Jessica Biggs claimed victory Tuesday in the race to become president of the Chicago Board of Education, telling supporters she had pulled ahead while roughly 60 percent of the vote had been counted. Biggs, a former CPS principal, spoke at her watch party after she had secured almost half of all votes, even though the had not yet projected a winner.
The declaration came on a night when Chicago voters were choosing the full 21-member Board of Education for the first time, a shift that gives the race unusual weight. The board makes key policy and fiscal decisions for Chicago Public Schools, which serves more than 315,000 students, about three-quarters of whom come from low-income households, and it votes on a nearly $10 billion budget that funds 626 schools and more than 45,000 employees.
Biggs also entered the contest with organizational support that helped set her apart. She consolidated backing from key union organizations and several Chicago aldermen, while Victor Henderson was the candidate backed by the influential Chicago Teachers Union. That union has also backed Mayor Brandon Johnson, underscoring how closely the board race has been tied to city politics.
But the race was not yet settled by the time Biggs spoke. The count had not finished, and the had not called the contest, leaving open the possibility that the final result could shift as more ballots were tallied. That uncertainty sat alongside a broader political overhaul: state lawmakers passed bills in 2021 and 2024 to lay the groundwork for a fully elected board, and the new term for members chosen this November is not scheduled to begin until Jan. 15, 2027.
The stakes extend beyond the presidency. Board members hire the district superintendent, and earlier this year the board picked Macquline King to lead CPS. The sitting board also approved a budget aimed at closing a $730 million deficit while banking on $150 million in state funding that has not been approved, a reminder that the first elected board will inherit both public expectations and a financial squeeze. Biggs may have spoken like a winner on Tuesday, but the race still belonged to the count.
