Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s inauguration plans set
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Brandon Johnson will officially become Chicago’s next mayor during an inauguration ceremony at Credit Union 1 Arena on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus on May 15.
Johnson’s transition team released new details Tuesday about the plans for his swearing-in, which include the inauguration ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m. at the venue formerly known as the UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave., for which tickets will be made available. That will be followed, starting at 2 p.m., by an open house at City Hall that will be open to the public.
A schedule of weekend events leading up to the inauguration are also in the works.
“This was always a movement of, by, and for the people, and that’s the spirit we’re going to bring to inauguration day,” Johnson said in a news release. “I want every single Chicagoan to feel that together, we’re writing a new chapter for our city, because we are. The goal of this inauguration is to be as collaborative and inclusive as possible, because that will be the goal of our government in City Hall.”
Johnson’s inaugural committee includes civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson; film producer Gigi Pritzker, a cousin of Gov. J.B. Pritzker; state Sen. Robert Martwick; Linda Johnson Rice, former chairwoman and CEO of Johnson Publishing Co. and current president of the Chicago library board; and 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez; among others.
More details on the open house and tickets for the inauguration will be provided Monday at the mayor-elect’s website.
As a one-term Cook County commissioner and a Chicago Teachers Union organizer, Johnson was relatively unknown when he entered the mayor’s race last year. But his progressive platform and charismatic persona caught on with voters and he placed second in the initial round of voting in February, advancing to an April runoff with the more conservative Paul Vallas and knocking incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot out of the race.
Johnson then topped Vallas in the runoff by about 26,000 votes, or about 4 percentage points, to become Chicago’s 57th mayor.
