Why Did Johnson Receive an Unprecedented Joint Session Address?
Chicago Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson.
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If there are official records of this sort of thing, we can’t find them, but it appears Chicago Mayor-Elect is receiving a nearly unprecedented honor in the General Assembly today.
Johnson is scheduled to address a joint session of the General Assembly at noon. Other than a governor, addresses to a joint session of both chambers are incredibly rare. The only speech in recent years was then-President Barack Obama, who spoke to a joint session in February 2016, his last year in office.
When Mayor Lori Lightfoot was elected four years ago, she spoke to each chamber separately, but did not address a joint session. Her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, didn’t visit Springfield for almost a year after he was sworn in and didn’t speak to a joint chamber, either.
Dignitaries often speak to each chamber, including foreign ambassadors to the United States, but in recent years, none have been afforded a joint session.
It isn’t clear why Johnson was given the same level of treatment as a sitting President of the United States, and a spokesperson for Speaker Chris Welch did not respond to our inquiry.
“It sets a terrible precedent,” one Republican lawmaker told The Illinoize. “A joint session shouldn’t be trivialized for the political flavor of the day.”
Numerous Republicans have told us privately they won’t be attending the address, either as a protest to the joint session or to Johnson’s progressive policies.
It isn’t clear what kind of reception Johnson will receive from Democrats, especially those from outside the city. Johnson has already been criticized for his “defund the police” statements and a statement that “spooked” the business community after groups of young people turned violent in the Loop last weekend.