Joe Holberg
Fintech founder and former West Side teacher. Candidate for mayor of Chicago, on the ballot February 23, 2027.
Founded the wealth advisory firm Spring, sold to Mariner in 2023, after teaching middle school math on the West Side; 38, a first-generation college graduate who lives in Lincoln Park with his wife and two children. The first candidate to enter, in October 2025, and filed 32,000 signatures.
Full platform, open to comments
Campaign website (joeforchicago.com)
Campaign money
- Committee: Joe For Chicago
- Raised: $155K
- Spent: $201K
- Cash on hand: $1.1M
- Raised July 1 to Sept. 30, 2026; spent Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2026. The committee owes the candidate $950,000 in loans, about 70 percent of what it has raised. Source
Money figures are each committee's quarterly reports to the Illinois State Board of Elections: spent is total expenditures from January 1 to September 30, 2026 (or since the committee formed), cash is funds available on September 30.
Support
1.7% of likely voters in the ChicagoSpeaks poll, Sept. 2026 (Mansueto Institute / NORC). 8.5 points of support per $1 million spent.
What they would do
- Turn the city's economic engine back on and reverse population loss, with a goal of 100,000 new homes.
I am running for Mayor of Chicago because I have a vision to turn our economic engine back on
(NBC Chicago, Oct. 2026) - Fix the CTA as a daily rider, starting with clean trains.
When riders sit in cars that reek of urine, their first thought is whether they can take an Uber next time.
(Streetsblog Chicago op-ed, July 16, 2026) - Balance the budget, then freeze and lower property taxes.
Number one, we have to balance the budget.
(CBS Chicago, Aug. 5, 2026) - Leads with his years as a teacher on the West Side.
I was a teacher on the West Side, first and foremost,
(CBS Chicago, Aug. 5, 2026)
AI summary
Main points
Economy: Cut red tape for businesses, recruit national and global companies, and train workers for fields like quantum, clean energy, and AI.
Budget: Balance the budget, freeze and then lower property taxes, reduce spending, and work with unions and the state on pensions.
Schools, safety, transit: Get chronically absent students back in class, more community policing and mental health crisis teams, and a cleaner, safer, more reliable CTA.
Next to the others
Only Holberg: A plan aimed at growing the city's population, and a 100,000-home target, twice Giannoulias's and Quigley's.
Taxes: Holberg, Wilson, and Kitover promise lower taxes; Giannoulias would hold the levy flat; Quigley calls raising them the last option.
Mental health: Holberg, Quigley, and Johnson would expand mental health crisis response.
On money
Would balance the budget first, grow the tax base so each person pays less, freeze and then lower property taxes, and start cutting with the city's vehicle purchases.
If we grow and expand our tax base, not only will we have more revenue, but each of us will pay less,
(CBS Chicago, Aug. 5, 2026)We buy $25 million too many vehicles a year,
(CBS Chicago, Aug. 5, 2026)
Pizza
No position on record.
Also on the record
- Was homeless in college and slept in his car; his parents were a lighting technician and a school aide. (cbsnews.com)
Compiled from public sources: