After months of campaigning and a monthlong spring to the finish line, Election Day has finally arrived for Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas as they seek to become the next mayor of Chicago.
Both candidates are optimistic about their chances for victory in the tight race, and both are relying on their organizations to turn out voters, even as severe weather potentially threatens the Chicago area.
Vallas campaigned on Monday with political leaders who had backed his candidacy, including Sen. Dick Durbin.
Johnson did likewise, holding an event in Pilsen for supporters.
New polling suggests that the race remains tight, with Vallas holding a slim four-point lead in one new poll, with a 3% margin of error and 5% of voters remaining undecided.
“This is a true toss-up race,” Democratic strategist Tom Bowen said. “Anybody could be victorious tomorrow.”
Another potential late-impacting story that has arisen is news that McDonald’s has ordered corporate employees to work from home as they consider laying off hundreds of workers.
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Vallas says that the story reflects the fragile state of Chicago’s economy, criticizing Johnson’s plan to raise taxes on corporations.
“People are looking for financial certainty right now, and I think the absolute wrong thing to be talking about is $800 million in tax increases,” he said.
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Johnson said that his plan would help lower and middle-class Chicago residents.
“We’re going to make sure that we’re not raising property taxes, because people are leaving,” he said. “We’re going to make investments, because this is how we have a safe, thriving city. We can do that collectively, so I feel confident about that.”
Both candidates also took their final opportunities to talk about the divisions the campaign has revealed, with Vallas poking fun at Johnson’s criticisms of his liberal credentials, with Johnson referencing a 2009 interview where Vallas told conservative commentator Jeff Berkowitz that he was “more of a Republican than a Democrat.”
“Last week he began to shift his message, and instead of saying that I’m a Republican, that I’m an old-machine Democrat, so figure that one out,” he said.
Johnson also referenced some of the sharpest comments made against him during the campaign, with FOP President John Catanzara warning of the potential resignation of hundreds of officers and increases in crime if Johnson was victorious.
“There are people that said if you elect me, there would be blood on the streets,” he said.
Needless to say, there has been plenty of controversy in the campaign, and Bowen says that the next mayor will have to work to reunite those voting in this election.
“Whoever comes out tomorrow is going to have to do a lot of work bringing the city together, and governing the entire city,” he said.
