CHICAGO: Young voters played a key role in Mayor Brandon Johnson's victory
Chicago’s new mayor got his job, in part, thanks to thousands of young voters who showed up to vote for the first time this year in the municipal runoff election.
While younger voters are historically less likely to vote than older voters, Chicagoans between the ages of 18 and 34 cast 27,500 more ballots in the April runoff than in the February general election — a 27% increase that was unmatched by the change among any other age group — according to data released by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
Overall, the growth in youth participation was higher in wards that Johnson won compared to wards mayoral candidate Paul Vallas won in the runoff, according to a WBEZ analysis of the board’s data.
This data, released on May 5, represents roughly 81,000 more paper and mail-in ballots, tabulated by age group, than the data WBEZ used for its most recent report on youth voting just after the April 4 runoff election.
“Younger voters tend to show up in presidential years, drop off a bit but still show up for midterm years,” said Max Bever, director of public information at the board of elections.
https://www.wbez.org/stories/young-voters-helped-chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-win/af53dd5d-3a4b-4cca-afb1-3f5a5607a06b
