Who Is Running For Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board, Evanston City Council?

EVANSTON, IL — With a school board in crisis and city government at a crossroads, this year's consolidated elections in Evanston are shaping up to be the most competitive in years.

Voters will head to the polls April 1 to pick a mayor and all nine representatives on the Evanston City Council, as well as a majority of seats on the seven-member Evanston/Skokie School District 65 school board.

City officials are in the midst of the development of a controversial new comprehensive plan, while the leaders of elementary school district are looking to cut $15 million from the budget by the end of the year after overseeing its descent into financial crisis in recent years.

Initially, 17 people filed paperwork to run for the four open seats on the District 65 board. All four incumbents whose terms are up — Donna Wang Su, Soo La Kim, Biz Lindsay-Ryan and Joey Hailpern — declined to ask voters to give them another term.

Three school board candidates who filed nominating petitions have dropped out so far, while another was removed from the ballot for failing to properly file the paperwork, leaving 13 candidates, all but one of whom appeared at a candidate forum last week. Another forum is planned for Jan. 30 at Reba Place Church.

Meanwhile, all but one municipal elected official are facing challengers (see full list below), though two of them only have to fend off write-in campaigns after their opponents did not submit the necessary nominating paperwork to get their names on the ballot ahead of last year's deadline.

Two incumbents, 3rd Ward Ald. Melissa Wynne and 7th Ward Ald. Eleanor Revelle are not seeking another term. Both opposed Northwestern University's controversial Ryan Field commercial stadium concert redevelopment plan last year, which wound up gaining approval via a tiebreaking vote from the mayor.

District 65 Candidates

Patricia Anderson
A native Evanstonian and diversity, equity, and inclusion facilitator, Anderson previously spent 35 years working for District 65 as a physical therapist. She has also been a student, parent and grandparent of students in the district.

Peter Bogira
Bogira is an Evanston native who attended Dawes, Chute and ETHS before returning to town in 2020. Two of his children attend Kingsley Elementary with a third due to begin kindergarten next year. Professionally, Bogira is a marketing executive at the streaming television corporation Roku with experience in strategic planning and collaboration.

Christopher DeNardo
An Evanston native and personal trainer with a master’s degree in education, DeNardo is a parent of two students at Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies, which the current board voted to close. He has worked various education-related jobs, among them gym teacher, substitute teacher, for Northwestern University and as a preschool staffer at McGaw YMCA.

Lionel Gentle
A longtime Evanston resident, Gentle is the former president of the Kingsley Elementary School Parent Teacher Association and a mentor with the Fellowship of African American Men. He is also the founder of the podcasts "Our Unseen Roots" and "Our Unseen Dads," as well as the father of a student at Bessie Rhodes and an ETHS graduate.

Dan Kastilahn
An ETHS graduate and commercial real estate executive with experience working on mortgage-backed securities, Kastilahn moved back to Evanston in 2021 and has a second child set to begin attending Lincolnwood Elementary school next year.

Dan Lyonsmith
Currently the Midwest regional director for the U.S. Department of Labor and formerly the associate director of workforce development for the Illinois Department of Human Services, Lyonsmith is the parent of two students in District 65 and one at ETHS.

Maria Forres Opdycke
Opdycke is an executive at a telenutrition network and a former PTA co-president at Dewey Elementary. She is a board member of the Open Studio Project and parent of three current or former District 65 students.

Nichole Pinkard
A professor of learning sciences at Northwestern University, Pinkard is the founder of the Digital Youth Network and Digital Youth Divas, programs aimed at creating equitable learning opportunities. She is also a coach with Fellowship of African American Men and a guardian of former District 65 students.

Randall Steckman
A project manager at an Evanston-based engineering firm, Steckman works in commercial construction, focusing on systems design. He has worked in Evanston over a decade and lived in the city for four years. His daughter is a student at Oakton Elementary.

Brandon Utter
A mental health pharmacist for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Utter served nine years in the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq as a medic. A Skokie resident, he serves on the PTA at Bessie Rhodes, which two of his children attend.

Chris Van Nostrand
A strength and conditioning coach and founder of Strength Wise Barbell, Van Nostrand has a background in higher education marketing and admissions with previous jobs at Northwestern University and the University of California at Berkeley. Both his children attend District 65 schools.

Heather Vezner
Vezner recently retired from a 26-year career in pharmaceutical quality assurance. She is the stepmother of a pair of King Arts graduates and a Skokie resident for more than a decade.

