Chicago residents are fed up with the city’s left-wing Mayor Brandon Johnson, increasingly lashing out at the 49-year-old outspoken progressive. Johnson, elected just two years ago, currently faces a federal investigation for racist hiring practices, criticism for his resistance to enforcing immigration law, and scrutiny for pursuing socialist policies.
Johnson’s tenure seemed to be off to a promising start after he secured a surprise victory in 2023, defeating incumbent Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the primary and moderate Paul Vallas in the general election. Lightfoot became the first incumbent mayor in 40 years to lose re-election in the Windy City.
Johnson campaigned as a change candidate, promising transformative leadership, including outlandish plans to hammer wealthy residents with taxes, proposals to spend billions on public education, and initiatives to reorient policing toward a community approach.
Unsurprisingly, however, Johnson’s policies have not resulted in the progressive utopia he promised. Instead, the city has spiraled toward total disaster in line with other liberal strongholds. Now, Johnson’s top priority seems to be cementing himself as the next loudmouthed leader of the Democrat “resistance” against President Donald Trump.
Things have gotten so bad that even the Chicago Tribune, one of the city’s two major newspapers warned New York City voters against picking socialist Zohran Mamdani as the Democrat mayoral nominee, citing Chicago’s struggles under Johnson as a cautionary tale.
“If New Yorkers are frustrated with Mayor Eric Adams, they should be careful not to trade him for someone who might preside over a city that is less competitive and less financially secure,” the left-leaning editorial board opined. “Trust us — we’ve living that reality.”
But disapproval is coming not just from one paper’s editorial board, but also from Chicago residents, who are particularly outraged over Johnson’s use of city resources on illegal aliens and refusal to cooperate with ICE on deportations of noncitizens with criminal records.
“You protect these illegals more than you protect the women of Chicago,” an older black male resident told Johnson during a recent city council meeting, as seen on a video compiled by The Daily Caller.
“You are a weak man, you are a traitor, please bring in ICE, because we are under attack,” another black man pleaded with the mayor.
“We’re taking our city back,” a black woman said, criticizing Johnson for siding with illegal aliens.
While these comments could be written off as a small minority of constituents, the fact is that a majority of Chicago residents are furious with Johnson. A June 15 poll found just 19 percent of women, 30 percent of black voters, and 23 percent of Latino voters approve of the mayor. According to a January poll from the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, just 14 percent of Chicago residents overall approve of Johnson’s performance as mayor.
Johnson has also faced backlash from business owners and other residents for his mishandling of “teen takeovers,” when mobs of young people swarm one place, like a beach or downtown, causing chaos and potentially participating in “unlawful conduct,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
There have been several shootings tied to the takeovers, according to ABC 7. In March, a 15-year-old boy was shot during one such takeover. In 2023, two people were shot and 15 arrested during a teen takeover downtown.
In response, the city council passed an ordinance allowing the Chicago Police Department to declare emergency curfews for teens when unruly crowds gathered. The ordinance would allow teens time to safely disperse while preventing further confrontation between them and the police. The ordinance could also help local businesses by reassuring residents and visitors that it would be safe to travel downtown or to the popular Streeterville neighborhood (a frequent site of the takeovers) to spend money at shops and restaurants.
Johnson, however, vetoed the measure. “Our concerns is that we will relive history here, and that the teens will now think that they can come back and take over the street and terrorize the residents and visitors and workers of Streeterville,” community leader Deborah Gershbein told ABC 7.
“I don’t think he really listened to our concerns,” Gershbein said of Johnson. “He doesn’t understand, he needs to come and be in the midst of one of these ‘teen takeovers,’ and then maybe he’ll understand how dangerous it is for everyone.”
For his part, Johnson said that he wouldn’t support “a policy that we already know historically leads to criminalization and incarceration. Why on God’s green earth would I actually repeat the sins of those who came before us?”
Johnson is also under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for what appears to be blatantly racist hiring practices. The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division launched the probe in May 2025 after Johnson publicly bragged about staffing his administration almost exclusively with Black appointees.
During a speech at a South Side church, Johnson rattled off the race of multiple senior officials in his administration, boasting that “the deputy mayor is a Black woman,” the “chief operations officer is a Black man,” and “the budget director is a Black woman.” He claimed he was doing this “to ensure that our people get a chance.” Not qualified people – “our” people.
It’s hard to imagine a white mayor getting away with that kind of rhetoric without immediate national outrage. But Johnson wears racial favoritism like a badge of honor.
Johnson isn’t up for re-election until 2027 – but for many Chicagoans, that date can’t come soon enough. The question now may not be whether Brandon Johnson will be a one-term mayor, but how bad things will get before he is replaced.
Matt Lamb is a contributor for AMAC Newsline and an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
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