Today the Tribune Editorial Board publishes its traditional “bedsheet ballot,” a list of our endorsements in Tuesday’s general election.
The bedsheet ballot appears in today’s Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune, as well as Tuesday’s paper. For digital readers, we have provided the bedsheet ballot below, as well as a downloadable PDF version.
We’re proud to submit to you our recommendations in all the contested races statewide, including the United States House of Representatives and both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly. We also offer our opinion on several Cook County races, including the state’s attorney contest. Chicago readers will also be interested in our choices in the new and highly consequential elections for the Chicago Board of Education. And while we are not formally endorsing in the judicial retention contests, we’ve partnered with the nonpartisan Injustice Watch to bring you a guide to what specialist groups like the Chicago Bar Association say about these local races.
Tribune Editorial Board endorsements for the 2024 general election
One contest that always has been here before is missing this year: the race for president of the United States. Following a directive from Tribune Publishing, the Chicago Tribune and all other Tribune Publishing newspapers will not be making an endorsement in that race. The editorial board of this great Midwestern newspaper has a long history of making such endorsements. Nonetheless, we respect our directors’ right to make that decision. And we appreciate that it was decided in 2022, before either of the two main candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald J. Trump, were on the ballot.
Readers looking for our views on those candidates and their campaigns need only do a simple Google search with their names and “Tribune Editorial Board” to view our hardly veiled opinions at various stages of a campaign that most certainly has not ennobled American democracy, especially in the last few days. From there, we hope you will choose wisely.
But there are, of course, many other races that matter in the state of Illinois. We always enjoy getting to know candidates for office, many of whom have strong callings for public service. We’ve picked the ones best suited to the moment, but we appreciate all candidates (and their families) willing to withstand the scrutiny — some helpful, some not so much — that is part and parcel of running for political office in a time so dominated by social media and so fueled by division.
Don’t forget to vote.
