The Movement

Join the New Burnham Plan grassroots campaign. This campaign has no machine and no consultants. It is just residents who want a better city.

THE MOVEMENT

THERE IS NO MOVEMENT.

There's just a guy who couldn't stop writing policy papers. Right now it's a movement of one. I'm hoping for more.

Most campaigns care about your money more than your vote. This one cares about your life before it asks for your vote.

I have no political action committee, no donors and no ActBlue fundraising page. Chicago's government is captured by the people who fund it, so I don't take their money. This campaign runs on something harder to buy: time, attention and word of mouth. It only goes anywhere if people share it.

DONATE

↑ GO AHEAD, CLICK IT

THE BALLOT

MY STORY

HOW I'D GOVERN

GET INVOLVED

HELP GET ME ON THE BALLOT

I need 12,500 signatures by October 26.

To be on the ballot for mayor, I need at least 12,500 signatures from registered Chicago voters, turned in by 5 p.m. on October 26. They have to be signed in person, on paper. If you'll sign, or carry a petition around your block, join the list and I'll get you what you need.

Either way, I'm running. If the signatures don't come in time, I'll file as a write-in candidate for the February 23 election.

I'LL HELP →

MY STORY

A teachers' kid, a Peace Corps village, a two-flat and thirteen years of getting things built.

Every step taught me something this city needs. Here's how an owner's rep from West Town, someone who manages construction projects on the owner's behalf, ended up writing a plan for the whole city.

READ MY STORY →

HOW I'D GOVERN

Every policy follows five rules.

Incentives beat intentions

Every policy gives the people involved a real reason to take part.

Outcomes over ideology

I'm not progressive or conservative. I'm pro-Chicago.

Precedent first

Most of it has already worked somewhere else, and where I go further, I say so.

Structural independence

I take no donor money and owe nothing to the political machine, so there's nobody to pay back.

Builders, not talkers

What exists because you made it happen?

READ HOW I'D GOVERN →

WHAT I'M ASKING

I can't do this alone. That's the point.

I don't have a campaign team or paid staff. I don't have donors or a war chest. I'm a regular person with a full-time job, running for mayor with a written plan for the whole city. I can't campaign like a traditional candidate, so I need you.

Spread the word. Give your time and your talent. If everyone pitches in a little, there's nothing we can't do. That goes for this campaign, and it goes for the plan.

And if a regular person with no staff and no donors wins on a published plan, nobody can say it wasn't clear what Chicago voted for.

Pick whatever feels right.

Tell me what you think.

Read whatever catches your eye, then tell me honestly. If a policy doesn't make sense, I want to know. If you think the whole thing is naive, I want to know that too.

Tell someone about it.

If you read something and thought "why isn't anyone doing this?", send it to the friend who's always complaining about property taxes.

Go all in.

Carry a petition. Make a yard sign. Hand out flyers. Film an endorsement in your kitchen. This campaign doesn't have a playbook. It has a plan.

HELP WANTED

I have no budget, no staff and no graphic designer, and I need all three.

I can't afford any of this, so I'm asking the internet to make it. Share what you make. I'll use it, I'll shout you out, and I might show up at your door with a camera.

Petition carriers

This is the one that decides whether I'm on the ballot. Sign up below.

Yard signs

I don't have a template. Make whatever you want.

Bumper stickers

For the 3 people who still do this.

Campaign merch

T-shirts, hats, mugs, whatever. I'll wear it.

A theme song

I will use it. I don't care how bad it is.

↑ Serengeti

If you're reading this, please rewrite Dennehy for me. I will cry.

TikToks / Reels

Explain a policy in 60 seconds, or just roast me.

Endorsement videos

Film 30 seconds in your kitchen, in your pajamas, about why you're in.

Anything else

Surprise me. Seriously.

What's your movement?

Mine started when I decided I wasn't leaving, and that the city I want to live in was worth the work. For me it was my wife Emma's commute. For you it might be your kid's school, the lead in your water, the rent increase pushing you to the suburbs, or the L train that doesn't come.

Everyone who's still here has had the night they googled "should I leave Chicago." What would it take for that question to go away?

ARE YOU IN?

Join the list to sign or carry a petition, get updates, or just keep an eye on this. Let's Renovate Chicago.

Leave this empty

FIRST NAME

LAST NAME

COUNT ME IN

I'll never share your information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

ENDORSEMENTS

2 so far (1 pending)

There are no politicians, political action committees or editorial boards on the list. So far it's my mom and dad, and my wife Emma's endorsement is pending. If you want to be next, film yourself for 30 seconds. Pajamas are fine.

SEE ENDORSEMENTS

MEDIA & PRESS

Nobody has written about this campaign.

If you're a journalist: hi. I have forty-six policies and zero press clips. Let's fix one of those.

SAY HI

THE PLAN

The New Burnham Plan

The New Burnham Plan is my plan for the city: 46 policies laid out like a renovation in six phases. It covers what's broken, the order we fix it in, what it costs, and where it's already worked.

READ THE PLAN

ALL 46 POLICIES

Every policy, plainly

Each one explained in plain words first, with the full details underneath for anyone who wants them.

SEE THE POLICIES

We are all underdogs.

Let's at least have fun trying to change the world.