And then there were 5, the final candidate list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago...election,_2015
##Rahm Emanuel, incumbent Mayor[2][3][4]
##Robert Fioretti, Chicago City Alderman[2][5]
##Jesús "Chuy" García, Cook County Commissioner and former State Senator
##William "Dock" Walls, community activist, businessman, former aide to Mayor Harold Washington and perennial candidate
##Willie Wilson, medical supply company executive
Frankly I am rather disappointed in this mayoral election so far, I really think a runoff would be healthy for Chicago even if it still means Rahm Emanuel will likely win. Compared to four years ago there is far less media coverage and Rahm's opponents are far less organized and behind in the game this time around. I am almost starting to think the Chicago municipal election schedule needs to be revised. Maybe we can do what Los Angeles does, have the Mayor/Treasurer/CityClerk/Aldermen sworn in on July 1 (instead of mid-May), the runoff date would be mid-May (instead of April 7) and the main election would be April 7 (instead of February 24th). There simply is not enough time between the state races in November and the municipal elections, there is too much voter fatigue (I know it sounds silly to those of us who are actually informed and care about politics). The media is still talking much more about Governor-elect Rauner than the Mayoral race.
I share the skepticism people on here have about Bob Fioretti for reasons that have been discussed over and over again. Chuy Garcia on the other hand does have a background in urban planning (Master's in Urban Planning from UIC, full disclosure so do I so I might be biased) and he has worked at several levels of government, as an Alderman, State Senator and now Cook County Commissioner. Granted I think he needs to talk about his experience much more and stop talking about silly pet issues ($15 minimum wage, red light cameras, Lucas Museum, some random corrupt school board member, etc.) that you might agree or disagree with him about but frankly won't help him defeat Rahm Emanuel or even get him into a runoff.
Frankly he is a far better candidate than Karen Lewis, she should have announced she was not running far earlier and Chuy should have entered the race without waiting for her. Chuy needs to move beyond his progressive base and get more support from whites who live on the fringes of the city such policemen, firemen and city workers who don't like Rahm, i.e. many of the people who voted for Gery Chico last time (Chico endorsed Rahm but it need not matter much, there is tons of dissatisfaction out there), granted Bob Fioretti could get that vote as well. Willie Wilson just did a terrible interview on Chicago Tonight and frankly won't get votes outside the black community despite his money, but his money could help Garcia or Fioretti get into a runoff with Rahm, and William Walls is just a perennial candidate with token support in the black community.
The problem is that many business owners in the outer neighborhoods are concerned about Chicago raising the minimum wage and rightly so, it won't matter much to business owners downtown or on the north side because that is almost it's own market but for entrepreneurs considering either Garfield Ridge or Berwyn, Evergreen Park or Beverly, Park Ridge or Edison Park, Rogers Park or Evanston, etc. the labor costs between city and suburbs could make a big difference especially if the state does not raise the minimum wage in due time. What Rahm and the city council should have done is just raise it to $10 an hour on July 1st (as it will) and forget about the incremental to $13 by 2019. Fioretti and Garcia trying to out do Rahm Emanuel on minimum wage by proposing $15 an hour and is a losing prospect on simple political terms alone without even discussing the potential economic ones, fair or not Rahm has won on that issue, they need to move on to other stuff that will make traction on Rahm's weak points.
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