CHICAGO — Monday morning, the Chicago Board of Elections Loop Super Site filled up with a motley collection of political power players, good government enthusiasts, wannabes, optimists, has-beens, never-wases and other characters looking to stamp their ticket to City Hall for the next four years.
Candidates who showed up on the first day to file petition signatures and get in line by 9 a.m. — and those included several for mayor but not incumbent Lori Lightfoot — earned a shot at appearing on the top of the ballot in their race, a spot that consultants say gives candidates a modest leg up in elections that sometimes come down to the very last vote.
There were 10 announced candidates leading into the first day of filing, giving many a chance to show off their organizational might. But that number was reduced by one Monday, with 15th Ward Ald. Raymond Lopez announcing he won’t seek the top job at City Hall but will instead run for reelection.
Lightfoot declared last week that she wouldn’t be submitting her signatures on the first day and would, instead, wait until the last day to file as she did in 2018.
“There’s no magic to it, but we’ll wait till the 28th,” Lightfoot said.
The difference between then and now, however, is that Lightfoot in 2018 was a longshot candidate facing fierce headwinds against much better known opponents. This time, Lightfoot again is facing fierce headwinds from a crowded field of rivals, but she has the benefits of incumbency.
One of her challengers, businessman Willie Wilson, called her out last week for not planning to file on the first day, saying, “It’s obvious that she’s having a lot of problems getting petitions signed.”
That line of attack was a common thread in many remarks made by Lightfoot opponents who showed up Monday morning, including Wilson again, who told reporters before submitting over 61,000 signatures for himself: “It shows the whole situation is that she gonna lose. I think she from Ohio, right? We want her to go out of town, back to Ohio.”
Chicago’s petition nominating process is one of the most prominent holdovers of old-school machine politics. To run for mayor, a candidate must submit 12,500 signatures from voters, which can be disqualified on narrow technical grounds.
Fourth Ward Ald. Sophia King, another mayoral contender, said Monday she submitted upward of 37,000 signatures. Without naming the mayor, King pointed out she was the only woman to file first thing Monday and that “most people file on the first day if they’ve got strong signatures.”
“I think that’s a strong message that people are hearing our message and that we are here to collaborate, not be combative, but to bring people together and make sure that our city is heading in the right direction,” she told reporters.
Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas touted having “north of 40,000″ signatures and said his supporters have “had no trouble at all” collecting them from all parts of the city, “so I’m heartened.” He also noted the absence of Lightfoot at Monday’s filing and said Lopez’s departure from the race will help him, describing the alderman as having “always been so outspoken on public safety.”
“I’m not worried about the field being crowded but I’ll tell you, the field is crowded with quality candidates in part because there’s a real fear in all communities that the city is moving in the in the wrong direction,” Vallas said. “The field, to a great extent, reflects the public’s dissatisfaction of (Lightfoot’s) leadership.”
Another mayoral contender who filed Monday, state Rep. Kambium “Kam” Buckner, boasted just shy of 25,000 signatures. Buckner, who appeared alongside his mother, a former CPS teacher, underscored his early entry into the race.
“Unlike some folks, we have not used conjecture and leveraging and pontificating on whether or not we wanted to be mayor of Chicago. I’ve been very clear about that. They weren’t,” Buckner said, an apparent reference to relatively latecomer candidates like Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson and U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.
Asked about Johnson, who is also trying to dominate the progressive wing of the field, Buckner said: “Being the mayor of Chicago is about actually getting stuff done. … There is no ‘chosen’ coordination here. The people of Chicago are the people who are going to decide.”
For his part, Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union’s candidate of choice, said he had more than 300 volunteers who helped him gather more than 41,000 signatures.
“I think that the residents of Chicago are very clear that they want leadership that’s collaborative, that’s competent and compassionate. I possess all three,” Johnson told reporters.
He did not comment on Lopez’s decision to drop out or worries about a crowded field, focusing instead on what a “disappointment” Lightfoot has been to local progressives.
Nor would Johnson say whether García’s apparent decision not to file Monday was a sign of weakness: “I think the focus for me is that me filing today expresses the strength of the progressive movement. It expresses the strength of the coalition that I’ve been building over the course of 20 years in this city.”
Johnson did attempt to dismiss Buckner’s emphasis on declaring his bid for mayor months earlier by saying, “Quite frankly, what’s exciting about this particular moment is that we didn’t just start running. We’ve been leading in this city for the last 20 years.” He brought up the fight for an elected school board governing CPS — which Buckner too was a part of, as one of the bill’s architects in Springfield — as well as organizing around raising the minimum wage and calls for better mental health services.
But García did not escape judgment from all his opponents Monday. Wilson and Vallas greeted each other ahead of filing and teamed up to censure García for jumping into the race the same week he won reelection to Congress.
“It’s a little disingenuous to, the day after you win, you get a reelection to congressman, you decide to run for mayor,” Vallas said. That’s a betrayal of his voters. … Put up or shut up.”
Wilson concurred, calling on García to give his congressional salary and “give it to the citizens” as he runs for mayor.
Meanwhile, community activist Ja’Mal Green touted his youth, as well as his nearly 30,000 signatures, in his second run for mayor.
“We need young leaders who are not tainted like the rest of these politicians who have failed us for so long,” he said. “Let me say, I know a lot of media, a lot of folks are going to underestimate us, but I want you all to please understand. Don’t underestimate the folks who have been dying for a voice in politics.”
While she didn’t file Monday and was the subject of much criticism from her many challengers, Lightfoot was able to demonstrate the advantage of incumbency on another front. She appeared with a high-profile federal official, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for an “infrastructure announcement” at O’Hare International Airport.
Lightfoot announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has greenlit O’Hare’s plans for a terminal overhaul. García was also in attendance but did not speak. Lightfoot briefly acknowledged him by name, thanking the “other leadership that’s here.”
“Anything related to O’Hare is a team sport,” Lightfoot said.
In addition to Lightfoot and García, the other announced candidate who did not file Monday was Sixth Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer.
He released a statement Monday saying that “anyone asking if I’m dropping out is engaging in wishful thinking. I’m in this thing to win it.” Sawyer added he’d “like my name to be right next to Lori’s on the ballot. Any candidate in that spot is going to look fantastic in comparison.”
Candidates mostly declined to say if they would challenge others’ nominating petitions. Their submission begins a roughly monthlong period where candidates often challenge their rivals’ petitions in hopes of knocking people off the ballot.
A young lawyer named Barack Obama famously won his first state Senate seat by knocking the incumbent, Alice Palmer, off the ballot with a petition challenge.
In the 2019 election for mayor, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle — who ultimately lost to Lightfoot in a runoff — succeeded in getting former Cook County circuit court Clerk Dorothy Brown kicked off the ballot. That year, Green also withdrew while facing a stiff challenge from Wilson.
This being Chicago, candidates sometimes file challenges in an effort to force opponents to waste time and money defending their signatures. Preckwinkle was unsuccessful in challenging signatures submitted by Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and Lightfoot.
Election lawyers often encourage candidates to collect roughly three times the minimum 12,500 number because challengers can use charges of forgery, fraud and more minor technicalities to invalidate signatures and knock opponents out of the race.
While candidates often submit their names on the first day of filing, there are strategic advantages to waiting. Filing at the end may give candidates more time to collect signatures and leave their opponents with one fewer week to sift through signatures and file a challenge.
The last day of filing this year is Nov. 28. The objection filing deadline is Dec. 5. The election takes place Feb. 28, and if no one gets at least half the vote, a runoff between the top two will be held April 4.
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(Chicago Tribune reporter Maddie Ellis contributed to this article.)
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