John Laesch

In one of the most closely watched mayoral races in the state, Aurora Ald. John Laesch beat two-term incumbent Mayor Richard Irvin to claim the top spot in the second largest city in Illinois.

With all precincts reporting, Laesch had 9,078 votes, giving him a 700-vote edge over Irvin, 52 percent to 48 percent. Laesch won the mayor’s seat on his second attempt, having lost to Irvin in 2021.

While elections in Aurora are non-partisan, the contest was clearly a proxy battle between Democrats and Republicans – at least for Democrats. Laesch received strong Democratic leadership financial support into six figures, and support and money from unions.

While detailed campaign disclosure figures from the Illinois State Board of Elections will not be available until April 15, there are no indication the Illinois Republican Party or other GOP groups had Irvin’s back, despite of, or possibly because of, his 2022 primary run for Illinois governor.

Irvin had campaigned for re-election in Aurora on what he said was his strong record of development and public safety during his eight years as mayor. Laesch ripped into Irvin with allegations of political favoritism and corrupt financial practices, including allegations of lucrative city benefits to contractors

While Irvin conceded and congratulated Laesch, there was also clearly bitterness left over from a campaign rife with accusations and personal attacks.

”I want to apologize to my family, my friends, my supporters,” Irvin told his assembled supporters on Election Night. “This hasn’t just been a difficult race for me, this has been a difficult race for my supporters. They were attacked, they were maligned, they were disregarded, disrespected.”

Laesch touched on his campaign theme of restoring governance that treats Aurora’s citizens as members of one city, without favor, saying, ”This isn’t my win, this is our win.”

“I want to just say, there’s no longer going to be two Auroras because this is not just how we ran a campaign. This is how we’re going to run the city together.”