Candidates backed by pro-school-choice groups that oppose the Chicago Teachers Union are on track to win a slim majority on Chicago's first fully elected school board, including the presidency, according to preliminary results.
If current leads hold, those candidates would fill 11 of the board's 21 seats. Election officials are still counting ballots, and four district contests, in 3b, 5b, 6a and 7a, remain too close to call.
Jessica Biggs captured the presidency, defeating CTU-backed Hilario Dominguez. Her biggest single source of money, at more than $1 million, was Michael Sacks, a billionaire and longtime Democratic donor, while the union for school support staff, SEIU, also backed her early.
Unlike the current mayor-appointed president, who votes only to break ties, Biggs will cast a vote on every matter and set the board's agenda. To govern effectively, she will still need 10 other members on her side.
SEIU broke with the teachers union in 2024 after a fight over staffing in special education classrooms. A political action committee heavily funded by the SEIU Illinois State Council gave Biggs's campaign more than $200,000.
Sacks also poured more than $2 million into Common Ground Collective, a new anti-CTU political action committee, beginning in September. He has not answered requests for comment about why he spent so heavily.
The teachers union's endorsed candidates could still end up with nine seats if three of them hold narrow leads. CTU Vice President Jackson Potter said the union should have mobilized its ground game earlier and struggled to recruit candidates willing to take on the unpaid role.
Despite being outspent 5 to 1, we are in a virtual tie
Jackson Potter, Chicago Teachers Union vice president
A tight race downtown
In District 6a, which covers the Near North Side and West Town, school support worker Isaiah White holds a narrow edge over incumbent Anusha Thotakura and Northwestern University lecturer Brenda Lee Anderson, with fewer than 1,000 votes separating the three.
The Urban Center, a centrist school-choice group, and a political committee tied to the Illinois Network of Charter Schools together spent over $500,000 to elect White. Thotakura, backed by both the CTU and SEIU, appears to be dividing the left-leaning vote with Anderson.
What the new board inherits
Mail-in and provisional ballots can be counted through Nov. 17, with official results due Nov. 24. More than 568,000 votes have been tallied in the presidential race so far, compared with over 800,000 cast for school board candidates in 2024.
The incoming board, with as many as eight newcomers, may have to close a budget gap if state money the current board counted on does not come through during a November veto session. Members will also weigh school closures amid steep enrollment declines.
A majority of the presumed winners have pledged to ban all AI-based tools for students and employees, and most say they oppose automatically raising property taxes to the legal limit. Hal Woods of the parent advocacy group Kids First said neither faction can be assumed to control key decisions.