Andrew Wymer
A professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Wymer has lived in Evanston for a decade and has two children in District 65. He currently chairs the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee on the Evanston/North Shore NAACP executive board and previously served on Oakton Elementary School’s PTA executive board.

Municipal Candidates

Mayor

Daniel Biss
The former state senator, runner-up in the 2018 Democratic Party gubernatorial primary and local Democratic Party committeeperson, Biss is seeking a second term in office. Widely expected to harbor ambitions of larger office, the incumbent mayor ended last year with more than $200,000 in the bank and has raised more than $18,000 so far in 2025.

Jeff Boarini
After last year's formation of a committee called Better than Biss, Boarini is the sole candidate to step up to the plate to the challenge the local party boss. A retiree with a background in corporate advertising and the romantic partner of the councilmember for the 1st Ward, Boarini has pledged to increase transparency and collaboration in city government.

City Clerk

Stephanie Mendoza
The incumbent city clerk, Mendoza, is running for re-election. In her first term, she has focused on increasing access to city services, promoting government transparency, and modernizing city records. Mendoza has promised to improve public engagement during her next term.

Vanessa Johnson-McCoy (write-in)
Johnson-McCoy, a real estate agent and consultant, is waging a write-in campaign for city clerk. She is focused on increasing public participation and addressing vacancies on city boards and commissions.

City Council

1st Ward

Clare Kelly
The incumbent council member, Kelly has advocated for affordable housing and environmental sustainability during her term.

Stephen Hackney
A retired lawyer, Hackney is focused on enhancing public safety and increasing fiscal responsibility.

2nd Ward

Kristian "Krissie" Harris
The incumbent council member, Harris won a special election in 2023 to fill the seat and is now running for her first full four-year term. She has prioritized community safety, infrastructure improvements and addressing housing insecurity.

Darlene Cannon
A community advocate and two-time candidate for the 2nd Ward seat who lost to former Ald. Peter Braithwaite by just 71 votes four years ago, Cannon has focused on equity, affordable housing and increased transparency.

Jacqueline Mendoza
A recent Evanston transplant and a board member of the Democratic Party of Evanston, Mendoza has emphasized affordability and equity as her top priorities.

3rd Ward

Shawn Iles
A former president of the Evanston Public Library Board and current director of the overnight shelter at Interfaith Action of Evanston, Iles emphasizes community engagement and public service.

John Kennedy
A longtime Evanston resident and founder of three software businesses, Kennedy advocates for fiscal responsibility and transparency in city government.

Gennifer Geer
An outreach coordinator for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and treasurer of the Democratic Party of Evanston, Geer focuses on environmental resilience and civic engagement.

4th Ward

Jonathan Nieuwsma
Nieuwsma is running for his second term after prioritizing sustainability initiatives and infrastructure improvements during his first four years on the City Council.

Margaret "Meg" Welch (write-in)
A program leader with the Disability Quality Branch of the Social Security Administration, Welch is running a write-in campaign due to concerns about the Hatch Act and the failure of the Democratic Party of Evanston to declare whether it would endorse candidates before the nomination deadline.

5th Ward

Bobby Burns
The incumbent council member, Burns seeks re-election, highlighting his work on affordable housing and economic development in the ward.

Carlis Sutton
A member of the city's Reparations Committee and previous council candidate, Sutton emphasizes social justice and community involvement.

6th Ward

Tom Suffredin
The incumbent council member, Suffredin is running for re-election, focusing on governmental transparency and fiscal responsibility.

Candance Chow
A former District 65 School Board member who made an unsuccessful bid for state representative in 2018, Chow advocates for educational equity and community development.

7th Ward

Parielle Davis
An active community member, Davis emphasizes responsible development and community engagement.

Kerry Alexander Mundy Williams
A former U.S. naval officer and current acting chair of the city's Public Safety Civil Service Commission, Williams focuses on public safety and civic responsibility.

8th Ward

Devon Reid
The incumbent council member, Reid seeks re-election, highlighting his efforts in affordable housing and social equity.

Matt Rodgers
A local business owner and chair of the city's Land Use Commission, Rodgers advocates for balanced development and neighborhood preservation.

9th Ward

Juan Geracaris is the sole councilmember who is not facing a challenge in the April 1 race.

More information about the April 1, 2025, consolidated election is available from the Evanston City Clerk's website.