SEIU Locals 1 and 73 — 50,000-plus janitors, security officers, door staff, airport and school workers who backed Johnson in 2023 — endorsed Alexi Giannoulias, the race’s biggest labor defection from the incumbent.
SEIU Local 1 and SEIU Local 73 announced their endorsement of Alexi Giannoulias on Oct. 20. Together the locals represent more than 50,000 janitors, security officers, door staff, airport and school workers.
The locals backed Johnson in 2023. Their defection is the race’s biggest labor break from the incumbent — and a signal to other unions weighing whether Johnson’s coalition still holds.
The endorsement also sharpens the labor map of the race: Johnson’s base has always been the Chicago Teachers Union, which backed his rise and remains his core institutional ally. SEIU’s move shows that base no longer speaks for organized labor as a whole.
Endorsements are organization, not just symbolism: 50,000 members mean canvassers, money, and ground game. For a challenger already leading the incumbent 25% to about 14% in the Mansueto/NORC poll, SEIU’s defection turns a polling lead into a field operation.
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