The 2027 special election
Why Rockford is electing a mayor in 2027.
The mayor resigned partway through a four-year term. The council appointed someone to hold the office in the meantime, and the city votes on April 6, 2027 to fill the rest of it.
This page explains the mechanics and nothing else. No argument for anybody is made on it, including Bob. If you came here to work out what is happening and when you vote, you should be able to leave without reading a word of campaigning. The case for Bob is on other pages.
The dates
- Oct 19–26, 2026
- Party candidates fileNomination papers for the February primary.
- Nov 16–23, 2026
- Independent candidates fileA separate window, with signatures instead of a primary.
- Feb 23, 2027
- Consolidated primaryHeld only where a party has more candidates than places. No Independent appears on it.
- Apr 6, 2027
- The electionPolls open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Every candidate, every party and none, on one ballot.
- May 3, 2027
- The winner is sworn inAnd serves until the term ends on May 7, 2029.
Why there is an election at all
Rockford elects a mayor to a four-year term. The term that is running now began in 2025 and was due to end in 2029.
In July 2026, Mayor Tom McNamara announced he would step down; his last day in office was August 31, 2026, and he left to become chief executive of the Illinois Municipal League. That left more than two years of a term unfilled.
Illinois does not leave the office empty and does not hand the remainder to anybody automatically. The City Council appointed an acting mayor to serve in the meantime, and the balance of the term goes to the voters at the next consolidated election, which is April 6, 2027.
Who is mayor right now
Alderwoman Janessa Neal was selected by the City Council and sworn in as acting mayor in August 2026. She has said she does not intend to run in the election.
An acting mayor holds the office; the appointment is not a candidacy and does not put anybody on the April ballot.
What the winner actually gets
Not a fresh four years. The winner is sworn in on May 3, 2027 and finishes the existing term, which ends on May 7, 2029 — roughly two years, after which the seat is up again on its normal cycle.
That is worth knowing before you weigh anybody's promises, whoever you end up voting for. Two years is time to start things and finish some of them. It is not time to do everything any candidate will tell you they can do.
February and April are two different things
This is the part that catches people out, and it catches them out every cycle.
February 23 is a primary. A primary is a political party's own election to choose its nominee. It happens only where a party has more candidates than it has places on the ballot. If no party needs one, there is no February election at all.
April 6 is the election. Every candidate who qualified appears on that ballot — party nominees and Independents together. This is the one that decides who is mayor.
Illinois has no party registration. You are not a registered Democrat or Republican here. If a primary is held, you ask for one party's ballot that day, and it binds you to nothing in April.
An Independent candidate never appears on a primary ballot, because there is no party to nominate them. They qualify by gathering signatures and filing in the November window instead, and go straight onto the April ballot.
Who runs the election, and who to ask
Rockford runs its own elections through the Board of Election Commissioners for the City of Rockford, not through the Winnebago County Clerk. If you live in the city, the Board is who registers you, sends your mail ballot and runs your polling place. People are sent to the wrong office over this every single year.
Board of Election Commissioners for the City of Rockford · 301 S. Sixth St., Rockford, IL 61104 · 815-987-5750 · voterockfordil.gov
For anything official — your registration, your ballot, your polling place — ask them rather than any campaign, including this one.
Who is running
The field has been changing week to week, so this page does not keep a list that would be wrong by the time you read it. Rockford News First maintains a roundup of everyone who has announced: Here's who wants to be Rockford's next mayor.
Bob Blosser is one of the candidates, running as an Independent. If you want to know what he would do, every position is written out. If you do not, the dates above are the same either way.
If something here is wrong
Tell us and it gets fixed
Dates and procedures change, and a campaign page explaining an election has an obligation to be right about it. Checked against the Board and the city's own announcements on September 19, 2026. If you find an error, call 815-669-9604 or send a message, and where the Board and this page disagree, the Board is right.