The union chief tied that backing to Johnson’s school record, saying he gave Chicago Public Schools $1 billion and delivered gains the governor did not fund.
That endorsement revives scrutiny of Johnson’s union ties: CTU backed him in 2023, direct union contributions topped $2.6 million, and teachers unions collectively spent more than $6 million on his campaign.
The alliance comes as CPS faces falling enrollment, rising costs and criticism over academics, while CTU’s 2024 bargaining agenda carried more than 700 demands that one estimate put above $50 billion.
Johnson, a former CTU organizer, also sits at the center of CPS’s governance shift to a fully elected 21-seat school board by January 2027, keeping union influence over city education politics in focus.