Lori Torres has served as a member of Chicago Teachers Union Executive Board and has 23 years of teaching experience with Chicago Public Schools, according to her website. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Torres has appeared in news coverage promoting  vaccine access for teachers before returning to the classroom and advocated for the ability to continue remote work. Torres has the CTU’s backing in the 36^th Ward race, as well as endorsements from United Working Families, Cook County College Teachers Union and Grassroots Illinois Action. She has also secured endorsements from U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill) state Sen. Omar Aquino (D-Chicago) and state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago).

David Herrera is a developer and former 26^th Ward aldermanic candidate now competing in the recently remapped 36^th Ward. Herrera challenged Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26) in 2019 but was unsuccessful, coming in third behind Theresa Siaw and the 26^th Ward alderman. Herrera has been involved with notable developments, such as a co-living startup apartment building in Ukrainian Village and a proposed Latin concert hall and supper club in Humboldt Park which has failed to come to fruition, according to Block Club Chicago.

Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16) is seeking a second term after unseating progressive Ald. Toni Foulkes in 2019, her second run for the post after she lost to Foulkes in the 2015 municipal runoffs. Coleman, a former aide to Cook County Comm. Dennis Deer (D-2), is the daughter of former 16^th Ward Ald. Shirley Coleman. The younger Coleman made a name for herself politically by chartering the ward’s Young Democrats and registering over 1,200 new voters as 16th Ward Democratic Committeeperson, a post she’s held since 2016. On City Council Coleman was chosen in 2020 to chair the Committee on Health and Human Relations’ Subcommittee on Reparations by Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), who’s currently seeking the mayorship.

Carolynn Crump has served as a Chicago Police officer for 24 years and is the third in her family to serve in law enforcement, according to Block Club Chicago. Crump ran in the Democratic primary for the Illinois House of Representatives District 6 in 2022 but lost to incumbent Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago). Crump earned a master’s degrees in business management and fraud and examination management at Saint Xavier University, according to her campaign website.

Eddie Johnson III is an Englewood community organizer seeking the 16^th Ward aldermanic seat following an unsuccessful run in 2019. Johnson is the executive director of the Antioch Community Social Service Agency, the nonprofit division of Antioch Missionary Baptist, an Englewood church destroyed by a fire in April 2022. In 2019, Johnson told the Sun-Times he had been involved in organizing against the closure of four Englewood high schools and served on the Chicago Public Schools steering committee for the then-new Englewood STEM High School.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) began his political career as the village manager of Maywood, where he worked with many of his predecessor and mentor Ed Smith’s allies. Smith was the longest serving Black official in Cook County and had held the alderman’s office for 27 years. Ervin was appointed to the City Council when Smith unexpectedly resigned from his seat in 2011. He won the 2015 election unopposed and handily avoided a runoff with 62 percent of the vote in 2019.

Shortly after his victory, Ervin was elected to chair the Aldermanic Black Caucus. He used his newly gained power to advocate for communities of color when he threatened to derail new zoning rules for weed dispensaries in 2019 unless the city created new measures to bring in more BIPOC cannabis entrepreneurs.

Though the measure eventually failed, Ervin continued his mission to ensure equitable representation for Chicago’s majority-Black wards. When the new ward remap plan was in the works, Ervin became a vocal opponent of any map that would reduce the number of majority Black wards. Ervin has been a relatively strong supporter of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as he offered an early endorsement of her reelection last September. After Ald. Carrie Austin (34) resigned from her chairmanship of the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity, Lightfoot hauled Ervin forward as her replacement.

A former corridor manager for the Austin African American Business Networking Association, a job in which he helped manage urban and commercial planning and development in the Soul City Business Corridor. Dooley is a member of the Chicago Youth Council for Police Accountability and chairs the domestic violence committee for the Chicago Police Department’s 15th District community outreach. Dooley earned a political science degree from Concordia University Chicago and received master’s degrees in architecture and in social justice and human rights from Arizona State University.

