Oh joy! Another election....

Unlike many judicial elections (which, at least in theory, are more genteel events than elections for Chicago's Mayor and City Council) Chicago City Council elections are seldom uncontested.

Ten candidates, you may have heard, have lined up to oppose Mayor Lori Lightfoot's reelection bid.

Second Ward Alderperson Brian Hopkins faces no opposition in his reelection bid. Neither does 17th Ward Alderperson David Moore, 27th Ward Alderperson Walter Burnett Jr., 32nd Ward Alderperson Scott Wauguespack, or 47th Ward Alderperson Matt Martin. But that's it. There are at least two candidates (pending the outcome of possible petition objections) in each of the other 45 aldermanic contests.

There are currently 14 candidates for the open 21st Ward seat (although current Ald. Howard Brookins, Jr. was unsuccessful in his 2022 countywide judicial bid, he nevertheless opted not to run for reelection to the City Council). Thirteen candidates filed to replace outgoing 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer (he's opted to run for Mayor); twelve more filed to replace outgoing 5th Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston.

Judges, once elected, are freed from the burden of future contested primaries. Their continued employment is determined in 'yes or no' retention elections (every six years for judges of the Circuit Court, every 10 for judges of the Supreme or Appellate Courts).

Chicago alderpersons, of course, have no such luck. While, as noted, five City Council incumbents will have no obstacle to their reelection, every alderperson in my area of the City (just as an example) faces one or more challengers.

Ald. Nicholas Sposato will have to overcome five challengers (Cynthia M. Santos, Ed Bannon, Franco Reyes, Gregory T. Schorsch, and Bruce Randazzo) in order to win reelection in the 38th Ward. In the 45th Ward, incumbent Ald. Jim Gardiner also faces five challengers (Susanna Ernst, Megan Mathias, Marija Tomic, Ana Santoyo, and James Suh).

Incumbent Ald. Samantha "Sam" Nugent faces a challenge from Denali Dasgupta. In my own 41st Ward, incumbent Anthony V. Napolitano faces a challenge from attorney Paul Struebing.

Interestingly, neither the incumbent City Clerk (Anna M. Valencia) nor the incumbent City Treasurer (Melissa Conyears-Ervin) drew a challenger to their reelection bids. Every rule has an exception.

The complete list of candidates filing for the 2023 Chicago primary can be found at this link.