Mike Quigley
US Representative, 5th District. Candidate for mayor of Chicago, on the ballot February 23, 2027.
In Congress since 2009 and a Cook County commissioner for a decade before that; 68, has lived in Lakeview since 1982, married with two daughters. Filed on the first day and calls this his last and biggest fight.
Full platform, open to comments
Campaign website (quigleyforchicago.com)
Campaign money
- Committee: Friends of Mike Quigley
- Raised: $332K
- Spent: $544K
- Cash on hand: $343K
- Raised July 1 to Sept. 30, 2026; spent Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2026. Includes a $200,000 transfer from his congressional committee. 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
3.6% of likely voters in the ChicagoSpeaks poll, Sept. 2026 (Mansueto Institute / NORC). 6.6 points of support per $1 million spent.
What they would do
- Says the next mayor has to be willing to lose the job to fix the city's finances.
The next mayor has to be willing to risk the job to save the city.
(Sun-Times, Aug. 13, 2026) - Build or preserve 50,000 homes in four years and legalize four-flats and backyard units citywide.
Our goal is to provide affordable housing, which is critical for safety and generational wealth
(Sun-Times, Aug. 13, 2026) - Move 600 officers from desk jobs back to patrol instead of hiring 1,000 more, and restructure how city government operates.
We are not going to be able to provide basic city services unless we restructure how our government operates,
(CBS Chicago, June 27, 2026) - Reopen neighborhood mental health clinics and send mental health teams to crisis calls.
AI summary
Main points
Housing: Build or preserve 50,000 homes in four years, allow four-flats and backyard units across the city, and send TIF money to affordable housing. No new rent restrictions.
Police: Move 600 officers from desk jobs back to patrol, cap overtime, and replace eight oversight bodies with one elected board.
Budget and pensions: Start with the savings a city-paid report already identified, make raising taxes the last option, and make honest trade-offs on pensions so they do not fail.
Next to the others
Housing target: Quigley and Giannoulias both aim for 50,000 homes.
Police staffing: Quigley would redeploy desk officers rather than hire; Kelly and Mendoza would hire or fill vacancies; Wilson wants four superintendents.
Pensions: Quigley talks about changing what people pay in and when they collect; Kitover would freeze taxes until Springfield reforms pensions; Giannoulias would consolidate the funds.
On money
Would start with the hundreds of millions in yearly savings a city-paid report already identified, treat raising taxes as the last option, and tell people plainly that the pension funds will fail without trade-offs.
The last option needs to be raising taxes.
(CBS Chicago, June 27, 2026)We're not gonna take away your pension, but it will fail,
(Sun-Times, Aug. 13, 2026)Every dollar that we are wasting is a dollar we can't spend on housing, public safety, parks, mental health, our kids.
(quigleyforchicago.com)
Pizza
Correct. Tavern-style. His pick is Pat's Pizzeria on Lincoln Avenue, and he delivered for Leona's and served slices at Al & Joe's on his Undercover Congressman shifts.
My visit to Pat's made it clear that there's nothing quite like Chicago's tavern-style pizza
(Press release, May 31, 2024)
Also on the record
- Has taken 200 stitches playing hockey, which he has played since he was six, and co-chairs the Congressional Hockey Caucus. (quigleyforchicago.com)
- Worked a garbage truck, a hot dog stand, and the Dinkel's bakery counter as the Undercover Congressman. (quigley.house.gov)
Compiled from public sources: