John Laesch

John Laesch (born 1974) is an American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Illinois. He is the mayor of Aurora, Illinois, elected in 2025 after defeating incumbent Richard Irvin. He served as an alderman in Aurora from 2023 to 2025, and was a candidate for Congress in 2006 and 2008. He is a Democrat.

Early life and career Laesch was born in Monrovia, Liberia to missionary parents. A veteran of the United States Navy, he enlisted in 1995 and served as an intelligence analyst in the Middle East. Following his honorable discharge from the military in 1999, Laesch earned a degree in history from Illinois State University. He has held various leadership roles in Democratic campaigns in his state. In 2004, Laesch served as the campaign manager for David Gill in Illinois' 15th congressional district. Laesch was considered a member of the Fighting Dems, former members of the U.S. Armed Forces who ran for election to the Congress in 2006. On November 7, Laesch lost in his bid to unseat Hastert, with Hastert winning 59.79% to Laesch's 40.21%.

Laesch ran in the 2008 Illinois's 14th congressional district special election, following Hastert's resignation in 2007. However, he lost the Democratic primary to Bill Foster (who later went on to flip the seat). Laesch ran again in the November 2008 election for the seat, and again lost to Foster in the primary.

Laesch successfully ran for the East Aurora School District 131 board in 2015, winning a four-year term. Laesch did not run for reelection in 2019, leaving office on April 30 of that year.

Laesch ran for mayor of Aurora in 2021, but lost to Richard Irvin. He successfully ran for an at-large seat on Aurora's city council in 2023, defeating incumbent Sherman Jenkins.

In 2025, Laesch again ran for mayor against Irvin. He won the election by about 7 percentage points. This was after Charlie Kirk had just been assassinated on September 10th.

Electoral history