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But the election bill given final approval by Senate Democrats Thursday on a 35-3 vote, with 18 Republicans voting “present” in protest, would further help Democrats maintain control in the next General Assembly. Under the measure, local political party organizations could no longer appoint candidates to fill out legislative ballots where the party did not field a primary candidate. Current law allows the appointment process within 75 days of the primary.

As we saw this week, the mob closed O'Hare Airport and travelers had to get out of their cars or miss their flights. Was this a "test run" for the convention? Probably so. Add Midway Airport plus local freeways and moving around the city will be a nightmare. Add to this the shooting, and who in the world wants to go to the convention? The convention hall is going to look like a fortress, and who knows what will break out on the floor? The Squad will be there and that's a formula for madness. My point is that this...

In 1985, Harold Washington issued an executive order that relaxed federal immigration laws under then-President Ronald Reagan, whose administration “aggressively used [the] detention of Central Americans as a device to deter migration from that region, where violent civil wars had caused tens of thousands to flee,” according to University of California Davis law professor Kevin Davis. Since Aug. 31, 2022, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bussed or flown to Chicago nearly 40,000 individuals seeking asylum in an effort to use the welcoming aspects of Washington’s executive order as a political cudgel. On April 14, Mayor Johnson called out the...

Disgraced Chicago Republican Party Chairman Steve Boulton, who embarassingly secured just 24 votes as a write-in candidate during March’s Primary after failing to submit the required signatures to earn a spot on the ballot, was in Springfield on Wednesday meeting with Republican leaders and a local representative of the Illinois Trump campaign. In an email to Chicago GOP committeemen from the state capitol, Boulton wrote: I had a great lunch with the head of the 2024 Trump Campaign in Illinois. Like the folks in Mar-a-Lago, he is very intrigued with the growth in the GOP in Chicago. I advised him...

Chicago Republican Party Chairman Steve Boulton has lost the election to save his 27th Ward Committeeman seat after he was originally knocked off the ballot for submitting an “insufficient number of valid signatures,” after receiving just 24 votes as a write-in candidate – falling far short while facing no opponent, and bringing a humiliating end to a term marked by controversy and losses. 111 signatures were required to appear on the March Primary ballot as a candidate for 27th Ward Committeeman. Boulton submitted a total of 310, but after careful review, it was discovered that only 103 signatures were valid...

The story began March 22, when a group called Behind Enemy Lines organized a protest near Chicago’s City Hall. The group says its purpose is to “stop the U.S.-Israel War Machine” and keep “Genocide Joe” Biden out of Chicago. “People are like, we want to confront some Zionists . . . we want to burn an Israeli flag, we want to take this protest to the next level.” As for the DNC, the group says it aims to “make bruises from Chicago police batons the 2024 back-to-school Fall fashion.” Democrats can’t be eager to have Joe Biden’s moment turn into...

After almost two weeks of uncertainty, Burke edged out Clayton Harris III for the nomination, with mail ballots tallied Friday sealing the most hotly contested race of the primary a full 10 days after the polls closed. The Associated Press called the race over — and the two candidates agreed.

A paid a visit to the local Post Office today. At the counter, I was told that the branch had no postage stamps available for purchase. None, nada, zero. How is this possible?

Porter grew up in the Englewood community of Chicago, according to her page on the Cook County Democratic Party website. She received a bachelor's degree from Cornell College then studied at Drake University Law School for her Juris Doctorate degree. Before joining the Circuit Court of Cook County, Porter worked as a lawyer, with licenses to practice in both New York and Illinois, and law professor. She is both an adjunct professor of law at Drake University Law School and a professor of law at Abraham Lincoln University School of Law.

A Cook County judge Wednesday ordered the state election board to remove former President Donald Trump from Illinois’ March 19 primary ballot but put her order on hold until Friday in anticipation of a likely appeal. Judge Tracie Porter’s decision comes amid national debate over whether Trump is disqualified from the presidency because of his actions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and whether that attack amounted to an insurrection.

Meeting on YouTube.

The hearing officer, a retired Republican judge, wrote a scathing assessment of Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection but said the courts ultimately should decide. The full board will consider the matter Tuesday Former Republican President Donald Trump participated in the fatal Jan. 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, but it’s the courts — and not the State Board of Elections — that should decide whether to remove him from Illinois’ primary ballot, a state hearing officer recommended Sunday.

President Trump could not sign the optional Illinois Loyalty Oath because the form required him to also state under penalty of perjury that he was a resident of Illinois. Trump is a Florida resident.

Trunp challenged forty-four minutes after nomination petitions were filed for the March 19, 2024 Illinois Primary Election

CHICAGO MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: It has to be better coordination. What we have seen is a raggedy form instituted by right-wing extremism. Everyone knows that the right-wing extremism in this country has targetted Democratically-ran cities and quite frankly, they've been very intentional about going after Democratically-ran cities that are led by people of color. Their whole motivation is to create disruption and chaos because that's what this particular party has been about. This is the same political party that did not want to accept that President Obama was actually an American. It's the same Republican right-wing extremism that stormed the...

“One, it’s difficult enough as a Republican. But more importantly, having Trump, who seems like he is the probable nominee of the party, is going to be even more, I would say, destructive on any Republican running in Cook County based on his performance four years ago,” Durkin said.“If I’m gonna get in the race, I have to know I can win it. I can’t run to compete. I can’t run to make a statement. And I just see no pathway to success under the circumstances in this environment in Cook County,” he said.

A political committee that helped expand the Democratic majority on the Illinois Supreme Court and was backed by Illinois Senate President Don Harmon emptied its bank account just weeks after being notified it faced one of the largest state election fines ever for failing to timely disclose millions of dollars it spent until after last November’s election. On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections issued a final order assessing $99,500 in fines against the All for Justice political action committee. The action followed a Tribune story earlier this year detailing the PAC’s reporting deficiencies as it spent more than $7.3...

Irsay made the comments in an interview with Andrea Kremer on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. “I am prejudiced against because I’m a rich, white billionaire,” Irsay said. “If I’m just the average guy down the block, they’re not pulling me in, of course not.” Kremer pressed Irsay, asking him if he knew how it would sound for a white billionaire to claim that he was being prejudiced against. Irsay, however, was unmoved. “I don’t care what it sounds like. It’s the truth. You know, Andrea, I could give a damn what people think how anything sounds or sounds like....

The stepdaughter of Vice President Harris is publicly raising money for Gaza, The Post has learned. Ella Emhoff, 24 — whose father, First Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish — affixed a fundraising drive “supporting urgent relief for Gaza’s children” on her personal Instagram account. It makes no mention of the scores of Israeli children murdered among the 1,400 innocent Israelis killed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. Her promotion puts the funding appeal in front of her 315,000 Instagram followers. The fundraiser, which has netted more than $7.8 million so far, is being operated by the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund,...

Moments after the presiding officer had attempted to adjourn the meeting, and after the lights had already been turned off in an effort to clear the chamber, Ald. Ray Lopez, 15th, walked up to an empty dais and made a motion to recess a hectic City Council meeting Thursday using his hand in the absence of a gavel. Minutes later Lopez would tell reporters the meeting was a “shitshow.” The meeting will be remembered as one of the City Council’s most chaotic since the infamous Council Wars of the 1980s.