Brandon Johnson won the race for Chicago mayor earlier this month despite being outspent by Paul Vallas by a nearly two-to-one margin, Illinois campaign finance records show.
Both candidates' latest quarterly reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections this week shed new light on how they spent their money through March 31.
From announcing his exploration of a run for mayor last fall through the end of March, Johnson's campaign spent more than $10 million. More than half of that - nearly $6.3 million - was spent in the runoff election alone, between March 1 and March 31.
Records show Vallas spent $18.6 million over the course of his campaign, $12.6 million of that during the runoff.
In the first quarter of the year alone, Johnson raised $8.6 million and spent $9.4 million, with $576,000 cash left on hand. Over that same period of time, Vallas raised $18.3 million and spent $17.7 million, with a reserve of $1.7 million at the end of March.
Vallas' campaign spent more than double what Johnson did on television ads, records show: $9.9 million to Johnson's $5 million over the course of the election cycle through March 31. Johnson won the runoff election on April 4 with 52% of the vote to Vallas' 48%.
"What it comes down to is money is a huge factor. But it's not the only factor," said Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group focused on money in politics.
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"You need to have money. It's necessary; you need it to get your message out. But it's not always enough," Kaplan continued. "If your message doesn't resonate with people, it doesn't matter how often it's on TV or how often you see it on the internet. It's not going to get you votes."
As he unveiled several City Council endorsements throughout the runoff, Vallas gave more than $235,000 to aldermanic candidates or Democratic organizations in wards that he ultimately ended up losing. He gave $67,850 to the 6th Ward Democratic Organization, headed by Ald. Roderick Sawyer, who endorsed Vallas. Vallas lost the 6th Ward, garnering 19% of the vote to Johnson's 81%. Vallas gave an additional combined $80,000 to 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn and the 15th Ward Democratic Organization, winning both of those wards.
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How did Johnson get the advantage? Kaplan said that while raising money is important - it's how candidates spend it that can really make a difference.
"It also depends on how you spend your money and what kind of strategy you use," Kaplan added. "Outside groups were tremendously important. They helped Brandon Johnson, they were boots on the ground, knocking on doors, talking to voters, getting them to go out to the polls, volunteers, members of the union organizations that supported him. Those turned out to be really pivotal factors in this race."
Johnson's campaign transferred $308,000 to the United Working Families political action committee, records show, with most of those funds earmarked for field operations. Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates chairs that PAC, which also reported an additional $137,000 in in-kind contributions to Johnson's campaign.
"These are skilled organizing organizations, these labor organizations, right? They know how to talk to people, they know how to get into the neighborhoods and that's what they did. In this case, they were on the ground, knocking on doors, talking to voters, having those conversations," Kaplan said. "It was a community organized effort in a lot of ways."
As a watchdog organization, Kaplan noted that Johnson's labor support - like any winning candidates and their financial backers - deserves careful study as they navigate the move from campaigning to day-to-day governing.
"Labor has always played an extremely important role in Chicago, so that's not new, but this level of connection between the mayor and certain parts of the labor movement in Chicago, that is new," Kaplan said. "It's going to put both the mayor and these organizations in a little bit of a delicate position. How do they advance their agendas while still showing the city that they're impartial?"
"So it's going to be a tough balance for Mayor Johnson, I think, to advance the agenda that helped get him elected while showing the city that he can be an impartial broker when it comes to dealing with the unions," she added.
