All five people running against Ald. Derrick Curtis face petition challenges. Our counts, and the Ford City fight behind the race

Every challenger to Ald. Derrick Curtis in the 18th Ward faces an objection to their nominating petitions, Block Club Chicago reported Thursday, citing Board of Elections records. Curtis's own petition was not reported as challenged. The objections were filed by residents, whom we don't name.

Why it matters: if the Board upholds all five, Curtis, seeking a fourth term in the Southwest Side ward that includes Ashburn and West Lawn, would have no opponent on the Feb. 23 ballot. That would add the 18th to the 10 wards where the incumbent already has none.

This adds a ward to our running list of challenged races (Wednesday's update). No rulings had been reported as of Thursday morning.

Our counts

These are the filled-in lines on the petition copies the Board gave us, not valid signatures. The Board checks validity only when someone objects. An alderperson candidate needs 473 valid signatures (ward page).

| Candidate | Lines we counted | Petition pages | |---|---|---| | Derrick Curtis (incumbent) | 1,567 | 181 | | Joshua Barksdale | 1,405, on an incomplete copy | 145 | | Tammy Chavez | 828 | not listed | | Nicole Allison | 696 | 70 | | Glenford Flowers Jr. | 690 | 73 | | Toni C. Galloway | 477 | 50 |

Galloway's copy is complete and shows four lines more than the minimum. That leaves almost no room: any line the Board strikes, for a signer outside the ward or a duplicate, for example, would put her below 473. That is arithmetic, not a ruling; the Board decides. Barksdale's copy is missing three sheets, so his true count is higher.

The candidates

From Block Club's reporting:

• Curtis has won every election since a 2015 runoff with more than 60% of the vote. He was a ward superintendent and Democratic committeeman before taking office.
• Barksdale founded 67 Social, a nonprofit working with communities affected by gun violence, drug use and domestic violence.
• Chavez, a real estate agent and Local School Council member at Stevenson Elementary, has lived in Ashburn for more than 35 years and has campaigned against Curtis's handling of the Ford City Mall rezoning.
• Flowers, a political science student, wants the Ford City site redeveloped as a mixed-use destination and opposes the industrial campus the Council approved.
• Galloway is an administrative assistant at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, according to her LinkedIn profile.
• Allison had no campaign website or social media page Block Club could find.

The mall closed this year and awaits demolition for a warehouse campus Curtis supported over some neighbors' objections, Block Club reported.

What our records add

Curtis's Council record: 93.3% attendance on key roll calls, with the majority on 91% of divided votes. He is one of the 28 signers of Tuesday's letter rejecting the Mayor's budget (our story), and a co-sponsor of the FAIR renter ordinance, the Council alternative to the Mayor's tenant bill (SO2026-0027202). He sits on the Police and Fire Committee, which holds today's domestic violence hearing, and on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, which votes on Divvy Friday.

Money: Curtis's campaign reported $38,506 on hand on Sept. 30 after raising $3,500 in the third quarter. None of the five challengers had a third-quarter state report on file, our ward page shows.

What's next

Hearing officers take up each objection, and the Board must certify the ballot by Dec. 17. The Board's own site, where its docket is posted, returned an access error to us at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, so our objections page is still empty; these stories rely on news reports.

Sources: Chicago Board of Elections: candidates.