Richard Irvin is out as mayor of Aurora, losing his re-election bid Tuesday to at-large Ald. John Laesch in the western suburb’s runoff election.
Irvin conceded late Tuesday, ending his run as mayor of Illinois’ second largest city, which spans parts of DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties.
“I hope the residents and politicians of Aurora put aside the hatefulness and divisiveness so they can work to make Aurora one of the greatest cities in the country,” Irvin said. “So as I serve out my last month as mayor, I will do it with pride and my head held high, knowing I did so much for my hometown.”
At an election night gathering at the Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora, Laesch celebrated his victory with about 100 supporters.
“It’s never just been me, it’s always been the Aurora community,” Laesch said. “This isn’t my win, this is our win. There’s no longer going to be two Auroras, because this isn’t just how we ran the campaign, this is how we’ll run the community.”
In the Feb. 25 primary, Irvin and Laesch were the leading votegetters, outpacing three other candidates. The largest share of votes was from Kane County, where Irvin had 37.5% of the vote, compared to Laesch with 31.2%.
Laesch picked up endorsements from several key Illinois Democratic leaders, including former Gov. Pat Quinn, former Secretary of State Jesse White, U.S. Reps. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Delia Ramirez, and state Sen. Karina Villa.
Irvin served on the Aurora City Council for a decade before being elected mayor in 2017 with about 56% of the vote, winning again in 2021 with 54.17%. During Irvin’s failed bid in the Republican primary for governor in 2022, he touted the success of businesses in the city and declining crime rates — though crime rates fluctuated during his tenure — as reflections of his leadership.