A Chicago-born Army National Guard veteran with an MBA in finance wants to take over the fifth floor of City Hall by training tens of thousands of ordinary residents to respond to emergencies before police or paramedics can arrive. Toni Brooks, one of 14 declared candidates in the 2027 Chicago mayoral race, appeared on CBS News Chicago Tuesday morning to lay out a platform built around what she calls the “3D” strategy: dignity, dollars, and defense.
Brooks's signature proposal is a 50,000-person Chicago Citizen Responder group aimed at reducing crime and intervening in conduct-related violence, as detailed in her CBS News Chicago interview. Participants would be trained in Stop the Bleed techniques, CPR, and conflict resolution, with Brooks saying the group would help police communities until professionals arrive on scene. She has said she is already training people to respond during emergencies through her nonprofit work, and according to a July 2026 campaign video posted to Facebook, she teaches CPR to children as young as five.
On her campaign's Facebook page, Brooks has detailed plans to launch the 50,000-person responder network within her first 100 days in office, funded by auditing and reallocating money from the city's annual police misconduct settlement expenditures, which she says exceed $100 million. She has also cited nearly 2,000 vacancies within the Chicago Police Department as the rationale behind what her campaign calls an emergency “response gap” that volunteer responders could help fill. Brooks has also called for hiring more police officers as part of her broader public safety approach.
A Financial Pledge and a City Budget Hole
Brooks has pledged to donate 95% of her first year's salary to what she calls a shared power fund, which she describes as a way to share power with citizens through participatory budgeting. Given that the Mayor of Chicago's annual salary is $221,052, that pledge would redirect roughly $210,000 to community projects, according to Business Insider. Brooks describes participatory budgeting as wards and the Chicago Park District setting aside discretionary funds for resident-endorsed projects, and she has said she has identified cushion and dormant funds elsewhere in city government that could be reallocated to help fund her plans.
Those pledges arrive as Chicago faces a projected budget deficit of $882.4 million under the 2027 budget forecast. Brooks has said past administrations prioritized making the city appealing to tourists at the cost of citizens, framing her 3D strategy — dignity, dollars, and defense — as a corrective built around rebuilding the city block by block. Her platform includes building wealth in neighborhoods, public safety citywide, and what she describes as aging at home, stable homes, and safe homes.
Brooks's Background and the Toni Brooks Foundation
Beyond her military service, Brooks has worked professionally as a business consultant and holds two bachelor's degrees along with an MBA in finance, according to The Daily Line. She attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale and founded the Toni Brooks Foundation, which supports women veterans, domestic violence survivors, foster youth, young adults, and seniors moving toward independence. Brooks has said her grassroots organization has spent about a month gathering petition signatures toward ballot access.
The Ballot Access Clock Is Ticking
Brooks and every other mayoral hopeful have a hard deadline: Illinois election law requires municipal candidates in Chicago to collect at least 12,500 valid nominating petition signatures between July 28 and October 26, 2026, according to WTTW News. That threshold is 250% higher than the 5,000 signatures required to run for governor of Illinois, a gap that the Citizen Advocacy Center has noted creates a steep administrative hurdle for independent and grassroots campaigns like Brooks's. Once candidates qualify, Chapter 2-156 of the Chicago Municipal Code requires them to file a Statement of Financial Interests with the Chicago Board of Ethics within five days.
Chicago's municipal general election is set for February 23, 2027, with a runoff between the top two finishers slated for April 6, 2027, should no candidate clear 50% of the vote, per the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Brooks is running in a field that already includes Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who launched his campaign with a war chest exceeding $21 million, and Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza — both far better funded than Brooks's grassroots effort. Incumbent Mayor Brandon Johnson has not announced whether he will seek a second term, though he has said he plans to make a special announcement this coming Sunday.
Johnson's political standing remains shaky heading into that announcement. A September 2026 poll of 475 Chicago municipal employees conducted by M3 Strategies found Johnson leading prospective candidates with 20% support among city workers, despite carrying a 64% unfavorable rating within that same group — a dynamic Hoodline previously reported. Brooks joins a field that has grown rapidly in recent months, with candidates ranging from Bronzeville developer Zoe Ma to U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley entering the race ahead of the October signature deadline.
