We got Rahm for four more years

At least on my part of the south side there were a number of Chuy Garcia signs and then over the past weekend on street corners I observed some "Fire Rahm" signs - even posted a pic on Instagram. Then I wonderd if this was more about the Mayor than Chuy.

The media seemed to have been telling us that people were angry with Emanuel. They wanted change and him out of office. Perhaps for a moment Garcia was getting some momentum after drawing a runoff with the incumbent.

Then today came and Emanuel was able to pull off a win. In addition these results from WTTW shows that a number of incumbent Alderman especially two for sure on the south side have been defeated.

In the 2015 election both in February and today we have seen some turnover there will be a number of new Aldermen on the new Chicago City Council. Many of these new Aldermen contested open seats and of course many defeated an incumbent Alderman. So time will tell if there will be change on the city council.

Tomorrow is the last day to register and vote early

That's according to this article via DNA Info:

Saturday will be the last day to both register and vote early in the city's runoff election.

Langdon Neal, chairman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, issued a reminder Friday that city residents can still register and vote, but same-day registration will not be available on Tuesday, when voters go to the polls to elect a mayor and 18 aldermen.

Similarly, absentee ballots must be postmarked no later than Monday. The city has sent out 54,541 absentee ballots, with the deadline to request one having passed....
Saturday will be the last day to vote at the city's 51 early voting sites: one in each ward and another at the board's main offices at 69 W. Washington Blvd. The sites will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Those who have not yet registered can still do so by presenting two forms of identification, at least one with the current address. Acceptable forms of ID include a driver's license, state ID, passport, pay stub, utility bill, bank statement, government check or some other form of government correspondence.

Voters who newly register, however, must vote at that time; they cannot opt to vote at the polls Tuesday.

If you haven't registered to vote please make it a point to do so tomorrow and be prepared to make your choices as well. For those of you who haven't voted yet please do so on the final day of early voting or definitely do so on April 7th which is the runoff election day.

The aforementioned article noted statistics about early voting in the city as a whole and in those 18 wards where Aldermanic candidates are facing runoffs.

Chicago Citizen endorses Rahm Emanuel

At this time, my household can't afford a subscription, though we often pick up a copy at the Post Office.

But today, we had a special delivery of the Chicago Citizen newspaper.

On the front page was an endorsement of Emanuel. However, most of it was Rahm talking points, and quotes form the treasurer & city clerk. There seemed to be only a small paragraph of original material, stating how they didn't think Garcia's idea of having a commission review the city's finances and then come back in a reasonable amount of time with specific suggestions was a good idea.



It also interesting to note that  "Chicago for Rahm" also took out a full page ad in the middle of the newspaper.

The newspaper also endorsed 7 aldermanic candidates -- ALL incumbents.

The link for that endorsement does not seem to be working at this time.

ABC7: Emanuel, Garcia participate in South Side forum

The mayor and his run-off opponent Chuy Garcia squared off at a forum at our local Chicago State University this evening. At first as per a status from 17th Ward Alderman-elect David Moore we learned that Emanuel had planned to blow this event off. Then later decided he will indeed participate in the CSU forum.

As you see ABC7 covered this forum and we hope to find other stories and footage from the forum.

WBEZ: Chicago mayor's race reveals deep divide in democratic party

Not too long ago we shared an article about the divide amongst Black voters with regards to the mayoral runoff next month between Mayor Emanuel and Commissioner Chuy Garcia. This time WBEZ looks at the divide amongst Democrats.

While recent polling suggests that the mayor is leading in this election, who else feels this could be a close election come April 7th?

Washington Post: Chicago mayor’s race is dividing the city’s black community

Well how divided is the Black electorate on the mayoral run-off between Emanuel and Garcia? Can Garcia capitalize on the Black vote or will Emanuel be able to get those votes necessary and secure a second term as mayor?

In the meanwhile, the Washington Post looks at the 2015 mayoral run-off here":

Emanuel, who dramatically outspent the competition, led the way with 46 percent of the vote, short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff against Garcia, who took 34 percent.

