Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson suggested to attendees at a church appearance that he will be firing several city employees within his administration.
The musing reportedly stunned those in attendance at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church on Monday night.
The Democratic mayor said he wants to correct the mistake he made of not cleaning “house faster” when he took office in May 2023.
“If there was something I could change or do differently or just reset, I would have cleaned house faster,” Johnson said in response to a question about his performance as mayor.
“I was raised a certain way. I’m just being honest. And there were a number of people that I inherited in my administration. And I was trying to show godly presentation that we can work with people who come from other administrations. … They don’t have to agree with me 100% to work within my administration,” the mayor said.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have done that. If you ain’t with us, you just gotta go,” he declared. “So now I’m in a position where I’ll be making some decisions in the days to come because playing nice with other people who ain’t about us — it’s just a waste of exercise.”
Johnson is one of the nation’s most unpopular mayors. A poll showed earlier this month that Johnson has an approval rating around 14% with 80% disapproving of his performance as mayor.
The top issue for the Chicago respondents in the poll was crime. The city’s residents reported over 28,400 instances of violent crime in 2024, though homicides were down for the third year in a row.
Johnson added on Monday that the public should “find out soon” who is getting fired. “So there’s a whole bunch of people saying, ‘Oh, shoot. Who’s about to get fired?’” Johnson added. “Well, you about to find out. Stay tuned.”
In line with the mayor’s comments, speculation about who may be fired centers on holdovers from previous administrations: Chicago Park District Superintendent Rosa Escareno, Aviation Commissioner Jamie Rhee, and Transportation Commissioner Tom Carney, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
City Colleges Chancellor Juan Salgado and Fire Commissioner Annette Holt were named as well.
Johnson retained Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez before he was eventually fired by the Board of Education for reasons that are unclear. Martinez would file a lawsuit alleging the board breached his contract with the firing.
Former Johnson chief of staff Rich Guidice told the outlet that he has “no idea” what Johnson means by “If you ain’t with us, you just gotta go.”
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“There’s a small group of people that probably share his views. And I don’t know how he would be able to replace government with people with those views and keep the wheels turning on the day-to-day functions of the city,” Guidice said.
Johnson isn’t up for reelection until February 2027.
