The morning after his “Welcome to Chicago” speech in front of a national audience at the Democratic National Convention, Mayor Brandon Johnson greeted a scene that could not have been more different from the towering stage and crush of TV cameras during his United Center spotlight.
Strolling into a gray-walled underground hotel room where the delegation of Mississippi Democrats had gathered for their Tuesday breakfast, the mayor hugged their chair, Cheikh Taylor, and murmured, “We are learning the muscle memory of our elders,” in a reference to him tapping into the strength of his ancestors, who hailed from the southern state’s town of Sallis.
Johnson would reference his lineage throughout the DNC as he sought to establish his stake in the rich fabric of African American history that led to Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for president.
“I couldn’t think of a better place for something of this magnitude to happen than Chicago,” Johnson said at the breakfast. “This country will be electrified once again out of the city of Chicago by way of Sallis, Mississippi, when we elect Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Now with the convention over, Johnson can hope Chicago’s smooth, successful turn as the host city will burnish his political star and inject fresh energy into a stalled progressive agenda.
At a morning-after news conference, the mayor betrayed few hints on what’s next on his to-do list, though he nodded to the urgency in addressing how Chicago Public Schools is “still woefully underfunded” and in investing in public transportation, environmental justice and housing. He also downplayed a looming budget gap that is expected for next year.
“And just for the record, Michael Jordan averaged 28 points a game his rookie year, and he led the Bulls to the playoffs,” Johnson quipped to reporters before noting the Chicago basketball legend went on to win six championships.
But Johnson has little time to bask in the city’s success before he has to get back to the prosaic and much harder work of trying to deal with the many local problems on his desk.
Plus, it remains to be seen how much political bounce the mayor gets from the big Democratic party that culminated in Vice President Kamala Harris accepting the presidential nomination Thursday night.
Credit for clinching this year’s convention went to Gov. JB Pritzker, whose personal wealth helped bankroll the event, along with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Johnson, who took office after the selection, was mainly tasked with the behind-the-scenes work of keeping city operations outside convention walls running.
Though the week concluded with visitors singing Chicago’s praises and far fewer dramatic police confrontations with protesters than projected, Johnson’s skeptics remained reluctant to hand him that victory.
“Certainly, the governor worked on this for years,” said Ald. Bill Conway, whose 34th Ward encompasses part of the convention footprint and downtown. “It’s the mayor’s city, but clearly this was the governor’s show, and it’s gone well as a result.”
All eyes on Chicago
For months, fears swirled that Chicago would relive its bloody 1968 convention.
To many, that fateful year made Chicago a poster child for police brutality and lawlessness. Despite being followed by the sanguine — and relatively forgettable — 1996 DNC, some pointed out 1968, like 2024, occurred with the backdrop of an incumbent Democratic president dropping out of the race and a roiling antiwar movement.
On the latter, Johnson’s early endorsement of a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war drew concerns from critics that his police would not be empowered to rein in protesters who were there to wreak havoc. And some organizations vowed to do just that.
But come Friday morning, the projections of colossal protest crowds and high-profile images of violent police clashes fell far short.
1 of 38
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, said by Tuesday, downtown businesses that had boarded up their windows were already taking down the coverings. He reopened a park abutting the Magnificent Mile in his ward, an acknowledgement that the worst had not come to pass.
“If this convention goes the way it’s going to the end, we can do some repair work for the damage our reputation has suffered,” Hopkins said midway through the week. “I think (Johnson’s) certainly increased his stature on the national stage. … We’ll see what he’s able to do, if that’s going to be a springboard to some other things.”
Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling said at Friday’s news conference there were 74 arrests across all four days: “So again, please, can we stop talking about 1968? 2024 is a new standard.”
Expectations of a surge in migrant buses from Texas as a tactic by Gov. Greg Abbott to embarrass Chicago and Democrats amid a national spotlight also fizzled after President Joe Biden signed an executive order in June limiting asylum-seekers’ arrivals at the U.S. border.
It will be weeks before the economic impact of the convention will be clear, and experts say the benefits of standalone events are often overhyped. Nonetheless, Chicago’s tourism industry netted $19.2 billion last year and conventions play a chief role, said Choose Chicago CEO Richard Gamble.
“I think this is going to showcase to the world, once again, that Chicago is a fantastic place,” Gamble said. “I would say this is one of those moments that will help shape and change the narrative about our city. I mean, every city in the country has something that it needs to work on, but sometimes we forget all the things that make our city great.”
Johnson on the national stage
As Johnson spent the week criss-crossing the city to make presentations to his most far-reaching audience so far, he deployed no shortage of hyperbole in describing Chicago: “The most pro-worker city in this nation.” “Capital of the world.” “The most sanctified city.”
And, his most-used phrase that was the kicker to his DNC speech: “The greatest freakin’ city in the world.”
Left with few actual convention responsibilities, the mayor instead embraced his cheerleader-in-chief role. He used his platform to deliver what he saw as a forceful rebuttal to the negative stereotypes Chicago has weathered from Republicans like former President Donald Trump and vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, who mocked the city this week as the “murder capital of the United States of America thanks to very failed Democrat leadership.”
Johnson seized on the chance to cast himself as part of the liberal vanguard against Trumpism.
“Do you understand how painful it is to watch the Republican Party?” Johnson said during an address to the Illinois delegate breakfast the next day. “The only thing that’s more painful than watching the Republican Party is breakdancing at the Summer Olympics.”
Johnson triumphed as the underdog in the 2023 mayoral election thanks in large part to the muscle of the Chicago Teachers Union, where he came up as an organizer, as well as enthusiasm for his leftist platform of racial justice and taxing the rich. But he has struggled to deliver some of his boldest promises, such as the Bring Chicago Home tax referendum, and continues facing headwinds in City Council, Springfield and elsewhere.
In his DNC events this week, Johnson tried to pave over those bumps during events mostly hosted by labor-friendly and Black political organizations, along with two panels run by national media. The mayor often paraded his early legislative victory of expanding the city’s paid time off requirements with the line: “The people of Chicago asked for a day off. I gave them 10.”
Johnson also boosted his progressive brand further when he came out the weekend before the DNC and described the Gaza war as “genocidal” before endorsing a demand from uncommitted delegates to grant a Palestinian American a speaking slot at the DNC. That effort failed, however.
The mayor cast a wide net with his appearances during the DNC despite mostly sticking to the same script.
He attended some private events with business audiences, such as a Monday evening reception with World Business Chicago, where he sought to make the pitch that a progressive agenda is not anti-business. At the same time, he continued to deride corporate interests such as the real estate industry, which successfully beat back the tax referendum, for being, as he said at one forum, “intimidated by Black, progressive leadership”.
Those are two labels that Johnson argued this week fit naturally together. “Progressivism is not an East Coast, white person agenda,” Johnson said Wednesday during a live taping of the New York Times podcast The Run-Up. “Descendants of slaves demand education, transportation, housing, good paying jobs and healthcare. Does that sound familiar, America?”
Johnson clearly enjoyed himself during the convention. Asked whether Chicago could host Democrats again in four years (as Pritzker suggested), the mayor responded “That sounds about right, doesn’t it?”
But not far from the high-minded rhetoric delivered to a national audience loomed the day-to-day difficulty of running Chicago.
That reality waiting for Johnson post-convention was embodied by the Thursday rally outside the convention by about two dozen members of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2 who gathered to call for a new contract they said is three years delayed.
“We feel like the mayor is slighting us a little bit,” 58-year-old firefighter Scott Mulcrone said. “The teachers have been without a contract for two months, and that’s all he cares about.”