Chicago City Wire

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has not officially endorsed any Chicago mayoral candidate, but a caller into the Chicago’s Morning Answer radio show said that he spoke at the Illinois Education Association Representative Assembly and essentially endorsed Brandon Johnson.

The caller remained anonymous but said they thought it was odd there was no press at the event as there had been in previous years. The caller said that he endorsed Johnson “in so many words.” Chicago’s Morning Answer host Dan Proft questioned why Pritzker hasn’t made a mayoral endorsement, saying that Pritzker has endorsed candidates in lower levels of government like Chicago city council. On US 99 he said, “If you can’t believe in the ideological altruism of J.B. Pritzker, then there’s no Santa Claus? Is that what you’re going to tell me next?”

“If we can’t count on J.B. Pritzker to advance the flag with a hammer and sickle, then who can we count on?” Proft said on his show’s March 13 segment.

According to Axios, Johnson has been endorsed by the commissioners, congress members, senators and groups like the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Paul Vallas has been endorsed by former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and former CPS board president Gery Chico.

On January 28, Pritzker told WBBM Newsradio 780 AM: “It’s very important to me that the mayor of the city, whoever that is, and the governor of the state, whoever that is at the time, work closely together.”

According to a March 8 survey by Politico, of 800 likely mayoral runoff voters in Chicago conducted by Lake Research Partners, Brandon Johnson was leading by five points. Vallas was at 40% of the vote in the race for mayor with 14% undecided and 1% supporting another candidate. The margin of error is +-/3.46%.