While supporters on Thursday circulated petitions outside City Hall, the movement to recall Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson picked up a major endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police.
"We are going to join hands, get signatures and make this happen, and I guarantee you we will have the 56,000-plus signatures and we will have enough for a challenge too," said FOP Lodge 7 President John Catanzara.
Dan Boland, the man who started the recall drive, said the group already has a couple hundred of the petition signatures, but it will need more than 56,464 to get the matter on Chicago's November ballot.
"I think we have the momentum on our side," Boland said. "I think that people are very upset with the current mayor, but it's not even about him; it's about having a mayoral recall because it's good government."
The recall process is not an easy one. First signatures must be gathered to get the ordinance on the fall ballot. Then, if approved, a new set of signatures would be required to call for the recall of the mayor. The earliest a vote could take place on that recall would be March 2026.
Still, many Chicago residents were not aware that there is currently no provision for recalling the city’s chief executive.
"I think they should do it, see what happens," said Jackie Graves on State Street.
"We got a lot in this city that needs to be done and not the man taking care, especially downtown," he said.
The police union accuses Mayor Johnson of violating its recently signed contract by not following through on provisions that would allow for private mediation in serious discipline cases.
"We all want the same finish line, but we are here for very different reasons," Catazara said. "We're here because this anti-union mayor has violated a contract that he ratified not only once, not only twice, not only three times, but four times."
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Boland said he would like to see the mayor, who campaigned on accountability and transparency, sign his petition, but he doesn’t think that will happen. The petitions are available for download on his "Recall This Fall” website.
Boland said he hopes people sign them and circulate them in Chicago's neighborhoods. The group will also make the rounds at events around Chicago this summer.
"We are going to be at street fests and music fests and parades, neighborhood block parties and garden walks, and we are going to be on the beaches of Chicago,” said Boland, a Lake View resident.
A spokesman for the mayor’s office said the administration had no comment on the recall drive.
