“Brandon Johnson has defeated Paul Vallas to become the next mayor of Chicago,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

“Johnson, 47, had emerged as the most popular progressive among the initial nine candidates, then bested the more conservative Vallas in the runoff to take Chicago’s top elected office Tuesday.”

“With a campaign was bankrolled largely by political funds tied to CTU and affiliated unions, Johnson focused his run around themes of equity, championing working people and addressing the root causes of crime.”

“Wisconsin voters on Tuesday chose to upend the political direction of their state by electing a liberal candidate to the State Supreme Court, flipping majority control from conservatives, according to The Associated Press. The result means that in the next year, the court is likely to reverse the state’s abortion ban and end the use of gerrymandered legislative maps drawn by Republicans,” the New York Times reports.

“Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal Milwaukee County judge, defeated Daniel Kelly, a conservative former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who sought a return to the bench. With more than 60 percent of votes counted, Judge Protasiewicz led by about 14 percentage points. The contest, which featured over $40 million in spending, was the most expensive judicial election in American history.”

“Two candidates representing opposite ends of the Democratic party are on the ballot in the highly-watched Chicago mayoral runoff on Tuesday,” CBS News reports.

“Paul Vallas, the former CEO of the Chicago school system, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, a former teacher who is heavily backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, were the top two vote-getters in the February general election. Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot came in third, so she will not be on the ballot on Tuesday.”

The polls show a very tight race.

“Spending on the high stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court race has topped $42 million, nearly triple the previous national record for a court race, with the Democratic-backed candidate having a roughly $6 million advantage,” the AP reports.

Politico: “The Chicago Teachers Union is one of the most powerful political institutions in this city. And it has more at stake in Tuesday’s mayoral runoff election than either man running for the office.”

An education lobbying and advocacy group founded by former Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and funded by Republican donors is backing Paul Vallas’ campaign for Chicago mayor, the Chicago Sun Times reports.

Semafor: “The bluntness of the Democrats’ message in Wisconsin inspired outrage on the right and worried chin-stroking from some liberals, uneasy with the concept of such openly partisan judicial elections. Republicans here warn that ‘the rule of law’ might be replaced by ‘the rule of Janet,’ and that if she wins, hyper-partisan court races will become the norm.”

“As southern Wisconsin braced for a tornado watch Friday afternoon, conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Dan Kelly and the Republican Party of Wisconsin issued its own emergency alert warning voters not to elect liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz on Tuesday,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“The text message included a video that used alert tones and a scratchy radio voice found on official emergency alerts aired on television and radio.”

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “In one of the biggest elections of the calendar year, a Democratic-aligned justice appears favored in next week’s Wisconsin state Supreme Court election. But that was also true in 2019, when a Republican-aligned justice pulled an upset.”

“Democrats often underperform in such races in Milwaukee, so that is a key place to watch.”

Politico: “With the exception of the governorship, Republicans have long had a lock on most levers of power in the state. … But a liberal win in the April 4 election could upend all of that. It would give liberals an effective majority on the high court — and with it, the possibility to redraw state and congressional district lines in ways that dramatically curb Republican power.”

“With a week before the election for the state Supreme Court, liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz continues to eclipse her conservative opponent Dan Kelly in fundraising — this time with the help of three out-of-state billionaires who have each given $1 million to the state Democratic Party,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), a mainstay in Houston politics for more than three decades, is running for mayor,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has thrown his support behind Paul Vallas in the April 4 Chicago mayoral runoff, calling the election an “extraordinary” moment in the city’s history, the Chicago Sun Times reports.

“The effort to recall Democratic New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has failed, following an official count of petition signatures released by the Louisiana governor’s office Tuesday,” the AP reports.

Former Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) “is considering a run for mayor of Houston,” Semafor reports.