Chicago School Board Candidate Custer Quits, Cites Millions in Special-Interest Cash

Jennifer Custer, one of the 10 elected members of the Chicago Board of Education, announced she is dropping out of the race for board president, saying she does not want her family, volunteers and supporters to face what she called an uphill battle against millions of dollars in special-interest spending. Custer, who represents District 1B on the city's Far Northwest Side, had announced her candidacy for the citywide post in March.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Custer wrote that going up against that kind of spending would create a fight she did not want to put her supporters through. Custer, a former suburban teacher and assistant principal, was elected to her seat in 2024 and had been the only presidential candidate to clear the June petition process without a legal signature challenge, according to Chalkbeat. More than half of all candidates who filed for the 2026 Chicago school board election faced petition challenges from rival groups, per the outlet, meaning Custer's exit was entirely voluntary rather than a forced removal from the ballot.

A Citywide Seat Awash in Cash

The board president is the only one of the 21 board seats chosen by a citywide vote of all Chicago residents, and the position decides what goes up for a vote while working closely with district leadership to shape Chicago Public Schools policy. That singular influence has turned the race into the financial center of gravity for the entire election; Chalkbeat's reporting shows candidates raised more than $1.8 million between October 2025 and June 30, 2026, with roughly $1.2 million of that flowing directly into the presidential contest alone.

Much of that fundraising surge traces back to a specific trigger. Candidate Victor Henderson, a trial attorney, reported loaning $500,000 of his own money to his campaign committee in July, which under Illinois campaign finance law automatically lifted contribution caps for every candidate in the race — a mechanism the same Chalkbeat report lays out in detail. Henderson reported $598,000 in cash on hand at the end of June, according to seed reporting from the Chicago Tribune.

The Field Custer Leaves Behind

Custer's departure leaves four remaining contenders: Jessica Biggs, a current board member endorsed by SEIU Local 73; Sendhil Revuluri, a former mayoral board appointee; Victor Henderson; and Hilario Domínguez, a former Chicago Teachers Union political director who is the only candidate openly aligned with the union. Domínguez reported no direct contributions at the end of June but disclosed a large amount of in-kind donations from the union, per the Tribune's reporting. Biggs reported $121,000 in cash on hand and Revuluri reported $216,000, the paper notes, while both Biggs and Revuluri, like Henderson, hold positions that diverge from the Chicago Teachers Union on several CPS issues.

The union backed Custer's own 2024 election, but she later became a vocal opponent of the Chicago Teachers Union, casting the lone dissenting vote in an 18-1 board decision in March that confirmed Macquline King as full-time CPS CEO, according to WTTW News. Custer publicly alleged the search process had suffered from outside political pressure. In July, she joined six other elected board members in voting against a $10 billion CPS budget that passed 11-7 on the strength of a projected, uncommitted $150 million in additional state funding meant to avoid staff layoffs, as Chalkbeat reported at the time.

Vendor Cash Ban and a Bigger Backdrop

Custer's exit also comes months after the board she still sits on tightened its own ethics rules. In July, the Chicago Board of Education voted 16-1 to bar candidates from accepting campaign contributions from active or prospective CPS vendors or outside legal counsel, a rule introduced by current Board President Sean Harden — who was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and is not running for reelection — to protect district contracting decisions from appearing tainted by campaign money, Hoodline previously reported. That same report noted that total spending topped $13 million citywide during the first hybrid school board election in 2024, including roughly $4.3 million from political action committees tied to the Chicago Teachers Union.

The stakes extend well beyond one candidate's decision to bow out. The November election will complete Chicago's statutory transition to a fully elected 21-member Board of Education, ending 30 years of direct mayoral appointment power over the nation's fourth-largest school district. The board currently includes 10 elected members and 11 mayoral appointees, down from a structure that previously included seven mayoral appointees, and Chicago's school board races are expected to be among the most closely watched contests in November, potentially drawing millions more in spending from unions, pro-school-choice groups and other interests.

What Comes Next for Custer

Custer received union support of her own during her 2024 run, with endorsements from IUOE Local 150 and Unite Here Local 1. She has said she has not yet decided whom she will endorse in the presidential race and will announce that decision when she makes it. Separately, Henderson has faced renewed scrutiny over resurfaced 2011 domestic abuse allegations, which he publicly denied during an August interview on WGN-TV, calling the release of court records a political effort to push him out of the race.