Chicago City Wire

Chicago Morning Answer radio show host Dan Proft said Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson "is a doofus" for thinking that his real estate transfer tax increase referendum did not pass because of residents who voted for former President Donald Trump. The tax increase, proposed on the March 19 primary election ballot, was voted against by a majority of city voters. 

“Trump voters have overrun Chicago,” Proft said in a post on X. “First the Jussie Smollett assault/hate crime. Now this.”

“Fun fact #1: Biden won Chicago with 82% of the vote in '20,” Proft wrote. “Fun fact #2: Brandon Johnson won Chicago with 52% of the vote in '23 against another Dem. Fun fact #3: BLM Brandon is a doofus.”

Chicago residents voted against the “Bring Chicago Home” referendum during the primary election on March 19. The referendum proposed a tax on large real estate purchases to bring in funding to address the homeless crisis in the city. 

Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed the outcome in a press conference on March 20, saying that the 38,000 Chicago residents who voted for Donald Trump to be president “might be something to look into” and that “there’s a good chance that that played a part in this referendum," reported Fox News.

Unofficial counts from Chicago’s Board of Election Commissioners on March 19 reported that of the city’s roughly 1.5 million registered voters, 345,697 voted in the primary election. There were 301,265 registered Democrats recorded, and 38,304 registered Republicans recorded, with just over 6000 voters from other parties or non-partisan. 

The report showed 145,689 votes in favor of passing the “Bring Chicago Home” referendum, or 46.42%, and 168,146 votes against passing the referendum, a majority of 53.58%.