2026 elections: What to know about Illinois governor election, Chicago mayoral election and 2026 midterm elections

CHICAGO (WLS) — The New Year is shaping up to be very busy on the Illinois political scene with the primary in March and the midterms in November expected to revamp the congressional delegation.

And then, there is the campaign for governor, along with the fall kickoff to the Chicago mayor’s race.

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For any student or lover of politics, 2026 will be nothing short of a banner year with so many races and a bumper crop of candidates vying for what could be an unprecedented number of open congressional seats. Voters will have plenty to think about this year.

“It’s going to be a very active and volatile year, for Democrats in particular. You’ve got four congressional races, four open seats that are going to be extremely competitive,” said ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington.

And there are a host of candidates running in the primary for those Democrat-held House seats.

In the race to replace Rep. Danny Davis, 13 Democrats are running in the 7th District primary. Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s 9th District has drawn interest from 17 candidates. With Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi giving up their seats to run for the U.S. Senate, Kelly’s 2nd district has 10 Democrats in the primary, and there are another eight in Krishnamoorthi’s 8th District.

“A lot of women are running, which is very good. You know, some old timers are running, but the progressive young folks are doing a heck of a job. They’re not so much talking issues as they are talking how much Donald Trump doesn’t belong in the White House,” said Mercury Public Affairs Illinois Co-Chair Thom Serafin.

Sen. Dick Durbin’s decision to retire set the political dominoes in motion and opened the door for a combined 17 Democrats and Republicans to run to replace him.

“I think the generational change has been a long time coming, and a lot of people are excited about getting some fresh faces and some new perspectives in Congress, particularly from Illinois,” Washington said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget battle defeat to a group of renegade Chicago City Council members could make for a challenging new year for him.

“The city council is emboldened. They won a big victory with this budget, and I think that they’re going to be loaded for bear, and they’re going to be looking for more victories, and they’re not going to be holding back,” Washington said.

A weakened Johnson could spur a lot of challengers to file petitions next fall to run against him.

“I think he’s going to be one of the two candidates in the runoff in the spring of ’27 which is, you know, a long way away, but everybody’s positioning themselves now for getting into that race,” Serafin said.

Billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is running for a third term, with six Republicans set to square off in the primary to challenge him in November.

“I think JB Pritzker’s job is going to be to get out the vote, to make a very definitive statement by winning in a landslide. He’s going to want to really win big this time around, particularly because he has presidential aspirations,” Washington said.

With so many races, that also means voters will face an avalanche of political ads on TV, in their mailboxes and on their electronic devices. The primary election is only two-and-a-half months away.