Chicago voters elected their first fully elected school board — and denied the Chicago Teachers Union the majority it wanted. Countywide, Democrats swept. And all six advisory questions passed, including a 72.55% vote to restart gunshot detection, two years after Mayor Brandon Johnson ended the ShotSpotter contract. The mayoral race itself was not on this ballot: that vote is February 23, 2027.
All figures below are unofficial counts as of the morning of Nov. 4, 2026: Chicago at 1,212 of 1,291 precincts (93.88%). Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive through Nov. 17, so margins will move and nothing here is certified.
CTU-aligned means endorsed or funded by the Chicago Teachers Union — the union that backed Johnson’s own rise. Independent / anti-CTU bloc means backed by SEIU, the Common Ground Collective (the anti-CTU PAC funded heavily by billionaire Michael Sacks), the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS), or Urban Center, or part of the sitting bloc that votes against the CTU majority. These are coalitions, not parties, and some winners draw from more than one.
One thing we will not claim: in the sources reviewed, there is no evidence Mayor Johnson personally endorsed any school board candidate. Where this page says “Johnson’s coalition,” it means the CTU — his political base — not a Johnson endorsement. If that changes, this page will say so.
Won means a call or concession was found in the reviewed sources. Leading means ahead in the count with no call found. Too close means the margin is inside the outstanding mail-ballot universe.
For the first time, Chicago voters chose the entire 21-member Board of Education: a districtwide president plus 20 subdistrict members, taking office January 15, 2027. The board hires Chicago Public Schools leadership and votes a nearly $10 billion budget. The CTU wanted 11 seats. It lost the presidency, and even a clean sweep of its current leads leaves it at 9 of 20 district seats.
| Race | Winner / leader | Status | What the sources show |
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Jessica Biggs | Declared victory | Former CPS principal; backed by SEIU, current/former CPS administrators, and Common Ground. Dominguez conceded; the AP had not projected a winner. Biggs is the reformer camp’s standard-bearer — and as president she will set the board’s agenda and hold a full vote from January. |
| President | Hilario Dominguez | Lost | CTU’s former political director; CTU-endorsed, campaign almost exclusively CTU-funded. The CTU’s candidate to hold its 11-seat majority. |
| 1A (Far NW) | Margie Luczak | Won | Retired CPD officer, ~67% to ~33%; backed by local aldermen and anti-CTU INCS spending. Beat Johnson appointee Ed Bannon, who was CTU/SEIU-backed — a Johnson appointee losing 2-to-1. |
| 1B (Far NW) | Claudia Peralta | Won | CTU-endorsed (also SEIU, Chicago Federation of Labor); ~62% to ~38%. CTU hold. |
| 2A (Far N) | Ebony DeBerry | Won | CTU-endorsed with direct CTU and SEIU financial support; 67% (AP). CTU hold. |
| 2B (North lakefront) | Debby Pope | Won | CTU-backed incumbent, funded by the CTU PAC and Chicago Working Families PAC; 63% (AP). CTU hold. |
| 3A (NW) | Norma Rios Sierra | Won | Johnson appointee (2024), CTU- and SEIU-backed; “huge lead.” A Johnson appointee held. |
| 3B (Humboldt Park) | Jason Dónes | Leading | CTU-backed, leading slightly over a rival backed by SEIU, Common Ground, and INCS. Uncalled. |
| 4A (North Side) | Karen Zaccor | Won | Described by Chalkbeat as a “staunch CTU ally” on the current board; 44% to 39% to 17% (AP). CTU hold. |
| 4B (North Side) | Ellen Rosenfeld | Won | Unopposed. Part of the bloc that “banded together to curb the influence of the CTU-aligned majority.” Independent bloc. |
| 5A (West Side) | LaPamela Williams | Won | Backed by INCS, Urban Center, and Common Ground; ~64% to ~36% in an upset over CTU-backed incumbent Aaron “Jitu” Brown. Anti-CTU win. |
| 5B (West Side) | Michilia “Kyla” Blaise | Leading | CTU-endorsed, leading with “a little over half.” Uncalled. |
| 6A (Downtown / Near North) | White, Thotakura, Anderson | Too close | Three candidates within <1,000 votes with all precincts reporting and mail ballots outstanding. White: INCS + Common Ground. Thotakura: CTU + SEIU, Johnson appointee. Anderson: principals-union endorsement, no major special-interest money. |
