Evanston City Council Candidates File Paperwork For 2021 Election

EVANSTON, IL — Candidates for mayor, aldermen and city clerk began filing nomination petitions Monday to run in Evanston's municipal elections next year.

Evanston voters are set to pick a new mayor and at least one new aldermen at the April 6, 2021, consolidated municipal elections, following a Feb. 23 primary for races with enough candidates.

Mayor Steve Hagerty has said he will not run for four more years on the job. Hagerty — who won by 115 votes after heavily outspending his opponent in 2017 — announced last month he plans to be the city's first one-term mayor since World War II.

"I love what we have accomplished together over the last four years, in spite of a current global pandemic, economic downturn, contentious differences, and the rising public distrust that exists for our elected leaders and government institutions," Hagerty said in an Oct. 28 statement.

RELATED: No Second-Term Steve: Hagerty Says He Will Not Seek Re-Election

Ald. Robin Rue Simmons, the first-term 5th Ward alderman, also will not seek a second term after making national headlines for helping spearhead the passage of a the nation's first funded backed local reparations policy for Black residents.

"Early in my term, my family and I determined that four years would be my capacity to serve as 5th Ward Alderman while working a full-time job and managing my business," Rue Simmons said in an Oct. 30 statement that she would not run again.

RELATED: Future Weed Revenue Will Fund Evanston's New Reparations Program

The other eight incumbent member of the City Council have filed nomination papers. Paperwork must be filed at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., before Nov. 23. Challenges can be filed to the submitted petitions and signatures through Nov. 30.

The following candidates filed nominating petitions, according to the city clerk's office. Two candidates were eliminated after the Evanston Electoral Board heard challenges to their paperwork.

UPDATE: Evanston Electoral Board Issues Rulings On Candidate Objections

Mayor:
Daniel Biss
Mary Loraine "Lori" Keenan
Sebastian Nalls

City Clerk:
Jane Grover
Stephanie Mendoza

1st Ward:
Judy Fiske (i)
Clare Kelly

2nd Ward:
Peter Braithwaite (i)
Darlene Murray Cannon

3rd Ward:
Melissa Wynne (i)
Eric Young
Nicholas Korzeniowski

4th Ward:
Diane Goldring
Jonathan Nieuwsma
Donald Wilson (i)

5th Ward:
Carolyn Murray
Bobby Burns
Tina Foster
Rebeca Mendoza

6th Ward:
Tom Suffredin (i)
Katherine Trippi

7th Ward:
Eleanor Revelle (i)
Mary Rosinski

8th Ward:
Matthew Mitchell
Ann Rainey (i)
Devon Reid

9th Ward:
Cicely Fleming (i)

Unspecified Ward:
Shelley Carillo (8th Ward resident)