CB Johnson is the CEO of Campaign For a Drug Free Westside and previously ran for alderman in 2011 in the 29th Ward.

A marine veteran and former Chicago Police sergeant for over two decades, Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) worked in the legal world before entering the Chicago political sphere. He served as a litigation attorney and one of the founding partners at Taliaferro Law Group, P.C, before jumping into the 2015 race for alderman.

Though incumbent Ald. Deborah Graham had strong support from Ald. Jason Ervin (28) and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his Chicago Forward PAC, Taliaferro narrowly defeated Graham with just a 511-vote lead. He has become Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s top ally on police issues after Lightfoot picked him to chair the Committee on Public Safety and ousted then-chair Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30).

Taliaferro has publicly supported Lightfoot and helped push her community police oversight plan to the finish line, even as some called it “window dressing.” He was one of a handful of aldermen to stand beside Lightfoot when she announced her bid for reelection but addressed some of her missteps during her first term. “I would really love to see some better approaches toward violence reduction. And that calls for better plans from our superintendent,” Taliaferro said.

He made an unsuccessful run for judge in the 11th subcircuit and was defeated by attorney Aileen Bhandari, despite leading in fundraising and party official endorsements.

Arkansas-native Ald. Emma Mitts (37) has served on the City Council since 2000, when she was appointed to her seat by Mayor Richard M. Daley after then-Ald. Percy Giles was convicted of pocketing $10,000 in cash bribes from a government mole and extorting an additional $81,200 from a company operating an illegal dump in his ward.

Mitts was a Daley ally, as well as of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mayor Lori Lightfoot. One of Mitts’ more notable achievements on the council was fighting for the passage of a zoning change which allowed Walmart to open up its first Chicago store in Austin in 2006.

Mitts currently chairs the City Council Committee on License and Consumer Protection.

Jake Towers has lived in and served the Austin community for two decades, saying on his website that he and his family give back to the community through charitable works around Thanksgiving and Christmas each year. Towers’ father is a local pastor. Towers has been a Sunday school superintendent, summer camp leader and a youth pastor. He is currently working as an after-school kindergarten teacher and a pre-school teacher, his website says, as well as president of the Block Club on the 1000 block of North Leclaire Avenue, a position he’s had for five years.

Corey Braddock was formerly an Indiana state trooper for two years and a Chicago Police officer for a decade, according to his website, as well as an investigator at a law firm, substitute teacher for Chicago Public Schools and independent business consultant. Born on the West Side of Chicago, Braddock attended St. Xavier University and Wabash College and currently serves on his local school council.

Raised in Chicago, Sean Flynn’s journey to public service hasn’t necessarily been a straight line. He worked odd jobs for a while before getting his barber’s license and then worked as a barber for eight years. Flynn then returned to school, first at Olive Harvey City College and then at the University of Illinois in Chicago, where he received his master’s degree.

He later went on to work in city government, first for Ald. David Moore and later for Ald. Leslie Hairston. Flynn’s campaign has been focused on crime reduction, specifically through addressing “concerns around mental health and invest[ing] in more mentoring and community programs to better combat the issues at hand,” according to his campaign website.

He said the ward needs a pair of fresh eyes and that he will offer a new perspective on the problems and potentials for development and beautification. “Ald. Harris did the best she could with what she had,” Flynn said in an interview with Block Club Chicago. “However, this is a different age we’re living in. You need new solutions to solve these complex problems. Doing it the same old way that’s been done is not going to get it done.”

Steven McClellan is a community organizer who says on his website he has served multiple neighborhood associations, created the Ogden Park Safety Committee and assisted with improvement projects for local parks and playgrounds. McClellan says on his website he is serving his fourth term on the local school council at LaSalle Language Academy.

Sam Royko, an attorney and son of famed Chicago columnist Mike Royko, is vying against three other candidates to become the next 1st Ward alderman. Royko lives in West Town, which is on the eastern end of the 1st Ward, and decided to run for alderman while advocating for increased public safety after his girlfriend was carjacked in Wicker Park, according to his campaign website.

