Jane Grover filed nominating petitions Wednesday, Oct. 21, becoming the third candidate to submit paperwork for Evanston’s special mayoral election and making a February primary increasingly likely.
Grover joins City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza and Jeff Boarini, who both filed petitions Monday, Oct. 19, the first day candidates could submit paperwork, Evanston Now reported. If all three qualify for the ballot after a signature objection period, a primary would be held Feb. 23, 2027. The top two vote-getters would advance to a runoff April 6, 2027, unless one candidate wins more than 50% in the primary.
The filing comes ahead of the Monday, Oct. 26, deadline, when the Evanston City Council is also scheduled to choose an acting mayor. Ald. Clare Kelly, 1st Ward, is serving as mayor pro tem after Daniel Biss resigned Sunday, Oct. 18, ahead of his congressional campaign.
Grover, a former 7th Ward alder who served on the City Council from 2009 to 2015, left the council to take a job at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), where she still works, according to Evanston Now. When she announced her candidacy in August, she said she had the "broad perspective and deep experience" needed for the office.
Three other prospective candidates have circulated petitions and are expected to file before the Monday, Oct. 26, deadline: author Gilo Logan, former Ald. Ann Rainey and union steward Elliot Oats. Candidates need between 946 and 1,513 qualified voter signatures to make the ballot, according to the city's elections page. Voters can sign only one candidate's petition, which made gathering signatures harder with a crowded field.
Because Mendoza and Boarini filed on the same day, a lottery Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. in the City Clerk's Office will determine which of them gets the top spot on the primary ballot.
The Oct. 26 meeting is both the petition filing deadline and the date aldermen will vote to appoint an acting mayor to serve until the special election. The Evanston Roundtable reported the vote was pushed from an earlier special meeting to the regular Oct. 26 session. Kelly will chair that meeting as mayor pro tem until the appointment is made.
The acting mayor will be a sitting council member with full mayoral powers except the veto. Five votes from the nine-member council are needed for the appointment.
Objections to any candidate's nominating papers must be filed by Nov. 2. The winner of the special election will take office in May 2027 and serve through May 2029, completing the remainder of Biss' term.
