District 1b neighborhoods: Portage Park, Dunning, Irving Park, Belmont Cragin, North Park, Montclare, Albany Park
Claudia Peralta, a longtime political aide and Chicago Public Schools parent, won her first bid for office representing the Far North Side on Chicago’s fully elected school board, with her opponent saying Tuesday night she’ll call her with congratulations in the morning.
In one of the city’s most expensive races, Peralta defeated education consultant Michelle Pierre, winning nearly 63% of the votes with all precincts reporting, according to Associated Press election results. That’s despite groups who support school choice and sought to fend off the Chicago Teachers Union spending more than $800,000 to defeat her.
“I'm really excited,” Peralta said by telephone.
She said she knocked on thousands of doors to talk with voters, a philosophy she plans to bring to the school board in January.
“People power works,” she said. “We beat dark money today. Chicagoans on the Far Northwest Side should feel really proud of that.”
Peralta was making her debut as a candidate, but has worked with multiple politicians on the Northwest Side, including her current role as district director for U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez. Pierre lost by a thin margin in 2024, which was her first time running for office after spending more than 25 years working in education as a teacher, principal in public and charter schools, district administrator and leadership coach.
This matchup wasn’t so much about individual policies as it was about differing strategies for how to govern as a Chicago School Board member.
An educator for decades, Pierre is metrics-driven, weighing district financial decisions against their return on investment for students bettering their academic outcomes. Peralta is rooted in political savvy and using government relationships to secure the resources Chicago Public Schools needs for students to thrive.
Outside groups spent heavily on this race. As of Monday, it had attracted more spending by political action committees and super PACs — more than $830,000 — than any other school board district.
More than half of that came from the anti-CTU Common Ground Collective, and has thrown money behind Pierre and against Peralta, who was endorsed by the CTU. Pierre also got funding from the political arm of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and The Urban Center, an organization that advocates for centrist leadership and school choice, including private schools.
Instead Pierre said that money and the public’s perception about billionaires interfering in elections ended up hurting her chances.
“I definitely feel like a misrepresentation of what I stood for, of pushing a narrative around the billionaires was very hard on my community,” Pierre said. “That definitely did not represent me or what I believe or what I would do on the board, but that narrative was shared constantly and so, that is where we're at.”
“I applaud Claudia for running a really good race and can't wait to see what she does on the board. But I'm really proud of the race that I ran and the belief system I believe that every child should have a great education from K-12, and that we should be fiscally sound for our community. That's what I will always advocate for and that's what I've done.
“The people have spoken about what kind of leadership they want on the school board,” Pierre said, “and Claudia is that person.”
The winner will replace Jennifer Custer, who has served the past two years and ran for school board president before dropping out of the race in August.
District 1b is home to 20 Chicago public schools, which is among the fewest of all the school board voting districts. Families here choose their neighborhood elementary schools at a higher rate than in other parts of the city — but not their high schools. Students who attend school in this district are mostly Hispanic — 69% — while 19% are white and 5% are Black, according to data compiled by Chalkbeat.
Contributing: Makiya Seminera, Chalkbeat Chicago
