May 10, 2023 - Politics
Young voters showed up for Chicago's runoff election
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
More than 27,000 Gen Z and millennial voters who hadn't participated in Chicago's February municipal election came out to vote in the April runoff.
Why it matters: This newly released demographic data reflects a burst of young enthusiasm for the April race, while turnout among voters over 65 stayed flat or dropped.
Flashback: In the 2015 runoff between Rahm Emanuel and Jesús "Chuy" García, voter turnout increased among all age groups, though the biggest increase was among voters 45 and up.
- For the April 2019 runoff between Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle, turnout dropped among all age groups, with the biggest drop among young voters. Voters 55 and up led in casting ballots.
What's more: In both the February and April elections this year, women outvoted men by almost 20%.
- Voters who identified as nonbinary rose from 97 to 192 from February to April.