Support for the mayor among black voters was weaker than it was in 2011. He won 42 percent of the vote in majority black wards, according to the Illinois Elections Data Web site, which tracks voting patterns, down from 59 percent in 2011. Garcia took about a quarter of the vote in those wards.

With Emanuel expected to perform well in predominantly white areas and Garcia expected to win the Hispanic vote, the remaining third in those wards who voted for someone else could, depending on turnout, be vital.

Garcia has been hammering the mayor for closing 49 elementary schools; he has vowed to put more police officers on the streets to combat violent crime; and he is promising to shut down the city’s red light cameras, which produce city revenue through fines.

However:

But in his efforts to make inroads with black voters, Garcia, who would be Chicago’s first Hispanic mayor, is also confronting the city’s history of strained relations between Latinos and blacks. 

“The first rifts appeared soon after Washington’s death in 1987,” wrote radio show host Salim Muwakkil on the In These Times Web site earlier this year. “When the black base split over which alderman should succeed Washington, Latino supporters were set adrift, and the remnants of the city’s infamous Democratic Machine exploited that uncertainty.

I suppose there is a path to victory on both sides. I'd be curious so see what that path is. How does Rahm win and how does Chuy became Chicago's first latino mayor?

The mayoral run-off...

During the course of last month's campaign I hardly paid attention to the mayoral race. It was an afterthought as far as following the three wards that we attempted to cover in this cycle.

Now there is a runoff in the 21st with Alderman Brookins facing Marvin McNeil and then there's the mayor's race. For the first time in Chicago's history - or more accurately since we went to a non-partisan runoff election starting in 1999 - a sitting mayor faces a runoff. Well we sort of acknowledged that fact a while ago.

Regardless, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is facing off against Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia. While I might've expected Emanuel to still remain mayor we already knew that many in Chicago weren't happy with the mayor. Lately they've cited red light cameras which the Mayor has decided to shut down a few around the city recently.

Another issue that has come up is the closure of the schools in 2013. That still proves to be controversial to this day even if the reasoning may have been correct. Should schools that were underutilized remain open? Another problem with closing these schools is that now we have another vacant building in these mostly Black and Latino communities and we got to figure out what to do with them.

Regardless Emanuel is in an unenviable position now he has to convince Chicago to give him a second chance. Chuy scored an endorsement in another mayoral challenger from last month in Willie Wilson.

So now that Emanuel even after having a distinct advantage as far as fundraising wasn't able to finish this campaign last month could he prevail in early April? Can Mr. Garcia be Chicago's first Latino mayor?

A lot of people like to whine and complain and fail to hit the ballot box. The Sun-Times has some information as far as voter registration. I regret I never posted this information before because now the time to register is over, however, there is still grace period voting. With grace period voting, you would have to vote the same day you register.

Mayoral results by Ward (6,8,9,17,21)

Here are the mayoral results according to the wards we generally cover.

The mayor had about 43-42% of our communities' vote (slightly lower than the citywide average). Jesus Garcia and Willie Wilson were very close between 22-27%), with Dock Walls and especially Bob Fioretti (who had an office on 79th street near Calumet) doing relatively poorly.  The full results, from which the following are from, are located at http://www.chicagoelections.com/en/wdlevel3.asp?elec_code=10

Ward	Votes Cast	RAHM EMANUEL	%	WILLIE WILSON	%	ROBERT W. FIORETTI	%	JESUS ''CHUY'' GARCIA	%	WILLIAM WALLS, III	%
6	10225	4341	42.45%	2399	23.46%	476	4.66%	2347	22.95%	662	6.47%
8	13198	5718	43.32%	2896	21.94%	546	4.14%	3181	24.10%	857	6.49%
9	11586	5001	43.16%	2775	23.95%	500	4.32%	2561	22.10%	749	6.46%
17	8570	3425	39.96%	2272	26.51%	318	3.71%	2057	24.00%	498	5.81%
21	12621	5330	42.23%	3087	24.46%	496	3.93%	2815	22.30%	893	7.08%

We may try to post a breakdown by precinct (as available from The Chicago Board of Elections website) in the near future, so see which precincts favored which candidates.

What was the talk of your neighborhood?