Before the primary winner of the Mayor’s Office of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, gave a splash, another candidate for the Democratic Mayor’s Office of the great city with progressive good faith unexpectedly broke into the national political scene.
Two years later, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s The tenure has captured so much negative attention (called “the worst mayor of the United States” by the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal) that Mamdani’s campaign has taken note. Mamdani’s camp is tracking Johnson’s challenges and trying to avoid repeating the false steps of the second city, according to a person close to Mamdani and Johnson’s teams.
Johnson is not the only progressive mayor of major cities in the country, and his problems would not automatically translate into ideological allies. Mamdani himself has “repeatedly cited” another progressive mayor as a model to follow, as the Boston Globe said: the mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu.
But Johnson’s mandate in Chicago serves as a useful early warning system for some of the problems Mamdani could face in New York, either in a general choice of multiple ways or as a mayor, if he wins in November. Chicago councilor, Jeanette Taylor, a strong ally of the campaign that also criticized some of the mayor’s first decisions, pointed out how critics often get the word “socialism” to blame Johnson for long -date problems that the city faces. It is a phenomenon, he added, that Mamdani could face in a similar way.
“People make this a bad word. People make this something that is not. Let’s call all this what it is: this is the way the rich remain rich and the poor remain poor, because they make us fight against S, that simply does not even matter,” he said.
Johnson was a county commissioner, school teacher and union organizer when He jumped to many more candidates proven in battle to ensure the city mayor. While Mamdani knocked out former governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primaries in New York City, before Cuomo began a third -party career, Johnson eliminated Mayor Lori Lightfoot of the dispute with his rise.
Johnson, who does not call himself a democratic socialist, but believes in many of the same principles as Mamdani, was taken to charge by a coalition backed by the powerful union of Chicago teachers and the black and brown voters of the city. He promised to join fractured coalitions and lift the most vulnerable. He represented the change, and his strong roots in the community as an activist, father and resident of a neighborhood who struggles with crime gave hope around the new efforts towards equality in a city deeply segregated by race and income.
The young and energetic activist with passion for fighting the inequality of wealth and lifting the city’s left neighborhoods in office with a lot of promise. But it hasn’t been well since then.
“They lost the plot,” said the person close to Mamdani and Johnson’s teams about Johnson’s mandate. The person pointed out that, while both Johnson and Mamdani have specific visions, they said Mamdani is “pragmatic and wants to succeed”, but sometimes he described Johnson as inflexible.
One of the most important false steps, said the person, was whom Johnson brought to his administration, adding: “The staff is very important. He needs professionals who can execute his vision. Those may not be the same people who directed their campaign.”
One of Mamdani’s recent communications hiring comes with a deep experience. Dora Pekec, who once served as a campaign manager for Chicago Billgo Conway Councilor, also worked with the majority of PAC representatives before directing communications for Brad Lander in her career in the Mayor’s Office in New York. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio also recently suggested that employees under his administration would be mature to choose from.
It was a point that the representative Jesus “Chuy” García, D-Bill., Also stressed. Garcia was one of those who lost in the first round of the Mayor’s elections of Chicago.
“When progressives run for a high position, it is essential to be ready to govern,” Garcia wrote in a text message. “Governing implies a balance between promises (ideals) and making the government wheels turn. You need to gather a team that understands their priorities and provide services, maintain relations with interested parties, especially a base while expanding through commitment. Intergovernmental relations must be really interested.”
“The experience in the development and execution of plans is more important. This applies to Johnson and when Mamdani is chosen,” he continued.
Agendas and obstacles
While trying to advance his agenda, Johnson faced a series of challenges that face Chicago, and his popularity began to slide. With some exceptions, the observers say that it was less Johnson Pushing the extreme left policies and more about the mayor’s confrontation style, his struggles to communicate and his inability to forge alliances with state and federal officials.
Even while progressing in the areas of Public Security and Mental Health, Johnson rooted in large and small battles, cultivating an air of drama on his town hall.
