Activist Ja’Mal Green is making another attempt to become top Chicago executive after he ran for mayor last cycle and failed to make the ballot. Businessman Willie Wilson, who ran in the 2019 field and has also filed for the 2023 election, got Green kicked off the ballot nearly four years ago after he challenged Green’s nominating petitions.

While Green endorsed Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the 2019 runoff election for mayor against Cook County Board Pres. Toni Preckwinkle, he’s clashed with her on issues throughout her term.

Among the most notable, Green tweeted false rumors in 2021 that the mayor was resigning though he later apologized. Soon after, however, Green crashed a news conference Lightfoot was holding to call out the mayor for allegedly “not backing his efforts to bring a youth center to Auburn Gresham” because of his involvement in the proposal, according to the Sun-Times.

Green would become the city’s youngest mayor if elected, according to WTTW. He told WTTW he was “uniquely qualified” to be mayor as someone who grew up on the South and West sides and had been kicked out of nine schools while he was growing up. “I was a troubled kid, before, but I turned my life around and became a successful businessman,” he told WTTW.

Following reporting from WBEZ and City Bureau in 2020 which showed JPMorgan Chase Bank had been significantly disproportionately investing in white neighborhoods over Black communities in Chicago, Green organized demonstrations against the bank. But his actions led to him being banned from Chase property and his account being closed over what the company deemed harassment.

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