| 6B (South Side / Loop) | Brittany Kimble | Leading | Pulling away; neither CTU nor SEIU endorsed here. Kimble: Urban Center-endorsed. Leaning independent/centrist. Uncalled. |
| 7A (SW / Latino) | Emma Lozano | Leading | Johnson appointee, 54% at 82% of precincts (AP). CTU and Our Schools spent ~$17k for her against ~$374k for her rival from Common Ground, INCS, and Urban Center. Leaning CTU / Johnson-appointee hold. Uncalled. |
| 7B (SW) | Yesenia Lopez | Won | Endorsed by SEIU and Our Schools (a CTU-funded PAC); the CTU itself endorsed neither candidate here. Union-aligned, not a CTU endorsement. |
| 8A (Far SW) | Angel Gutierrez | Won | Unopposed. Elected in 2024 with school-choice backing; “frequently votes against the CTU-aligned majority.” Anti-CTU bloc. |
| 8B (SW / Loop) | Juan Ignacio González | Won | Sole candidate on the ballot (plus a write-in). Alignment evidence thin in reviewed sources. Note: Johnson appointee Cydney Wallace was kicked off the ballot on a petition-signature challenge. |
| 9A (Englewood area) | Brittany Bailey Preston | Won | Sole candidate on the ballot. Alignment evidence thin in reviewed sources. Appointed incumbent Angel Velez failed to get enough valid signatures. |
| 9B (Far South) | Therese Boyle | Won | Independent 2024 winner, this time INCS-backed, beating CTU-backed Katherine Dunneback by one of the night’s largest margins, in a race framed as CTU vs. SEIU. Independent win over a CTU candidate. |
| 10A (South lakefront) | Che “Rhymefest” Smith | Won | Reelected over a CTU-backed write-in; “in a minority of board members pushing back on the CTU’s influence.” Anti-CTU bloc win. |
| 10B (Far SE) | Connie Anderson | Leading | CTU-backed and recently appointed to the board by Mayor Johnson; strong lead over a rival backed by SEIU and anti-CTU groups. Leaning CTU / Johnson-appointee hold. Uncalled. |
CTU-endorsed wins (5): 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 4A. CTU-endorsed leads (4): 3B, 5B, 7A, 10B. Even if all four leads hold, that is 9 of 20 district seats — plus a non-CTU president. The Sun-Times frame: the CTU is “poised to capture half of school board district seats, but loses president’s race.”
Losses that sting most for the coalition: the presidency itself; a Johnson appointee (Bannon) losing 2-to-1 in 1A; and a CTU incumbent (Brown) losing in 5A. Holds that soften it: three Johnson appointees won or lead (Rios Sierra won; Lozano and Anderson leading), and the CTU still holds roughly half the district seats. This was not a wipeout — it was a lost majority.
Still uncalled: 6A (too close, three candidates within <1,000 votes); 3B, 5B, 6B, 7A, 10B (leads, no call found). The president’s race: Biggs declared victory and Dominguez conceded, but the AP had not projected a winner at last check.
Every reported countywide winner is a Democrat, and nothing in these results maps onto the mayoral axis. We report them for completeness, not as evidence for or against the mayor: no sourced evidence ties any of these campaigns to Johnson’s coalition or to a reform slate. The State’s Attorney was not on the ballot (Eileen O’Neill Burke was elected in 2024).
Board President: Toni Preckwinkle, a fifth term, 78.8% at 55% counted. Assessor: Pat Hynes, 84.9% at 43% counted — he had beaten incumbent Fritz Kaegi in the March primary by about 4 points. Sheriff: Thomas J. Dart, a sixth term, 85.5%. Clerk Monica Gordon (second term) and Treasurer Maria Pappas (eighth term) both ran unopposed.
County Board: Democratic incumbents Tara Stamps, Michael Scott Jr., Bill Lowry, Stanley Moore, Alma Anaya, Josina Morita (83.76% over her Republican challenger), Scott Britton, and Miranda Hernandez won; Patricia Joan Murphy won the open 6th District seat; Drake Warren won the 10th after beating incumbent Bridget Gainer in the March primary. Seats in districts 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, and 17 were pending or unverified in reviewed sources; in the 9th, incumbent Maggie Trevor was leading, uncalled. The board’s only Republican, Sean Morrison, did not seek re-election.
Water Reclamation District: Democrats Precious Brady-Davis (24.25%), Beth McElroy Kirkwood (24.07%), and Eira Corral Sepúlveda (23.64%) won the three six-year seats; Cameron Davis won the two-year seat unopposed. Judicial vacancy and retention outcomes were not verified in reviewed sources; retention requires 60% yes.
