Editorial: Mayor Brandon Johnson and the challenges that lie ahead

On Monday, Brandon Johnson, 47, born and raised in Elgin and a graduate of Aurora University, becomes the 57th mayor of Chicago. Johnson has been a union organizer, a Chicago Public Schools teacher and, since 2018, a Cook County commissioner.

He will become the chief executive of the third largest city in America, will serve more than 2.5 million people and manage a budget of more than $16 billion. And if you take his campaign at face value, he inarguably will become the most left-wing leader this city ever has elected.

In today’s opinion section, our columnists and contributors offer the new mayor, who made many big promises during his campaign, all kinds of unsolicited advice.

Already, a border crisis is threatening to upend the city’s budget, a reminder of how no mayor ever can be sure of what the future foretells. Already you can hear the sounds of purses tightening, in the city, the state and the nation.

But the best leaders maintain their core values.

We expect Johnson, who strikes us as an honest man, to continue his predecessor’s campaign against corruption and conflicts of interest of all kinds, including his own at negotiating tables. We similarly anticipate a vast improvement in a commitment to transparency, not one of the previous administration’s strongest suits.

We remind him that most Chicagoans are political moderates, that nobody elected the Chicago Teachers Union to run the city, and that warmed-over Marxist or racially divisive rhetoric, for which Johnson has shown a certain affinity, will alienate far more Chicagoans than it inspires.

Most Chicagoans look to their mayor to improve their everyday lives — to clear the snow, keep the CTA safe and reliable, keep the roads free from potholes and bring them together across racial and other divides when times are hard.

Johnson is an inspiring speaker and we trust he will put that to good use when it comes to the inevitable funerals, and also the good-news moments when he can help Chicagoans rediscover their sense of unity and civic pride.

We urge him to take an international view and use his gifts to promote the city’s attributes far and wide. We remind him of the importance of arts and culture, the things that make the city unique. We point out that the suburbs are neither hostile territory nor irrelevant to his quest for success. Pride in Chicago does not stop at the city limits and nor does investment in the city’s future. He should talk to Highland Park, Waukegan and Naperville. And he should not tax them for coming downtown for work or play.

Chicago’s downtown and its storied neighborhoods all will vie for Johnson’s attention, and we point out again that their economic fates are intertwined. This is not a zero-sum game. The city’s struggling areas need entrepreneurs more than they need handouts. They need new, dynamic residents and their existing local businesses need support. And kids need functioning schools that teach the necessary skills for success. The task is one of continuous improvement, not changing the measurements to protect an entrenched bureaucracy.

We also remind him that most Chicagoans are all Chicagoans by choice.They have the ability to get up and go if they feel like their new mayor has his hand unduly in their wallets or is failing to provide a safe environment for them to raise their children or walk their dog.

Mayors are not in the business of drastic redistribution of wealth for this very reason, tempting as it will be for many in Johnson’s camp. His best option will be to start with those neighborhoods, such as Bronzeville, that have immediate potential for growth, especially when it comes to attracting the racially diverse college graduates who represent so much of the city’s future.

Mayors are in the business of public safety and, given the current situation, if Johnson listens only to those who promote permissiveness and no personal or prosecutorial consequences, his administration will fall on a violent frontier. This is perhaps his biggest challenge of all.

His first responders, a group that includes the police, have the right to expect Johnson’s fervent support. They are risking their lives for this city.

Johnson must put some dissenters from the progressive orthodoxy he favors in his inner circle and protect them there. City Hall must not turn into a cabal of ideological conformity. Johnson must listen to his detractors as much as to those who will curry his favor.

We congratulate Johnson on his hard-won victory and wish him well.

Now read on, Mr. Mayor-elect.

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