Chicago businessman Willie Wilson on Monday joined the race for mayor of Chicago — for the fourth time.
Wilson announced this candidacy Monday evening at a gathering of several dozen supporters in East Garfield Park.
“Everywhere I go, citizens ask me to represent the city of Chicago,” Wilson said. “I believe in Chicago and I believe you deserve a leader who wakes up every morning ready to serve.”
He joins a crowded field that already includes several public officeholders — but does not officially include the man occupying the mayor’s office now.
In all, seven other people have announced the’re running in next year’s mayoral election. That includes two statewide officials, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Comptroller Susana Mendoza, as well as U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and Cook County Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has not officially declared whether he will run for reelection, though supporters have begun getting petitions signed on his behalf.
Without naming him, Wilson took a shot at Giannoulias for running for both mayor and secretary of state simultaneously.
“Some politicians are running for this office at the same time they are standing for reelection for their current office in November. … It may be legal, but it is morally wrong,” Wilson said.
In 2019, Wilson fell short of the runoff, finishing fourth overall with 10.6% of the votes in the first round of balloting. Much of his support came from predominately Black wards on the South and West sides. He missed the runoff again in 2023 with a lower share of the vote — 9.13%.
In total, he has lost three nonpartisan mayoral elections, and ran unsuccessfully for president as a Democrat in 2016. In 2020, he unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat under the “Willie Wilson Party.”
Monday evening, Wilson said he is “not a politician. I’m a servant of God. I do not use big words. I speak plain and have good common sense.”
The perennial political candidate was among a small group of leaders in Chicago calling on President Donald Trump to send the National Guard to Chicago, citing the shooting death of his own son in 1995, and he applauded federal forces being deployed in Los Angeles to quell protests against immigration agents.
Last municipal election cycle, Wilson ran against COVID-19 safety measures — such as social distancing requirements for churches and vaccination mandates for city employees — while pushing to increase police salaries, and eliminating red-light and speed cameras. He again vowed to hire multiple police superintendents and said he would eliminate policies restricting police chases.
Wilson has infused his campaign with $300,000 of his own money. He recently spent $27,000 on consulting and phone bills. In 2023, he donated $5 million to fund his campaign. In 2019, he gave his campaign $1.2 million.
Among his paid advisers is state Sen. Rickey Hendon. In 2023, Hendon was part of the Wilson campaign’s push to challenge ballot petition signatures collected by other candidates.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) was Wilson’s sole City Council endorsement in the 2023 election. Lopez is putting his support behind Mendoza this time around, though he still considers Wilson a “close personal friend,” Lopez told the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday. Lopez said Wilson would help make the race “dynamic” and “raise many of the issues that have been ignored” by Johnson’s administration.
“Unfortunately some people are taking issue with this being his fourth attempt,” Lopez said. “But I think it shows a commitment to this city, and the issues he’s raised in prior campaigns haven’t resolved themselves. Whatever his chances are, the man Willie Wilson continues to be a beacon of hope in this election that will be hard to ignore.”