All six advisory questions passed by wide margins. The AP still lists them formally “too early to call” because mail ballots are outstanding, but no margin is close enough to plausibly flip. Advisory means advisory: none of these changes a law, spends a dollar, or binds the mayor or the Council. They are a measure of public sentiment — and on one question, that sentiment runs directly against a Johnson decision.
| Question | Result | Yes votes |
|---|---|---|
| Restart gunshot-detection technology (ShotSpotter) | Passed | 72.55% — 430,939 to 163,036 |
| Permanent festival / outdoor event space | Passed | 67.64% — 397,335 to 190,104 |
| Seek federal compensation for ICE-operation costs | Passed | 84.78% — 505,351 to 90,719 |
| Millionaire income-tax surcharge to fund K-12 (Chicago) | Passed | 80.42% — 477,284 to 116,214 |
| Penalties on vacant / underdeveloped properties to fund schools | Passed | 73.67% — 436,756 to 156,073 |
| Millionaire income-tax surcharge (Cook County) | Passed | 79.67% (single-source figure, provisional) |
The rebuke: Johnson ended the ShotSpotter contract in September 2024, once calling the sensors “walkie talkies on a stick.” Voters just told him, 72.55% to 27.45%, to bring gunshot detection back. Because the question is advisory, he and the Council can still ignore it — but an October letter already promised a six-month pilot in six police districts, and a committee-passed ordinance ordering a contract within 30 days still needs the full Council. The question did not mention cost, data retention, or false alerts.
The other direction: the progressive revenue advisories passed huge — the millionaire tax at 80.42% in the city and 79.67% countywide, the vacant-property penalty at 73.67%. That is consistent with the Johnson/CTU revenue agenda — but the millionaire tax needs a state constitutional amendment (Illinois requires a flat income tax) that never got called in Springfield. Both directions on this ballot are sentiment, not policy.
Binding mental-health-area questions in two Chicago areas and a 4th Ward monument question were unverified in reviewed sources at publication time.
The school board is the story, and it is a net loss for Johnson’s CTU coalition — but not a rout. The CTU lost the presidency it needed, and the new president — a full voting member from January who sets the board’s agenda — campaigned against CTU dominance over a board that hires CPS leadership and votes a nearly $10 billion budget. At the same time, the CTU still holds roughly half the district seats, and three Johnson appointees won or lead. The board that takes office January 15, 2027 will be divided, not CTU-run.
The money story matters for February. The anti-CTU side — Common Ground (~$2.6M+), INCS (~$1.74M), and real-estate industry players (~$8.3M across Nov. 3 races, per a Real Deal review of state and federal records) — proved it can win citywide in Chicago. That same infrastructure now turns to the February 23, 2027 mayoral race, where Johnson faces a wide challenger field. The school board result is the closest available preview of that electorate.
What to watch next: the remaining school board calls (especially 6A); the certified count after mail ballots arrive through Nov. 17; whether the Council acts on the gunshot-detection ordinance; and whether the divided board’s first votes in January confirm the balance of power described here. The next binding Chicago vote is February 23, 2027.
School board district calls attributed to the Sun-Times are headline-level (individual article URLs could not be retrieved) and are cross-supported by Chalkbeat, AP, and NBC figures wherever available. County-board and Water Reclamation figures rest on the Daily Northwestern’s and Windy City Times’ citations of Cook County Clerk unofficial results and AP data, not on a direct read of the Clerk’s results database. Figures will move as mail ballots arrive through Nov. 17; this page will be updated when the count is certified.
Chalkbeat: school board results Chalkbeat: Biggs declares victory Fox 32: school board president Fox 32: school board live results Fox 32: ballot questions The Real Deal: Biggs leads; $8.3M real-estate spending Loyola Phoenix: districts 2A, 2B, 4A (AP figures) Daily Northwestern: countywide sweep Daily Northwestern: Water Reclamation District Windy City Times: county board CTU endorsement list Chicago Patriot: advisory wrap Cook County Clerk: results archive Ballotpedia: 2026 local ballot measures
Associated Press ballot-question counts (Chicago-1 gunshot detection; Chicago-2 festival space; Chicago-3 ICE compensation; Chicago-4 millionaire tax; Chicago-5 vacant-property penalty) via AP’s election results pages, all at 1,212 of 1,291 precincts reporting.
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