Chicago City Wire

Chicago Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd), candidate for Cook County Board President, said current Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Chicago Mayor Brendan Johnson have an indifference to crime victims.

“Every once in a while, President Preckwinkle and her protege Mayor Johnson can’t help but let slip their indifference toward crime victims & their outright animosity toward local law enforcement,” Reilly said in an X post. “Putting violent criminals in prison doesn’t protect communities?!?”

“I will always stand with the victims of crime and back our courageous women & men in Blue, while promoting constitutional policing,” said Reilly. “Violent criminals must always be held accountable for their crimes.”

His post included a video of Johnson saying that “jails and incarceration and law enforcement is a sickness that has not led to safe communities.”

Reilly, who has represented the 42nd Ward since 2007, announced earlier this month that he will run in the March 2026 Democratic primary against Preckwinkle, who has been president since 2010.

In his campaign announcement, Reilly said public safety would be a central theme of his campaign, saying “unsafe streets in far too many communities across the County” as evidence that residents are not getting the security they deserve,” reported Fox 32 Chicago. 

He pointed to the 2025 Labor Day weekend in Chicago, during which time 58 people were shot, including eight fatalities, as an example of how violence continues to plague neighborhoods, saying local leaders downplay the problem by insisting “we don’t have a crime problem.”