What the Election of Chicago's New Mayor Says About the Political Power of Teachers' Unions

Brandon Johnson is a former middle school teacher, a teachers’ union organizer, and now Chicago’s next mayor. Teachers’ union organizers say his narrow victory over a former city schools executive and charter school champion in the city’s April 4 mayoral runoff election represents a transformational moment for education for the nation’s fourth largest school district. Johnson’s victory in many ways represents a rejection of the common reforms that have characterized public education in Chicago and much of the rest of the nation over the past two decades-plus. He’ll take office...