Hi, John.
I hope you’ve been following the news from Chicago.
If you haven't heard yet: last week, Brandon Johnson, the movement candidate for Mayor of Chicago, won a slot in the April runoff — surpassing a wide field of candidates including incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Brandon’s performance is energizing proof of a decade of political power building — and also the starting bell to one of the most important and ideologically high-stakes sprints in recent memory, between two very different visions of our future.
In April, Brandon will face off against Paul Vallas, a conservative who has called himself “more of a Republican than a Democrat,” and is one of the leading architects of the school privatization movement that has swept major cities — and especially Black and brown communities — over the last 20 years.
I think it’s worth grounding this moment in a bit of history. But before I do, I have to ask: Can you split a contribution of $10 between Brandon Johnson’s campaign and our allies at United Working Families to help turn out voters in these next few weeks and win on April 4th?
Contribute $10 »
A decade ago, Brandon Johnson was a brand new organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union.
He was fresh off the historic 2012 Chicago Teachers strike that fought not just for fair pay for teachers, but also for smaller class sizes, and for music and arts in every community.
Out of the energy of that strike, he became a founding member of United Working Families, WFP’s local partner in Chicago, and a coalition of labor and community leaders seeking to build a multiracial working class political movement strong enough to take power from the vaunted Chicago machine, and from the big developers, the school privatizers, and the forces of neoliberalism.
During that same time, Paul Vallas was the Superintendent of Schools in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he wound up after overseeing Chicago Public Schools, leading dramatic experiments with privatization in Philadelphia, and doing a stint privatizing the entire school district in Post-Katrina New Orleans.
That year, the Connecticut Working Families Party led a coalition of parents, teachers and community members to elect a new school board majority in Bridgeport, which ran Paul out of town.
All of that is to say, the upcoming contest is a poignant one — and a crucial choice point.
In the last few years, we’ve seen how the outcome of big city races can shape the national conversation. Just take Eric Adams’ victory in New York City — and how that was read nationally as a lurch to the right. We all saw first hand how Adams’ right-wing message on crime contributed to undermining Democrats in New York, who lost 5 battleground Congressional seats, and with it, control of Congress.
Brandon is running on a vision of making Chicago work for the many. He’s running on a vision of “treatment, not trauma,” and taxing the wealthy to pay for basic services that lift up and protect communities. He’s built a mulitracial base that picked up votes in every part of the city.
His election over a conservative like Vallas would swing that narrative pendulum in the opposite direction. Brandon is a former public school teacher and union organizer who has stood with our movements time and again. He’s a battle-tested leader committed to making Chicago a city where everyone can thrive.
The organizers responsible for Brandon’s improbable surge are ready to throw down over the next four weeks and finish the job. But they need us to have their backs. Will you rush a split contribution of $10 to elect former public school teacher and CTU organizer Brandon Johnson as Chicago’s next Mayor? Your donation will be split between Brandon Johnson’s campaign and our partners at United Working Families.
Contribute $10 »
In love and radical solidarity,
Maurice Mitchell
National Director
Working Families Party
