Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin announced Sunday he will run for a third term as mayor in 2025.
The mayor made the announcement in front of a group of about 100 supporters at the 1 E. Benton building downtown that included five aldermen, several other elected officials and even a member of the national Congress of Mexico.
Irvin touted his record during the past seven years as mayor, which he said has included the most redevelopment activity in the city in 80 years, and a $1.7 billion increase in the city’s assessed value.
“Is Aurora better off today than the day I took office in 2017?” Irvin asked to large applause. “Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Among the things Irvin listed as goals for a third term were: The first high-rise apartment building in downtown in more than 100 years; a net-zero transportation system between downtown, Fox Valley Mall and the new Hollywood Casino-Aurora on Farnsworth Avenue; increasing the assessed value of the city to $2 billion more than when he took office; and building more housing, both market rate and affordable, to increase Aurora’s population to at least 215,000 people.
“So there will be no doubt that we are established as the second-largest city in the state of Illinois,” he said. “We will do that in the next four years.”
Among the accomplishments of the past seven years, he listed building a strong city staff; increasing all types of residential opportunities in every part of town; increasing educational opportunities; decreasing crime and increasing the strength of the Aurora Police Department; revitalizing downtown with a number of projects; helping the East Side with the Copley Hospital campus renovation into Bloomhaven; and moving the Hollywood Casino-
Aurora in what he called “the largest redevelopment in the history of Aurora.”
This will be the fifth time Irvin has run for mayor of Aurora. He lost his first two bids, in 2005 and 2009, but won bids in 2017 and 2021. He was elected an alderman at large in Aurora in 2007, where he served for 10 years.
If he wins, he would be the fourth mayor of Aurora since 1965 to win three terms, joining Albert McCoy, David Pierce and Thomas Weisner.
The election is in April 2025, and so far, two other candidates have announced their intention to run for mayor – Karina Garcia, president of the Aurora Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Ald. John Laesch, at large, who ran against Irvin in 2021.
Actual filing for the office does not start until December, although candidates are allowed to start passing nominating petitions for signatures already.
If there are more than three candidates for mayor, the city would have a primary in February 2025 to narrow the field to two candidates for the April general election.
slord@tribpub.com
