Lightfoot's opponents in search of a candidate.
Quigley says he's too busy 'safeguarding democracy' in Ukraine to run.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot made it clear yesterday that she’s definitely seeking a second term undaunted by her recent sagging poll numbers. But the city’s anti-Lightfoot bloc can’t seem to find a candidate they can unite around or even one willing to take on Lightfoot in the upcoming Chicago mayor’s race. Their problem is that they have little agreement among themselves on anything except disregard for the Mayor.
Since Arne Duncan dropped out of the race back in February, Democratic Party regulars, CTU leaders, and leftovers from the old Daley/Burke/Madigan machine are currently left with four announced right-leaning law-and-order candidates: the fascist head of the F.O.P. John Catanzara, former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas (an F.O.P. consultant), millionaire and perennial losing candidate Willie Wilson, and 15th Ward Alderman Ray Lopez.
Political Analyst Laura Washington describes Lopez as a Mexican American who can bring the Latino voters along and “a conservative, so he can also bring more conservative white voters along.”
OK, I guess that’s one way to look at the race.
I’m no Nat Silver, but my guess is that none of the four stands a chance of beating the incumbent mayor.
The latest to announce he’s NOT running is Dem Party regular, Rep. Mike Quigley. His announcement follows weeks of speculation after he launched a local political campaign committee and polled potential voters about his potential candidacy. My guess is, his money people told him they saw only a very narrow path to victory or that being Mayor of Chicago at this time in history was a fool’s errand.
Quigley also considered a run in 2019 after Rahm Emanuel dropped out but decided not to jump into the race.
He’s a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and co-chairs the House Ukrainian Caucus. He claims he’s decided not to run because he’s too busy “safeguarding democracy” in Ukraine. I must admit, that’s a better excuse than “I want to spend more time with my family” and much better than Duncan’s claim that he was too busy running his non-profit to be mayor.
Conway again?
For some reason, Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman felt it worthwhile to give nearly a whole page to billionaire's son and mayor wannabe Bill Conway. Maybe it was a slow news day.
You might remember Conway from the racist campaign he ran against State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Foxx beat him handily despite Conway spending more than $10 million of daddy’s money on the campaign.
Writes Spielman:
If his dad was willing to write a $10.5 million check for his son’s state’s attorney campaign, in which he got 31.5% of the vote, he might be willing to contribute at least as much to a mayoral run.
Conway claims he’s being “urged to challenge Lightfoot” by “some of the larger trade unions, folks in the business community… and some community groups.” But when pressed by Spielman on who the supposed unions and community groups were, Conway couldn’t name any. By the end of the article, we find out that Conway isn’t serious about running at all but could beat Lightfoot — if he really wanted to.
There must be something more newsworthy to fill S-T’s skimpy news section.
Enjoyed this week's MK Edu/Pol, one of my go to sources for a keen eye and ear on matters of importance. Michael James– Live from the Heartland