Mayor of Chicago Spent Over $30,000 of Campaign Money on Hair, Makeup

A new report claims that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D-Ill.) spent over $30,000 of his campaign’s funds on hair and makeup over the course of the last year.

As Fox News reports, the claim comes from the local newspaper Chicago Sun Times, which revealed that Johnson used funds that had been donated to the Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund that was utilized by supporters of his ultimately successful bid for mayor last year.

The claims were corroborated by election board records, which showed that almost the entirety of the $30,000 in question was given to “skincare enthusiast” Denise Milloy and her business Makeup Majic, which is based out of Milloy’s home on the South Side of Chicago. She received the money over the course of more than 30 different payments between 2023 and 2024.

In order to be considered a campaign expenditure, the money spent was listed as being used for “Candidate makeup for TV,” “Candidate makeup for debate,” or “Candidate makeup.” The payments to Milloy were subsequently filed as “event expenses” once Johnson took office

When asked for comment, Johnson campaign spokesman Bill Neidhardt said that “the mayor does not spend taxpayer dollars in preparation for the many public appearances and events he attends every day.”

“Instead,” Niedhardt continued, “he is using his own campaign funds to pay black and women-owned businesses a fair wage in compensation for their work in preparing the mayor and individuals associated with the campaign for public appearances, events, media segments and other availabilities.”

In addition to the $30,000 paid to Milloy, another $4,000 was paid to a beauty salon in Palatine, Illinois called Anthony Jones Salon; the payment, made on March 27th, was billed as “event expenses.” But the owner of this salon claims that he was never actually paid by Johnson. Neidhardt later claimed that this was due to a filing error, and that the payment in question was actually meant for AJ Styles Barber & Beauty Salon, located on the West Side of Chicago.

By contrast, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D-Ill.) spent only about $2,000 on “event-makeup services” over the course of her failed campaign for re-election last year.