Jade Carpenter, a Second Ward business lawyer with no prior elected office, filed campaign paperwork Tuesday, July 7, to run for Evanston mayor in the April 6, 2027, special election, making her the first publicly known candidate to enter the race.

"Evanston residents have spent years doing the hard work of imagining its future," Carpenter told Evanston Now. "Now it's time to continue building on that vision."

Carpenter's filing comes more than three months before the petition window opens on Monday, October 19. She has framed her campaign around support for Envision Evanston 2045, the comprehensive plan City Council approved in January 2026 after more than 30 hours of debate across six special meetings. The plan guides the city's zoning and housing policies for the next 20 years.

In announcing her candidacy, Carpenter said she "knows firsthand what happens when institutions fail the people counting on them," according to Evanston Now. She told the Daily Northwestern that her experience as an attorney and her problem-solving skills would make her an effective leader.

How the race got here

Mayor Daniel Biss announced June 23 at his State of the City address that he will resign Sunday, October 18, to trigger the special election. Biss won the Democratic primary for Illinois' 9th Congressional District in March 2026 and faces Republican John Elleson in the November general election.

Biss timed his departure so voters, not the City Council, would choose his permanent successor. "The purpose of that resignation is to be absolutely certain that it is early enough to trigger a special election that will occur next spring," Biss said at the time.

After Biss steps down, the Council will appoint an acting mayor by a simple majority vote of five of nine aldermen. That interim leader will serve until the election winner is seated. The winner will serve out the remainder of Biss's term through 2029.

What the job pays

The mayor oversees a $400 million-plus municipal government and a city of about 76,000 residents, but the position is classified as part-time and pays just over $25,000 a year, according to the Chicago Tribune.

What's next

No other candidates have publicly declared for the race. Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma, 4th Ward, said in June that his "preference would be to find somebody else" to run but added he was "not ruling myself out completely."

Candidates must file petitions between October 19 and October 26. The special election is set for Tuesday, April 6, 2027.