Looks like a pokeweed seedling.

Looks a bit like my Ceratostigma plumbaginoides when it sprouts in spring.

Yes, it does look like Ceratostigma.

I agree. Is that a possibility in Chicago?

This is the first time I'm seeing it after three summers in this house. It came up after we weeded, put down newspaper, and then put down wood mulch. I wonder if it came with the mulch but then I wonder how it got through the newspaper. Also, I put down preen before newspaper/mulching. It is also coming up in the back of the house where we dug up the rock mulch and then did the preen/newspaper/wood mulch.

possible. zone 5-9