Former CEO of Chicago Public Schools Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson advanced to a runoff.

However, Lightfoot received praise for her efforts to build affordable housing, repair dilapidated areas of the city, and raise the minimum wage.

[66] Polling of the race was largely inconsistent but indicated that Lightfoot was in danger of losing re-election and that the candidates with the best chance of making a runoff were Lightfoot, U.S. Representative Chuy García, Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, and businessman Willie Wilson.

[67] However, many organizations in the coalition of labor unions and progressive groups that supported García in his 2015 mayoral campaign instead backed Johnson in 2023.

[68] Lightfoot faced controversy when she emailed public school teachers offering school credit for students who interned on her campaign[69] and when she told South Side residents to either vote for her or not vote at all,[70] while Vallas faced accusations that he lived outside the city.

[71] Lightfoot ran ads tying García to Sam Bankman-Fried and Michael Madigan and accusing Johnson of wanting to reduce police budgets.

[68][75] Several days before the election, Fran Spielman of the Chicago Sun-Times opined that polls demonstrated Paul Vallas to be the top front-runner, being likely to place either first or second in the initial round of voting and advance to a runoff, with Garcia, Johnson, and Lightfoot in contention for the second runoff spot.