People United for Action Chairman Rod Wilson speaks alongside union-endorsed school board candidates at Chicago Teachers Union headquarters on Election Night. [Michael McDevitt/The Daily Line]

In the city’s first-ever Chicago Board of Education elections, candidates backed by the powerful Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) were leading or had won in just four of the 10 races on Tuesday night. Three races were seemingly on track to be won by candidates backed by groups in support of charter school and school choice, and three more were on track to be won by candidates that were not endorsed by the competing interests in the race.

Candidates in the 10 districts were competing for two-year terms on a partially elected, 21-member board that is being phased in. The districts are divided into two subdistricts. After results are tabulated, the mayor will appoint the other 10 board members from the subdistricts in which the winning candidates did not reside. The mayor will also appoint an at-large board president. In 2026, voters will elect the entire school board. 

The school district experienced upheaval last month after the entire seven-member board resigned during a reported budgetary dispute between Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teacher and CTU organizer who was backed in last year’s mayor’s race by the union, and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez. 

Although the mayor was quick to appoint an entirely new slate of seven, his new board president, Rev. Mitchell I. Johnson, had to resign a week after being sworn in after previous antisemitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial social media comments came to light.

The CTU and school choice interests both spent and campaigned heavily in the historic elections. In all but one of the races, campaign contribution caps were lifted as a result of fundraising and spending levels.

In District 1, which includes parts of Edison Park, Norwood Park, Portage Park, O’Hare, Dunning and Mayfair, Jennifer Custer held a narrow lead with 51.1 percent of the vote compared to Michelle Pierre’s 48.8 percent as of 11:30 p.m. By Wednesday morning, the race was still too close to call.

Custer, endorsed by the CTU, is a former language arts teacher in Itasca and served as union president for the Itasca Education Association. Pierre is the former chief of schools for the LEARN Charter School Network and now serves on the board for The Chicago High School for the Arts.

In District 2, Ebony DeBerry was declared the winner over opponents Maggie Cullerton Hooper, Kate Doyle and Bruce Leon. DeBerry, the program manager for educational initiatives at ONE Northside and CTU-backed candidate, had earned 42.2 percent of the vote share. 

District 2 includes the North Side neighborhoods of Edgewater, West Ridge, Albany Park, Rogers Park, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Andersonville, Peterson Park and Budlong Woods.

In District 3, charter school group-backed Carlos Rivas, current director of public affairs at the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, was declared the victor over Jason Dónes, a former CPS teacher from Humboldt Park backed by CTU. Rivas earned 56 percent of the vote. The third district includes parts of Humboldt Park, most of Hermosa and Avondale, Logan Square, Belmont Cragin, Irving Park East and Belmont Gardens. 

In the crowded District 4 race, Ellen Rosenfeld won against Karen Zaccor, Kimberly Brown, Thomas Day, Carmen Gioiosa and Andrew Davis. The district includes Lincoln Park, Lake View, North Center and the majority of Uptown.

Rosenfeld is a CPS Family and Community Engagement specialist who was backed by the pro-school choice Urban Center’s political arm. The Urban Center is run by Juan Rangel, the founder and former president of the UNO Charter School Network now known as Acero Charter Schools, and the organization is affiliated with former CPS CEO Paul Vallas.

Rosenfeld earned 42.2 percent of the vote. The CTU had backed Zaccor in the fourth district race, who was in second with about 29.2 percent.

In the District 5 race, Aaron "Jitu" Brown, an activist for education and national director for the Journey for Justice Alliance, was declared the victor against two write-in candidates. Brown was the CTU-backed candidate in the fifth district, which includes Austin, Garfield Park, Homan Square, Galewood, Lawndale, Greektown, West Town, Fulton Market and other parts of the West Loop.

In District 6, Jessica Biggs was declared the winner over opponents Anusha Thotakura, Andre Smith and Danielle Wallace. Biggs earned 45 percent of the vote and Thotakura trailed behind her with 32 percent. 

Biggs is the director of the community collaborative Healthy Southwest, a former CPS principal and a former special education teacher, and Biggs was not backed by the union or school choice groups. Thotakura, the director of the progressive policy advocacy group Citizen Action/Illinois, was backed by the CTU.

The district covers the Near North Side and Near South Side, encompassing Streeterville, River North, Cabrini Green, parts of the Loop, parts of West Town and some of Wicker Park as well as Englewood, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, much of Greater Grand Crossing and parts of Woodlawn, Hyde Park and Bronzeville.

In the seventh district, CTU-backed Yesenia Lopez won over opponents Eva Villalobos and Raquel Don with about 56.5 percent of the vote. Villalobos had 33.9 percent and Don had 9.7 percent. 

District 7 includes Pilsen, Chinatown, the Near West Side, parts of Armour Square, Bridgeport and McKinley Park and most of Little Village, Archer Heights, Gage Park and Brighton Park. 

Lopez is an executive assistant for Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.

In District 8, nonprofit consultant Angel Gutierrez defeated Oak Lawn band teacher Felix Ponce with 63.9 percent of the vote. Gutierrez was backed by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools' political arm and the Urban Center’s political operation. Ponce was backed by the CTU. 

The eighth district includes Clearing and West Lawn, parts of the South Loop, McKinley Park, Gage Park and Bridgeport, and it includes much of Back of the Yards, Chicago Lawn, Garfield Ridge, Ashburn. 

In the ninth district, Therese Boyle led opponents Lanetta Thomas, La'Mont Raymond Williams and Miquel Lewis with almost 38 percent of the vote as of 11:30 p.m. By Wednesday morning, the race was still too close to call. Boyle is a retired CPS psychologist and teacher and wasn’t endorsed by either the CTU or charter school and school choice groups.

District 9 includes Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Washington Heights, Mount Greenwood, Roseland, West Pullman, Canaryville, West Englewood, and parts of Ashburn, Chatham, Greater Grand Crossing and Chicago Lawn.

In the District 10 race, musical artist Che "Rhymefest" Smith held a lead over Adam Parrott-Sheffer, Karin Norington-Reaves, Rev. Robert Jones and Rosita Chatonda. As of 11:30 p.m., Smith had 31.7 percent of the vote share, with CTU-backed Jones in third place with 22.4 percent behind charter school group-backed Norington-Reaves, who had 29.5 percent. By Wednesday morning the race was still too close to call.

The tenth district includes Oakland, Kenwood, South Shore, Burnside, Pullman, Calumet Heights, South Chicago, Avalon Park, South Deering, East Side, much of Woodlawn and Hyde Park and parts of Douglas.