With less than 48 hours until Election Day, Chicago mayoral candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot are criss-crossing the city, delivering their final pitches to voters ahead of their Tuesday showdown.
Lightfoot, who has been leading in most polls, is pushing for change in the mayor’s office, while Preckwinkle has been emphasizing her experience as a public servant with the campaign winding down.
Lightfoot held a rally Sunday at her South Shore campaign office, with Rep. Robin Kelly standing alongside her.
“Change is coming,” Lightfoot said.
Meanwhile, Preckwinkle went on a tour of numerous city churches, visiting eight congregations in all on the South and West sides of the city. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White accompanied her on that tour, as she touted her work as the Cook County Board President.
“I’ve done the difficult work (to bring change to neighborhoods),” she said.
In spite of polls that have shown Lightfoot with a substantial lead, as much as 30 percent in some cases, Preckwinkle is confident that her campaign has done good work in identifying voters and in energizing them to get out and vote on Election Day.
Local
“We’ve done a lot of good work to identify our voters, and we’re trying to make sure they get out,” she said. “The race is going to be close.”
Lightfoot also sounded a call to her supporters to get out and vote, and elaborated on what she would do if she were elected to the mayor’s office.
“I think the mandate is to clean up city government, to make it much more responsive,” she said. “(To) make it much more transparent and accountable for sure, and also just to be honest about the challenges (we face).”
As the campaign comes to an end, both candidates have agreed, at the urging of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, to hold a joint press conference on the morning after Election Day to show unity.
“(Showing unity) is what you have to do in any election process,” Preckwinkle said. “I think it’s really important that that be clear to folks.”