While Johnson avoided criticism during his campaign that he would be owned by the Teacher Union, those concerns persisted. He made a teacher contract without interruptions in the school year, it is not a small feat, but proved to be a terrible math and messy experience that could bring lasting political retaliation. He went to war and fired a CEO of popular schools, and also saw the resignations of the entire Education Board, which Johnson had designated.
Johnson almost immediately saw his shipyard coalition An influx of migrants to whom Texas Greg Abbott entered Chicago without prior notice. Like other important cities at that time, Chicago dealt with how to adequately house families competing for legal status. The city crashed with its own residents, even in color neighborhoods, with much of the political reaction that affects Johnson.
He and Governor JB Pritzker, a Democratic partner, share an icy relationship at best. He closed horns with his municipal council on the great political decisions. He broke a campaign promise by looking for an increase in the property tax of $ 300 million and then suffered the humiliation of a 50-0 council defeat.
William Daley, son of Mayor Richard J. Daley and his brother of Mayor Richard M. Daley, said that Johnson’s problems are referred at least partially from the lack of experience in the management of an expansive budget and supervise tens of thousands of employees. Predicted that, if chosen, the Mamdani, 33, could face similar political problems Like Johnson.
“It is a very difficult job if you have never been in politics or in a job that manages something big,” said Daley, pointing out his brother’s previous experience before his mayor’s office. “Rich had eight years as a state prosecutor … He had that experience for eight years, directing something. It is not an easy task for these people who have never directed anything.”
Johnson’s predecessors had their own deficiencies, from public corruption to the massive failures of civil rights, the relentless crime and the poor fiscal management that still pursues the city today. In 2008, the then Mayor Richard M. Daley sold the city parking lots to private investors for 75 years, exchanging billions of dollars in future income to connect a budget hole for a single payment.
Taylor, the member of the City Council of Chicago, said that, although Johnson “made some rookie mistakes,” he is receiving the worst part of the fault of the mistakes shared by the predecessors.
“Do you think that in 22 months we have fallen a hole of $ 1.5 billion?” She said of those who blame Johnson. “Mathematics is not mathematics.”
New beginnings
Politically, things have potential to look for Johnson. Trump has siced his justice department in the mayor to investigate his hiring practices after Johnson had discussed the hiring of black people for key positions. Johnson replied that his hiring reflected the country and the city, while Trump’s hiring reflected a “field club.”
He realized conservative circles, with cable news hosts that criticized Johnson as they had done with Lightfoot. In an interview, he said that Mamdani could expect the same.
Lightfoot often responded, and that brought his own repercussions.
“It is difficult to fight against the type that has the largest megaphone in the world,” said Lightfoot. “Many of us who were black women, like me in Chicago, like Muriel Bowser in DC, like Keisha Lance Bottoms in Atlanta, when he mentioned us by name in a derogatory way, honestly, death threats crossed the roof.”
Going to the second half of his mandate, Johnson can point out public security as one of his greatest achievements. Observers largely applaud their choice of Superintendent Larry Snelling to direct the Police Department, as well as the policies that the mayor has implemented, such as promoting mental health services, restructuring the Detective Office and supporting the methods of violence intervention.
He The number of murders in the city has fallen for two consecutive years, and Chicago could be on its way to achieving the objective of the mayor of having less than 500 homicides this year for the first time in a decade.
“The main approach of Mayor Johnson during his first two years in office has been to reduce violent crime in Chicago. Since he assumed the position, Chicago has seen historical reductions in crime and violence under the holistic approach of the Johnson administration,” said a spokesman for Johnson’s office in a Declaration, citing a 33% drop in homicides in the first six months of 2025 and a 38% drop in the shootings in that same period. He also boasted to have the highest homicide clearance rate in more than a decade.
As for Johnson’s survey numbers, “The narration that Mayor Johnson is unpopular has been built by a small number of well -financed political organizations opposed to the mayor’s progressive agenda,” the statement said.
