Former Chicago Ald. Bob Fioretti to run for Illinois Attorney General
Former Chicago Ald. Bob Fioretti was set to announce Tuesday that he is joining the race for Illinois Attorney General.
Fioretti said he will announce his candidacy on Tuesday afternoon at Manny's Deli, 1141 S. Jefferson St.
Fioretti, a civil rights attorney, is a well-known figure in Chicago politics. Before winning elected office, he grabbed headlines for representing the family of Baby Tamia in a high-profile 2005 interstate custody case that led to changes in Illinois adoption law.
Fioretti went on to serve as alderman of the city's 2nd Ward from 2007 to 2015, when the ward still covered parts of the Near South and West sides.
Since then, he has run unsuccessfully for several Chicago offices.
Fioretti ran for mayor in 2015 and 2019 — finishing in 4th place with 7.4% of the vote in a five-way race in 2015, and getting less than 1% of the vote in a crowded race in 2019.
Fioretti also ran for Cook County Board President twice — losing to Toni Preckwinkle in the Democratic primary in 2018, and then challenging her again as a Republican in 2022. Both times, Fioretti finished with less than 40% of the vote.
Fioretti has also run for Cook County State's Attorney twice — the first time as a Democrat, the second as a Republican. He finished a distant fourth running as a Democrat in 2020, and lost to Democrat Elieen O'Neill Burke when he ran as a Republican in 2024.
Fioretti also ran unsuccessfully for Illinois State Senate in 2016.
Democrat Kwame Raoul has served as Illinois Attorney General since 2019, after 15 years in the Illinois State Senate. He has not made a campaign announcement for 2026, though the Chicago Sun-Times reported in May that Raoul planned to run for a third term.
Raoul decided not to run for U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois).