Under this system, if no candidate secures an outright majority of the first-round vote a runoff will be held between the top-two finishers.
[4] An act passed on March 4, 1837, had required that voters in municipal elections would need to be residents of the wards in which they voted and must be freeholders.
[3] Under the law of 1849-50 requirements were added, mandating (at the time) that voters reside in the town where they voted and must have lived in the state of Illinois for at least a year.
[3] In 1875, the election guidelines outlined in the original city charter were abandoned in favor of those outlined in the Cities and Villages Act of 1872, which changed the date of mayoral elections (mandating that they be scheduled for the last Tuesday in April of odd-numbered years).
[5] In time for the 1911 election the Illinois legislature passed a law which scheduled Chicago mayoral party primaries for the last Tuesday of February.
[6] On June 26, 1913, Illinois became the first state east of the Mississippi River to grant women's suffrage.
[6] Under this new system, the initial round of voting is held on the last Tuesday of February (when party primaries were formerly scheduled),[6] with any runoff taking place in April.
[6] Mayoral candidates must be a registered voter who has resided in the City of Chicago for at least one year before the date of the election.
[10] They will also be unable to take office if they have been convicted in any United States court of any infamous crime, bribery, perjury, or other felony.
[10] If any candidate fails to file a statement of economic interests within five days of having their petition certified, then their certification will be revoked.
Additionally, all but two of the individuals that have been elected mayor of Chicago have been male (the exceptions being Jane Byrne and Lori Lightfoot).
Additionally, a record eleven African American candidates filed to run in the 2019 election (Conrien Hykes Clark, Dorothy Brown, Amara Enyia, La Shawn Ford, Ja'Mal Green, Neal Sales-Griffin, Lori Lightfoot, Sandra Mallory, Toni Preckwinkle, Roger L. Washington, Willie Wilson).
[15] William "Dock" Walls and Troy LaRaviere had also been candidates in that election, but dropped out without officially filing petitions.
African Americans who had unsuccessfully sought election as mayor after Washington died in office and before the 2019 election include Timothy C. Evans, Sheila A. Jones[14] Eugene Sawyer, and James C. Taylor[16][17] in 1989; James Warren in 1991: Danny K. Davis in both 1991 and 2011; Joseph E. Garner and Lawrence C. Redmond in 1995; Roland Burris in both 1995 and 2011; Bobby Rush in 1999; Paul Jakes,[18][19] Joseph McAfee[18][20] and Patricia McAllister[18][21] in 2003; Dorothy Brown in 2007; William "Dock" Walls III in 2007, 2015, and 2019; Carol Moseley Braun, Patricia Van Pelt Watkins, and James Meeks in 2011; Amara Enyia and Willie Wilson in 2015.
[25] Subsequent Catholics to be elected mayor include Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne, William Emmett Dever,[26] Edward Joseph Kelly, Martin H. Kennelly, Richard J. Daley, Michael Anthony Bilandic, Jane Byrne, Richard M. Daley.
[23][27] Several Hispanic candidates have unsuccessfully sought election as mayor in the past including William E. Rodriguez in 1911; Gery Chico and Miguel del Valle in 2011; Jesús "Chuy" García in 2015; Gery Chico, Neal Sales-Griffin,[24][28] and Susana Mendoza in 2019.
No woman has otherwise served as Mayor of Chicago Women who had unsuccessfully sought election as mayor prior to Byrne's successful campaign in 1979 include Grace Gray in 1935 (the first woman ever to file to run for mayor of Chicago)[36] and Willie Mae Reid in 1975 Women who have unsuccessfully sought election as mayor since Byrne won election include Byrne herself (she unsuccessfully ran in 1983, 1987, and 1991); Sheila A. Jones in 1983 and 1989; Patricia McAllister in 2003;[18][21] Dorothy Brown in 2007; Carol Moseley Braun and Patricia Van Pelt Watkins in 2011; and Amara Enyia in 2015 Seven women had filed to be candidates in the upcoming 2019 election: Dorothy A.
Only two foreign-born individuals have been elected or otherwise served as mayor, Joseph Medill and Anton Cermak.
The only arguable exception to this is Thomas Hoyne, who ran a write in campaign in the disputed April 1876 election that courts ruled invalid.
The following graph and table provide information regarding the number of candidates who participated in each election.
Democratic Whig Liberty Independent Democrat Independent Temperance Party Republican Know Nothing/American People's Socialist Labor/Socialist Party USA Union Citizens Independent Republican Municipal Ownership Cook County Labor Party People's Ownership Smash Crime Rings Solidarity Harold Washington The follow table displays the results which parties achieved for elections in which they put forth a singular nominee A number of individuals have been elected by a vote aldermen to fill mayoral vacancies, either as acting or interim mayor.
[118] On March 14, 1933, Frank J. Corr was elected mayor pro tempore by the city council following the assassination of Anton Cermak.
[122] Following the death in office of Richard J. Daley the city council voted on December 28, 1976, to appoint Michael Bilandic to serve as mayor up until a special election in 1977.
[123] The result of the City Council vote, effectively a yay or nay vote on appointing Bilandic, was as follows:[124] In support of Bilandic: 45 (93.75%) Rejecting Bilandic: 2 (4.17%) Abstaining: 1 (2.08%) On December 2, 1987, following the death in office of mayor Harold Washington, the Chicago City Council voted to appoint Eugene Sawyer to serve as mayor up until a special election in 1989.