On the final day to file, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García and three others all officially entered the mayoral race on Monday, joining six from last week. And now Chicago’s cutthroat game of petition challenges begins.
By Mitch Dudek, Fran Spielman and Emmanuel Camarillo
U.S. Rep Jesus “Chuy” Garcia looks to see the height of his stack of nominating petitions at the Board of Election Commissioners’ Supersite, Monday afternoon.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
The two political heavyweights in the race for Chicago mayor — incumbent Lori Lightfoot and U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia — filed their nominating petitions on Monday, setting the stage for a bruising battle and, more immediately, petition challenges that could narrow the field.
In addition to Garcia, Lightfoot picked up three more challengers — one the son of a former mayor.
That brings the mayoral field to 11 — for now.
Monday was the last day in the weeklong period for hopefuls to file for the February city elections. And Tuesday marks the first day for opponents to try to knock them off the ballot and dash those hopes.
Candidates seeking a spot in a lottery for the last ballot spot aim to file toward the end of the final day. Candidates seeking to have their names on the top of the ballot handed in their petitions last week as soon as the city’s election office began accepting them.
For City Clerk Anna Valencia and City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin none of that mattered. Both filed their petitions for reelection on Monday, but neither drew any competition.
Other mayoral candidates who filed on Monday were Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), son of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer; Chicago police officer Frederick Collins and Johnny Logalbo. But all filed before Garcia, so the Southwest Side congressman won the last spot on the ballot.
Ald, Roderick Sawyer (6th) waves to reporters as he enters the Board of Election Commissioners’ Supersite to turn in his nominating petitions Monday afternoon.
After turning in her nominating petitions Monday morning, a stack containing an estimated 40,000-plus signatures, Lightfoot flexed a bit as she explained her decision to skip the chance to get her name on the bottom of the ballot, a position some believe offers an advantage.
“It’s not about the last spot, the positioning on the ballot, as if you are an unknown and people don’t know you. They know who I am. And our voters are going to find us,” Lightfoot said.
“So we wanted to get this done this morning, get our folks geared up and ready for the next leg of the journey.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot files reelection nominating petitions for the 2023 Municipal Election at the Chicago Board of Elections Super Site Monday morning.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Garcia, a relative latecomer who announced his mayoral bid earlier this month, filed his nominating petitions Monday just before the filing period closed.
And he did his own flexing, filing what an aide estimated was about 48,000 signatures in a stack decorated with his signature moustache logo.
Calling his petitions “challenge proof,” Garcia said the signatures represented every corner of the city.
“This is an example of the type of grassroots support that our campaign is generating across Chicagoland, across ethnic and racial communities, communities of faith, we are excited,” Garcia said. “ This is a demonstration of the type of power and grassroots campaign that I will engage in.This is a winning campaign.”
U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia meets with supporters outside the Board of Election Commissioners’ Supersite before turning in his nominating petitions Monday afternoon.
He said his campaign wasn’t going to prioritize challenging any opponents’ petitions.
Garcia might not need to challenge Lightfoot’s petitions.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said he has assembled a team of election law experts and political volunteers to take a line-by-line look at the signatures that Lightfoot filed with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
“The fact that she filed at the last minute indicates a possible deficiency in the petitions.She stated that she filed on the last day four years ago. But she was an unknown challenger four years ago. She’s the incumbent mayor this time. And there’s no other reason for filing on the last day that makes sense other than she needed that extra week to pad her numbers,” Hopkins told the Chicago Sun-Times
“That suggests that her petitions were insufficient. And if they were, it’s unlikely she was able to cure that in just one week’s time. So we’re gonna go over them carefully and see if they are subject to a challenge.”
Hopkins is not aligned with any of the mayoral challengers, but he is so dedicated to making Lightfoot a one-termer, he’s willing to take at least a cursory look, then try to raise the money he needs for a full-blown petition challenge if there’s enough smoke to suggest fire.
“The last four years of her leadership have been disastrous for this city. This is a failed administration. I just don’t think she’s earned the right to a chance for a second term,” Hopkins said.
Flanked by supporters, Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks with reporters Monday morning.
Monday’s five mayoral filers join the six who filed last week — state Rep. Kam Buckner, community activist Ja’Mal Green, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, Ald. Sophia King (4th) , former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, and millionaire businessman Willie Wilson.
The top ballot position will be determined by a lottery that will include the names of those six candidates who filed last week.
The challenge period starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday and continues through 5 p.m. on Dec. 5. The goal is to disqualify enough signatures to knock a mayoral candidate below the 12,500 minimum required to remain on the ballot.
Signatures can be challenged for bearing the names of unregistered voters or registered voters who earlier signed another candidate’s nominating petitions. Petitions can also be challenged for containing bogus names, incorrect addresses or other patterns of fraud.
It’s a painstaking and potentially costly process that only mayoral candidates with deep pockets can afford to initiate, let alone carry through to conclusion. It’s normally not worth the trouble unless you have a high probability of knocking a potentially powerful opponent off the ballot.
After filing her nominating petitions, Lightfoot thanked the campaign volunteers who “literally scoured every corner of the city” to make sure she had a “sufficient number of valid signatures” to qualify for the ballot. She made it a point to single out “my friends in organized labor,” including “the Plumbers and Carpenters” unions.
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