Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle will face each other in a runoff in April
FOR THOSE seeking something to cheer in electoral politics, Chicago’s mayoral race is worth a look. After Rahm Emanuel, the incumbent, said last September he would not seek a third term, a horde of candidates jumped at the chance to succeed him. Eventually 14 rivals were listed on a long ballot paper on February 26th. Voters narrowly awarded first place to Lori Lightfoot , a former prosecutor and political outsider who had entered the contest early.
She is not mayor yet. In a crowded field, no candidate scooped up the more than half of the vote needed to win outright. Instead Ms Lightfoot enters a runoff on April 2nd against Toni Preckwinkle , a more established figure from the Democratic machine, who took second place. Ms Preckwinkle’s performance was also notable. She got through despite her association with Edward Burke, a politician recently charged by the FBI for trying to extort payments from executives of a fast-food restaurant.
It is too early to guess who will triumph in April. Ms Preckwinkle knows the political landscape intimately and has some big backers, including teachers' unions. She was an alderman for five terms and is president of the board of Cook County, a huge territory which includes Chicago. From the south side of the city, she is a progressive who campaigns for more affordable housing. By contrast, Ms Lightfoot has never been elected to anything. She will instead campaign as a disruptive force.
Whoever wins, this will be a historic election. Chicago has had an African American mayor, Harold Washington, and a woman mayor, Jane Byrne, both in the 1980s. The winner in 2019 will become the first African-American woman to run the city. If Ms Lightfoot were to triumph, she would also be the first openly lesbian mayor to run one of America’s big three cities.
The election also brought some other surprises. Dynastic politics didn't get much of a look-in. Bill Daley, the son and brother of two long-serving mayors of Chicago, and a national politician with ties to Barack Obama and Al Gore, came third. He had received some big donations from business. Nor did Latino voters prove influential. Susana Mendoza, who was close to Mr Emanuel, was seen by some analysts as a potential victor. Yet she flopped after a feeble campaign.
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