This runoff is a bit hard for me to read. My gut initially said Lightfoot has the advantage, as Preckwinkle got hammered over that soda tax fiasco from a few years ago, and Chicagoans don’t really forgive and forget when they get pissed off. Lots of pissed off people still calling her “Taxwinkle.” Whenever a Preckwinkle ad came up in my Facebook feed, the comments were almost universally negative, but I do understand that Facebook comments do tend to attract a certain type of person. That said, Lightfoot’s ads did not seem to have much negative commentary.
But looking over the city-wide results, especially the South and West Sides, Preckwinkle definitely seems to have an advantage there, I think, depending on where Willie Wilson voters go. My initial prediction was Lori 55, Preckwinkle 45, but I don’t know now. I still haven’t talked to enough people to really get a feel, at least in my neighborhood. I know what my friends think, but they do tend to be from the more anti-Machine side of the Democratic aisle.
I would think so. I’m guessing we’ll hit high 30s, which, admittedly, doesn’t sound all that great. It also helps that it’s in April instead of February.
I’m looking through the precinct by precinct results and, basically, when the ward maps were redrawn (I think 2011, but enacted in 2015), he got a good section of Garfield Ridge, which used to be all (or almost all) 23rd ward. Looking at the voter turnouts there and the results, it’s pretty clear to me this won the election for him and he would not have won outright under the old map.
It will be interesting to see who the losing candidates endorse. I heard on local radio that Willie Wilson has personally talked to both candidates, and scheduled meetings with both of them. I wonder what the others will do. Endorse Lightfoot/Preckwinkle/none of the above.
I don’t see Wilson’s followers being very comfortable voting for Lightfoot, considering she is openly gay. He is talking like it shouldn’t be an issue but that is a pretty new position for him. Prior to this election he wasn’t a support of the LGBTQ community. Not much of a surprise considering he is a Baptist minister in addition to being a successful businessman.
Lightfoot is running an upbeat, positive, “here is what we are going to accomplish” type of ad.
Toni Preckwinkle is running an ad that is just a hit job on Lightfoot that never mentions Preckwinkle unless you catch the small print at the end. Pure attack ad.
Toni is just showing how much she is a stooge for the Machine.
Stand For Children Illinois is an organization that’s pro charter schools and anti CTU. As much as I wish that Lightfoot lead was true, they definitely have a bias.
Not in the city but had liked Preckwinkle. Can’t vote for Lightfoot myself but that initial ugly attack ad from Preckwinkle definitely has me now rooting for Lightfot. Whose ad was pretty good.
FYI, vote by mail applications are now available. Requested mine last night and can’t wait to fill it out, I know exactly how I’m voting in my two runoffs (46th ward)
Looks like Willie is in for Lori. Lightfoot also got fire fighter’s union, the Latino Leadership Council PAC, and is looking to get Chuy Garcia’s blessings this weekend.
Well, the battle between Lightfoot and Preckwinkle started nasty and will undoubtedly remain that way. Lightfoot, of course, will present herself as a reform candidate who has no connections to the “machine”, and therefore no political obligations to the traditional Chicago political power brokers.
Preckwinkle, on the other hand, is going to play on the fact that she is an experienced politician with a strong resume who is much better equipped to take on such a daunting position as Mayor of Chicago. She also immediately alluded to the fact that the law firm that Lightfoot works for has some very questionable clients, implying that Lightfoot isn’t the angel that she is making herself appear.
Lucikly, thus far, I’ve managed not to avoid all the campaigning. I think I saw a Lightfoot ad show up on Facebook today, but that’s all I remember seeing.
Nobody is an angel in Chicago politics, and everybody knows that. I personally just think enough people dislike Preckwinkle, whether deservedly or not (I lean not deservedly), that she’s a tough pill for the majority of voters to swallow.
I agree. Preckwinkle does not have an attractive personality. In fact, she comes off as more than a bit “stand offish”. Personality definitely matters in a campaign where the two candidates are basically spending most of their time attacking each other’s personas.
Though I live in the suburbs, I still own a home in Beverly Hills, so I think I’m still eligible to vote in the Chicago mayoral election if I so choose. I’m just not moved to do it, though.
Heh. I think that may very well be the first time I’ve heard it referred to by its full name. I went to school with a good number of Beverly kids, and only know it’s Beverly Hills from a sign somewhere welcoming you to the neighborhood.
I was born and raised in Beverly and still live there. Yeah nobody here says Beverly Hills, it’s just Beverly. Also kids from here are called Bevrats because so many grown up Beverly kids still live in their parent’s basements.
There’s plenty of reasons to detest Preckwinkle. Ramming through the soda tax 2 days after Trump was elected where there was no focus on local politics. The sales tax flip flop. She’s a puppet for the CTU.
No thanks, the second I get my ballot, I’m voting Lightfoot.
:rolleyes:Yes, God forbid the Mayor should be in the pocket of those nefarious schoolteachers! I have a kid in CPS, and Preckwinkle’s CTU endorsement is in my mind the #1 argument in her favor.
Also, the soda tax was good public policy. The city desperately needs new revenue. If we can’t get it by taxing something that nobody actually needs to buy and that has negative effects on public health, how else are we supposed to get it? This “No taxes ever, but lots of free stuff!” mindset is exactly what got Chicago in the financial mess we are today.