With a key ally out of the City Council, Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to switch up the aldermen who hold the body’s power levers.
Johnson administration officials are lobbying aldermen with a plan to install a progressive Zoning Committee chair while winning over the council’s powerful ethnic caucuses with upgrades of their own.
But the final result of the mayor’s push to reassign chairmanships remains in question, aldermen said Wednesday.
“I don’t think it’s a done deal until it’s in writing, passed by committee and passed by the full City Council,” Ald. Daniel La Spata said at City Hall Wednesday. “I’ve seen too many things go sideways when actual voting happens.”
La Spata, 1st, confirmed that Johnson’s administration hopes to make him chair of the powerful Zoning Committee. That would make the Northwest Side progressive known for his interest in urban planning perhaps the biggest winner of the shake-up.
Ald. Andre Vásquez, 40th, would then take La Spata’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee chairmanship, while Ald. Jessie Fuentes, 26th, would snag Vásquez’s spot leading the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Committee, multiple sources said.
To finish off the dizzying line of trade-ups, veteran Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, would become Johnson’s vice mayor, and Ald. David Moore, 17th, would take Mitt’s position as chair of the Contracting Oversight and Equity Committee.
Moore said he pushed for the Black Caucus to get more seats. The South Side alderman said believes chairmanship choices should be made by aldermen themselves and determined by seniority.
“I don’t agree with everything,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but I am going to support. And I’m not just going to support it because I’m being appointed.”
Moore said he thinks the plan would pass.
He added Wednesday afternoon that he only heard from the Johnson administration asking if he’d be interested in taking a seat “about three hours ago,” a sign of the fast-moving negotiations over the seat swapping.
“This thing is always fluid,” Moore said.
Johnson struggled for months to fill the Zoning Committee seat after former Ald. Carlos Ramírez-Rosa, now Johnson’s Park District superintendent, resigned the position amid controversy.
Some aldermen were less sure of the much-speculated plans Wednesday morning. Johnson opponent Ald. Silvana Tabares, 23rd, said she didn’t expect the slate would be set till Thursday morning.
The moves were sparked by the resignation of former Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. Johnson appointed Burnett’s son, Walter Redmond “Red” Burnett, to fill his vacated 27th Ward seat.
The vice mayoralty is a largely ceremonial role — unless the mayor dies or vacates office — but comes with a $400,000 budget under Johnson, who benefited from Burnett serving as a loyal ally throughout his term. But that hefty line item could be a target during the upcoming 2026 budget fight where tough cuts must almost certainly be explored.
Meanwhile, the powerful zoning chairmanship controls critical legislation related to development and other land-use issues in Chicago. Johnson did not campaign against aldermanic prerogative — the de facto practice of deferring to the presiding alderman when it comes to projects within their ward — but has recently moved toward trying to undermine it amid some affordable housing and upzoning fights, so he will need a zoning chair he can trust to shepherd his agenda.
In the same Rules Committee meeting Thursday morning where aldermen are slated to weigh Johnson’s reorganization plan, they are also set to vote on and approve Burnett’s appointment.
Tribune reporter Alice Yin contributed.