Mayor Brandon Johnson supports Chicago school board president candidate Hilario Dominguez despite allegations

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is supporting an embattled candidate for school board president despite allegations of sexual harassment against the candidate.

A former student claims Hilario Dominguez, a former political coordinator of the Chicago Teachers Union and the CTU's endorsed candidate, asked her about her dating life and picked her up while they were alone in 2017.

Chicago Public Schools district Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht confirmed to the Tribune that his office has revived an investigation into the allegations that it had closed earlier this summer into Dominguez.  

The woman, now 26, took issue with the handling of the investigation into her allegations and accused the Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General of failing to take action for five years, the Tribune reported.

In a letter to the OIG quoted by the Chicago Tribune, the woman wrote that she was enrolled in the Chicago youth summer jobs program when she herself was 17, as an organizer with the Pilsen neighborhood-based nonprofit The Resurrection Project, the Tribune reported. Dominguez was 24 and working as a coordinator at the nonprofit at the time.

The woman said Dominguez was driving her to a work event when he asked her what kind of men she was interested in, the Tribune reported.

The woman also said Dominguez put his arms around her and picked her up to twirl her when no one else was around, the newspaper reported. She said her feet were off the ground and her breasts and legs were "pressed against [Dominguez's] body," the newspaper reported.

Dominguez has denied the allegations, and said his relationship to the then-teenage girl was one of a mentor and mentee. Dominguez also denied any inappropriate behavior during a forum Tuesday night. 

Mayor Johnson said Wednesday that the probe and Dominguez's vision for the school district are two different matters.

"The OIG's responsibility in this moment, to answer questions with expediency, is an imperative," Mayor Johnson said, "and on a separate note, having a school district that invests in working people, it's important to me."

Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union has had relatively little to say about the allegations against Dominguez.

Mayor Johnson has attracted criticism from his 2027 rivals for not distancing himself from Dominguez.

Mayor candidate Willie Wilson called on Dominguez to exit the race and said the mayor and the CTU should drop their support for him if he does not do so.

"The people of Chicago will not be gaslit and fooled by Mayor Johnson and the CTU," Wilson said in a statement. "We demand that Hilario Dominguez exit the race."

Mayoral candidate Matt Brewer called the allegations against Dominguez "troubling," and shared some thoughts about Mayor Johnson back while serving as chairman of the board of the Chicago Housing Authority

"I've seen firsthand how this mayor puts political loyalty ahead of choosing the people best equipped to serve Chicago," Brewer said in a statement. "His continued support for Dominguez raises that concern again."

Dominguez has also faced allegations of inappropriate behavior when he was working as a CPS special education teacher.

Back in 2021, Dominguez was the subject of a complaint by a fellow teacher who alleged that Dominguez made a Nazi salute and called the teacher "Hitler" in front of students, multiple published reports note. Dominguez emphasized that the teacher withdrew the complaint, and that what really happened was that he stood up for his students in the face of racism.

However, he did not deny the incident ever happened.

Speaking to CBS News Chicago's Dana Kozlov late last month, Dominguez made his case for the CPS board president position. He emphasized that he is the only candidate who brings the background of having attended Chicago Public Schools and having gone on to become a teacher in the same system.