Royko’s girlfriend, Erin Groble, was driving his car near Division St and Ashland Ave in January 2021 when to men stormed her and stole the car, her purse and some packages in the car. Two months after the carjacking, Royko received a $100 speeding ticket, thanks to the thieves who stole his car.

He went on to found the Greater West Town Community Coalition to address the carjacking problem, where his work focused on improving public safety. Royko’s group joined a slew of other organizations in demanding more transparency and collaboration from lawmakers to hinder carjacking and violent crime in an open letter sent to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and all 50 aldermen.

Outside of his advocacy work, Royko works as a partner at L&G Law Group. Prior to joining the L&G Group, Royko was a founder and managing partner at The Royko Group. In his legal practices, Royko has represented clients in complex litigation, class action suits, employment and entertainment.

Andy Schneider isn’t new to the Chicago political scene considering he’s served as the president of Logan Square Preservation, a neighborhood organization dedicated to the preservation and beautification of Logan Square, for just over decade.

However, Schneider has spent a majority of his professional career in journalism. He spent some time with the Sun-Times Media Group as a reporter and later went on to work as an editor at Screen Magazine. a niche Chicago film publication.

As LSP’s president, Schneider worked on numerous significant Logan Square development projects over the course of his tenure, including the redesign of the notoriously confusing traffic circle and, more recently, the opening of a food truck plaza on Sacramento Ave. 

The city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection will host a webinar at 2 p.m. Tuesday on the city’s Home and Business Protection Program. The program offers rebates for outdoor security cameras, cloud storage for video footage, outdoor motion sensor lighting, car GPS trackers and subscription costs. The webinar will include information on the program’s eligibility, requirements and how it is expected to affect public safety. Additional information and registration is available online. 

Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) tweeted “Some morning reflection on the 53rd anniversary of the assassination of Fred Hampton, and Chicago's legacy. Our city has ingenuity, and strength. It's also racist, and violent. That stratification, which is a part of our legacy, has also maintained Chicago's deep segregation.”

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) tweeted “If @ChicagoOIG wants an efficiency report topic, city towing protocols would be a great one!”

Ald. Sophia King (4) tweeted “The 2023 Shared Cost Sidewalk Program will be open for applications on Monday, 1/9/23 from 6AM-10PM: https://bit.ly/3VCbrhw The program typically reaches capacity quickly, so please apply early!”

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) tweeted “The Chicago Public Schools are now hiring Crossing Guards! This flexible, part-time job includes medical, dental, vision. @ChiPubSchools @BevRevNews @MtGreenwoodCBA @mpbhba @bapa_org @barbaravickece @barnardbulldogs @clissold_school @MTGElemSchool @EsmondEagles @ChicagoCAPS22”

Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43) tweeted “📸 Week In Review: We saw our Ward Superintendent in action working tirelessly to execute extended street sweeps. I also had the privilege of welcoming Santa to the 43rd Ward at the Lincoln Common Tree Lighting. We bonded over how much black coffee we both drink these days! ☕️🎅”

Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) tweeted, “Thank you, @speakerpelosi for your visionary leadership, second to none strength, remarkable bravery and courage and unmatched work ethic. We are better because of it.”  

Sen. Suzy Glowiak-Hilton (D-Western Springs) tweeted, “Earlier this week, I joined Native American advocates at the Illinois Capitol to introduce Senate Bill 4242 which would allow students to wear items of cultural significance at commencement ceremonies.”  

House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) tweeted, “Interested in a career with the Illinois House of Representatives? Then join us for our Open House Job Fair tomorrow!”  

Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) tweeted, “I stopped by the reception for the Coalition for Life. I was able to see many good friends including my longtime friends Barb Cooksey and Cassie from Pregnancy Matters. We are all committed to protecting the lives of the unborn!!”