CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has lost the financial advantage her campaign had over most opponents as her campaign spent twice as much as she raised during the last three months of 2022 while she launched expensive television ads aimed at rebuilding momentum in her bid for reelection.
With a little more than a month to go before the Feb. 28 mayoral election, the first-term mayor remains locked in a tight race against eight rivals looking to unseat her, several of whom now have nearly as much cash — or more — on hand to sell their messages to voters, according to newly filed campaign disclosure records.
Lightfoot began the quarter with $2.9 million in the bank and raised nearly $1.5 million between October and December of 2022. But during that same time frame, she spent roughly $3 million — $2 million of it on advertising, according to the filing with the Illinois State Board of Elections. She’s raised another $109,000 since the beginning of the year, leaving her with about $1.5 million in the bank for the stretch run.
