In the last of our election post-mortem bonuses, we hear from a data scientist, a filmmaker, and Neal's mom about the work they did on the campaign and what surprised them about the experience.By Wailin Wong & Shaun Hildner

Kina Collins is a Chicago activist who's focused much of her work on gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform. In this bonus episode, she reflects on young voters' disenchantment with the citywide election, the tumultuous events that led up to it, and the work that continues.By Wailin Wong & Shaun Hildner

Wailin sits down with former mayoral candidate and friend of Neal, Paul Vallas, to discuss his public support of Lori Lightfoot for the April 2 run-off and pull back the curtain on the endorsement process.By Wailin Wong & Shaun Hildner

As Chicago awaits the mayoral run-off on April 2, Neal isn't wasting any time in getting to work. He drops by to share his plans for what he's working on next. Plus he invites two friends—fellow candidate Paul Vallas and activist Kina Collins—to the studio to reflect on Neal's campaign and his next chapter. Show Notes "Paul Vallas Really Loves His …

On February 26, Neal hosted friends and family for a party to say thank you and to watch the election returns. There was charcuterie, laughter, a few tears, and a lot of love. Not too shabby for a candidate who was never expected to get on the ballot. The first election may be over (Chicago is headed to a run-off in April), but the work is just beg…

We've arrived at the final week for Neal, the longshot candidate who was the 14th and final mayoral hopeful to make it onto the ballot for this pivotal Chicago election. Neal and campaign manager Claire Feinberg talk about the projects they're pushing forward on that aren't just integral to the campaign, but are also laying a foundation for the wor…

Neal is getting ready to unveil another big project—a visual explainer for how the Chicago budget works and where that $22 billion ends up. He's also starting to make the rounds at mayoral candidate forums and media interviews, making public his idea to give Chicagoans a receipt for their taxes. Show Notes Chicago reporter Sarah Karp tweeted update…

Campaign tech wizard and behind-the-scenes fixer Raghu Betina sits down to talk about an app he's building that started as an internal tool for the campaign but is being turned into a publicly available voters guide. It's one of several projects that the campaign is working to unveil in the final weeks before the election. Neal is battling a cold b…

The Chicago mayoral ballot has been set at 14 candidates, with Neal as the last name added. He now has just four weeks to get out the vote. Hear from Claire Feinberg, who's stepped up as campaign manager, about how the team is embracing constraints and working on its own timeline, rather than racing to play catch-up. Neal pops in at the end for a n…

We're here at the end of all things: Neal's final hearing at the Board of Elections. And in a twist that no one on his team saw coming, he lands a spot on the ballot for Chicago mayor. Hear how it all went down that morning. Show Notes Our previous episode, "A Motion at the Eleventh Hour" (0:35) The Chicago Tribune's write-up of Dorothy Brown getti…

Go inside the Board of Elections hearing room on Thursday, January 17 as Neal makes his case (again) to get on the ballot. Come for the emotional roller coaster, stay for the Dragon Ball Z references! Show Notes Our previous episode, "The Sky Would Have To Open Up" (00:30) Chicago Tribune article "Willie Wilson ends fight to keep Dorothy Brown's na…

Today—Thursday, January 17—is the day of Neal's final hearing at the board of elections to determine whether he'll get on the ballot. When we last left off, he was about 2,400 signatures short and waiting to hear an official ruling from a handwriting expert on how many disputed signatures would be converted to his favor. Listen to this episode to f…

Neal and his team spent long days at the board of elections, defending their 18,000 signatures from a ballot challenge mounted by candidate Willie Wilson. Now the future of Neal's candidacy depends on a ruling from a handwriting expert and whether Neal can track down—in person—a few hundred to a couple thousand Chicagoans who signed his petitions. …

Neal filed over 18,000 signatures to get on the ballot, but they were challenged by mayoral candidate Willie Wilson. Now Neal and a team of volunteers have to defend each challenged signature before the board of elections, a time-consuming and difficult process. Hear from Neal and two of his volunteers, including a Chicago high school student, on w…

Neal has filed his signatures to be an official candidate for Chicago mayor in 2019. Now it's time to tackle petition challenges from other candidates trying to keep him off the ballot. Show Notes To learn more about signature collection, listen to our episode about the process (1:19) Neal's "Leaders of the Future" hoodie had this design from local…

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we have a short conversation between Neal and Wailin that didn't fit into our previous episodes. They discuss how progressive candidate Amara Enyia scored high-profile endorsements from Chance the Rapper and Kanye West, whose teams had also contacted Neal. Show Notes "Chance the Rapper brings his star power to a long-shot …

Neal takes a short pause from signature collection to discuss what he noticed around voter turnout and engagement on midterm election day. He also shares a significant change in strategy around incentivizing volunteers as the process to get on the mayoral ballot reaches its critical final weeks. Show Notes Our last episode, "Signature Moves" (0:14)…

Every candidate for Chicago mayor needs 12,500 valid signatures to get onto the ballot. That’s already a huge undertaking before you even get to the potential legal challenges, ballot order lottery, and other shenanigans that are part of this process. In this episode, we dive into the messy details of what it takes to even get on the ballot in Chic…

This is the story of how Neal decided to run for mayor of Chicago, with cameos from a famous computer scientist, Neal’s parents, and others who encouraged him to seek the city’s highest public office. Show Notes CrossRoads conference (1:17) Alan Kay's biography (1:24) Basecamp, formerly 37signals (2:00) Jason Fried, co-founder and CEO of Basecamp (…

Neal sits down with Shaun to share his reaction to the October 5 guilty verdict in the Jason Van Dyke case. The Chicago police officer was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. It marked the first time in almost five decades that a city police officer was convicted of murder i…

The plan for Neal's campaign launch event was to give remarks for around 10 minutes and then take questions. But nerves took over and 85 long minutes later, it was clear that something had gone wrong. In this episode, we unpack what happened in the launch event and what Neal learned from the experience. Show Notes Chicago Tribune reporter Bill Ruth…

On September 4, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unexpectedly announced he was not going to run for a third term. Not too long before that, Rahm and Neal met one-on-one for over an hour. What did they talk about, and what does Neal's campaign look like now that the race's incumbent and most well-funded candidate has dropped out? Neal stops by the studio …

We're Shaun and Wailin, two audio producers in Chicago who were surprised and excited to learn our friend Neal Sáles-Griffin was running for mayor of Chicago. We had lots of questions about what it takes to run a campaign at this level as a political outsider, so we started a podcast to follow along with his journey. In our first episode, we talk t…

Coming soon: A new podcast that follows the mayoral campaign of lifelong Chicagoan Neal Sáles-Griffin. You'll hear from his friends and family—as well as Neal himself—through the ups and downs of running for office as a first-time candidate. Subscribe now so you'll get the episode as soon as we launch!…