Maria Pappas and the race for a better Chicago

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas has announced she is running for mayor. In an appearance on Fox-32’s “ChicagoLIVE,” Pappas said "I'm unofficially in the race and am not getting out." She plans to "win another term as Cook County Treasurer" and then make an official announcement regarding her mayoral run. (This author broke the news in June on WGN Radio’s “After Hours with Rick Kogan” show.)

Personally, I couldn’t be happier about her run for mayor. Maria genuinely loves the city, all of it: the neighborhoods, the people, the scrappy humor, the grit, the kindness, the way people look out for each other even when life’s tough.

I’m proud to be a witness to how and why Maria would make a great mayor. I’ve seen her in every neighborhood where the crowds part as if the Pope has come to town. People share their troubles with her, and she listens- I mean, really listens. She hears concerns, dreams, ideas, names of people she promises to call back. She knows Chicago’s problems are real, but she also knows its potential is unmatched.

For decades, Maria has been known as the treasurer who made government friendlier, who turned paperwork into people work. She digitized a dusty office, returned millions to homeowners who never expected a check and pushed transparency because she believed people should know where every penny went.

And now she hopes to do that on an even larger stage. Some wonder why she’d take on something as messy as a mayoral race. Chicago politics is not for the faint-hearted, but Maria is definitely NOT faint-hearted. She is curious, optimistic and stubborn in all the right ways.

She believes in Chicago the way grandparents believe in their grandkids, fiercely, unconditionally and with a certainty that tomorrow can be better if you work at it with love and endurance. As a matter of fact, she told me, “Chicago needs a gray-haired grandmother” and I couldn’t agree more.

She speaks about safer streets, smarter spending and restoring trust. She talks about unity in a city often divided by zip codes, opportunities or assumptions.

In a city famous for reinvention, Maria Pappas isn’t running on promises of perfection. She is running on the belief that Chicago can be better and together, Chicagoans can make it so.

Born in West Virginia, a granddaughter of Greek immigrants, educated in psychology and law and with decades of public service rooted in community work, Maria has always lived her life with purpose. She’s run the Treasurer’s office for 27 years, advising governments around the world on taxation and technology. And when she’s not doing that, you might find her training for a triathlon, cooking something delicious or dreaming up her next way to give back.

Maria Pappas is a transformative public servant who modernized one of Illinois’ most important government offices and I know she can do the same for all of Chicago.

(Download Maria's 2026 calendar here!)