The huge field running for mayor #ChgoMayor2019

You know I've not written a whole lot about the Mayor's race which is an open seat next year since Mayor Rahm Emanuel opted out of running for a third term. I've shared with you two links in an earlier post.

Chicago Tonight shares with you a list of 21 candidates for mayor. Though I got to share this with you all. A quote found from Chicago Tonight, and I would wonder how much further democracy in Chicago would go if one candidate - especially a top-tier front-runner type - would be willing to make such a statement.

[State Representative La Shawn] Ford said he won’t challenge anyone else’s paperwork.

“I don’t think that’s good democracy,” he said. “I think that if they have signatures that means that some people want them on the ballot and it’s unfortunate that we would play politics with all of the people that signed petitions.”

On the other hand a top-tier candidate also stated this:

[Former White House Chief of Staff & US Secretary of Commerce William] Daley proposes that in the future, the signature requirement be lowered and that Chicago residents be able to sign more than one petition (signing multiple petitions is another no-no in the officially non-partisan mayor’s race, as technically only the first petition signed counts).

“We should not make it so hard to run. This is all about politicians trying to protect their jobs,” Daley, who submitted 45,000 signatures, said in a statement.

Two Chicago political traditions are probably hard to eliminate. Politicians want to protect their positions anyway they can if that means a high amount of petition signatures to get on the ballot or to knock an opponent off the ballot then that's what they do.

I found this on CapFax about Amara Eniya who is running for mayor for the second time. While I may not like her odds since I'm not aware of any past attempts at an elected office (especially those that don't have the importance as a Mayor of Chicago), I have to admit she is serious:

Former City official and Community Activist Amara Enyia has run for mayor before; she said she’s learned a lot since then and is ready to make her voice heard among several contenders. She filed 62,000 signatures, no doubt in part because of Chance the Rapper and Kanye West’s help in supporting her campaign.

“We have done a good job of organizing across the city so it is not just me as a candidate but it is the people of this city,” Enyia said.

It'll probably be hard to knock her off the ballot going through her 62k signatures. It's safe to say she's in this one!

Of course we can still expect those 21 candidates running for mayor to be whittled down. It could be petitions and it could be other factors. We'll just have to see!