 2016 before attending law school. 

Samie Martinez previously served as chief of staff to former 12^th Ward Ald. George Cardenas and currently works as a project coordinator for the City of Chicago, according to his LinkedIn profile. Martinez attended DePaul University and University of Illinois-Chicago, earning a bachelor’s degree in public policy and a Masters of Public Health from those institutions respectively. Martinez previously conducted grant-funded healthcare research on socio-behavioral intervention at Northwestern University.

Laith Shaaban is an Iraqi American whose experience includes an appointment by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2020 to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on New Americans. Shaaban has also been a member of Horner Park Neighbors and was a founding member of the Northwest Safety Coalition, according to Block Club Chicago. Shaaban has worked as a project manager at LGIM America, according to Block Club,  and has employment experience as an affordable housing developer and in municipal banking.