Karen Lewis Lunches With Chuy Garcia

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis met mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for lunch Thursday, just weeks before Chicago voters decide who will be the next mayor of Chicago.

Lewis had considered a run for mayor but was unable to do so when she fell ill in September and was diagnosed with brain cancer. Lewis and the CTU later endorsed Garcia for mayor before he went on to force a runoff election with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. 

"If you had a wish what would it be?" Lewis asked Garcia during the outing.

Garcia said he would hope that voters cast their ballots early. Roughly 22,000 voters cast ballots in the first two days of early voting -- a record for a municipal election. 

Garcia said he continues to fundraise to keep his commercials on the air through April 7, having traveled to Los Angeles and New York during his efforts.

Garcia has faced criticism over his lack of specifics during his campaign, particularly on how he plans to fix the city's budgeting woes. Emanuel has offered his budget plan, but it relies on Springfield to agree to not only a Chicago casino but to expanding the sales tax.

Reporters on Thursday asked Lewis if Garcia can be tough enough to negotiate contracts with unions and come up with answers to the city's pension crisis.

"What does tough mean?" Lewis said. "The issues are, let's look at what caused the problem to see how to solve the problem." 

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