Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stood on a rooftop, lip-syncing to Kiesza's "Hideaway" while performing "The Robot" alongside a crew of young dancers — one of whom wore an "I Heart DEI" T-shirt. This was his official reelection campaign announcement. In the background, the skyline of a city where 1,320 people have been shot so far this year.
His approval rating is 23%.
Two days before the dance video dropped, Johnson joined New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in filing a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over the public charge rule — the policy that makes legal immigrants less likely to secure green cards if they've relied on welfare, subsidized healthcare, food stamps, or public housing. Johnson's argument for the lawsuit included this: "More than half a million Chicagoans were born outside the United States. They are our neighbors and an essential part of who we are."
He then went further. "Chicago will not stand by while the federal government forces immigrant families to choose between putting food on the table, taking their children to the doctor, or protecting their ability to remain in this country," Johnson said. He called the rule "not only cruel" but "unlawful" and claimed it "threatens the health and safety of our entire city."
The health and safety of Chicago. Where 40 people are shot every week. Where teen "street takeovers" shut down intersections on a weekly basis. Where businesses are fleeing and the tax base is eroding under his watch. That city's health and safety is being threatened — according to Brandon Johnson — by a rule that asks immigrants not to live on welfare.
The numbers behind Johnson's compassion tell a specific story. Over his three years in office, Chicago taxpayers have spent $639.6 million on undocumented immigrants. Center for Immigration Studies data covering 2021 through 2025 found that 47% of immigrant-headed households used at least one welfare program, compared to 28% of citizen-headed households — a 19-point gap. Johnson's lawsuit isn't about protecting vulnerable families. It's about protecting a pipeline of dependency that his administration has spent more than half a billion dollars feeding.
The public charge rule doesn't deport anyone. It doesn't cut off emergency services. It says that if you want to become a permanent legal resident of the United States, the government will consider whether you're likely to support yourself or become a long-term burden on taxpayers. That used to be common sense. Johnson is suing to make sure it stays dead.
Meanwhile, the people actually living in Chicago — the ones paying the $639.6 million tab, dodging the 40 weekly shootings, watching their neighborhoods hollowed out — got a TikTok dance.
Johnson's reelection bid lands him in a field of nine challengers for the February 23, 2027 mayoral election. The Bongino network covered both the "essential" remarks and the dance video on the same day, September 17, because the two stories side by side tell you everything about this mayor's priorities. One moment he's in court demanding that taxpayers fund welfare for illegal immigrants. The next he's doing "The Robot" on a rooftop for content.
The woman in the "I Heart DEI" shirt was the most honest part of the whole production. At least someone on that rooftop was willing to say what the campaign is actually about.
