2019 Chicago mayoral election


The 2019 Chicago mayoral election was the 2019 edition of the quadrennial elections held to determine the Mayor of the City of Chicago, Illinois. The election was held on February 26, 2019. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election was held on April 2, 2019 between the two candidates with the most votes, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle. Lightfoot defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff election, becoming mayor-elect of Chicago. Lightfoot was sworn in as mayor on May 20, 2019.
The election was officially nonpartisan, with its winner being elected to a four-year term. The elections were part of the 2019 Chicago elections, which included elections for City Council, City Clerk, and City Treasurer.
Incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel initially announced he would run for a third term but withdrew in September 2018. Emanuel was first elected in 2011 and reelected in 2015.
The runoff was historic, as it assured Chicago would elect its first African-American female mayor, its second elected African-American Mayor, after Harold Washington, and its second female mayor, after Jane Byrne. Not only is Lightfoot the first African-American woman mayor in Chicago's history, but she is also the first openly LGBT person to lead Chicago. Lightfoot's election made Chicago the largest city won by an African American woman, as well as the largest by an openly LGBT person, in United States history.

Campaign

First round

Incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel declared his intent to seek reelection on October 17, 2017. One month later, Troy LaRaviere became the first opponent to declare their intent to run against Emanuel.
Later, in 2018, more opponents would declare their intent to run against Emanuel, with Garry McCarthy and Willie Wilson doing so in March, Dorothy A. Brown Cook and Ja'Mal Green and Neal Sáles-Griffin doing so in April, Lori Lightfoot, John Kozlar, and Paul Vallas doing so in May, Matthew Rooney doing so in June, and Amara Enyia and Jerry Joyce doing so in August. By the end of the Summer of 2018, a dozen individuals had declared their candidacies.
On September 4, 2018, Emanuel announced that he would no longer be seeking reelection. Emanuel’s announcement shook up the race, with many new candidates declaring their candidacies for mayor in the weeks that followed.
In late November, much of the media coverage on the race showed Toni Preckwinkle and Susana Mendoza to be considered its two frontrunners.
The race for mayor was upended by Alderman Ed Burke's corruption scandal. Mayoral candidates Toni Preckwinkle, Susana Mendoza, Gery Chico, and Bill Daley all had connections to the disgraced alderman, and the scandal encouraged an anti-corruption and anti-machine politics sentiment among voters.
A number of issues were debated by the candidates throughout the campaign. One of the major issues was pensions, as the city's annual pensions contribution had been projected to double between 2018 and 2023. Another issue was education, where sub-issues included school closings that had taken place under the Emanuel administration and the possibility of reforming the school-board selection method. Another issue was crime. Particularly in light of cases such as the murder of Laquan McDonald, issues regarding practices by the city's law enforcement were also discussed by candidates. Another issue was the use of tax increment financing by the city. Affordable housing was another issue debated. Ethics reforms were also debated. Taxes were another issue debated, with some candidates advocating for a commuter tax and some candidates advocating for a property tax freeze.
After ballot challenges were settled, a total of fourteen candidates were included on the ballot for the first round of the election. This is the most candidates that have ever been on the ballot in the history of Chicago mayoral elections.
The first round of the election was considered highly competitive to the end, with a number of candidates shown by polls to be viable contenders to potentially advance to the runoff. For example, a poll conducted February 11–13 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. for the media outlets Telemundo/NBC 5 Chicago illustrated what the outlets described as a tight five-way race between Chico, Daley, Lightfoot, Mendoza, and Preckwinkle. On February 24, The Wall Street Journal described the race's polling as showing six candidates with the possibility of making the runoff, with the five strongest contenders being described as Chico, Daley, Lightfoot, Mendoza, and Preckwinkle. Also on February 24, Chicago magazine wrote that it considered six individuals to have a chance of making the runoff, with those individuals being Chico, Daley, Lightfoot, Mendoza, Preckwinkle, and Wilson.
In the first round, Lori Lightfoot placed first and Toni Preckwinkle placed second, securing them both a spot in the runoff election.
Lightfoot's first-place finish in the first round was regarded to be an upset. She was seen as a long-shot when she first entered the race. In late-January, Lightfoot's support in publicly released polls had only ranged between 2% and 5%. Despite her low poll numbers in January, Lightfoot had persisted in her campaign, performing well in debates and running some ads on television. She won the endorsement of the Chicago Sun-Times. She also garnered new personal endorsements, including those of the Scott Waguespack, David Orr, and Robin Kelly, of whom the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Brown would later write in exploring the contributing factors to Lightfoot's first-round victory, "none of them heavyweights but influential enough to point the way for progressive voters looking for some sign, any sign, of how to pick their way through the thicket of candidates." While Lightfoot rose to the top of some polls near the end of the race, she had peaked in support so late in the race that none of the other candidates had been focused on running negative ads against her. Lightfoot also was seen as ultimately benefiting from the Burke corruption scandal, as she was running as an "political outsider" on an anti-corruption platform. Preckwinkle's allies had also, accidentally, provided Lightfoot with free media attention on two noteworthy occasions. The first incident occurred February 18, when one of Lightfoot's press conferences was crashed by Preckwinkle ally Robert Martwick, with whom Lightfoot got into a heated exchange. The second incident where Preckwinkle's camp generated free headlines for Lightfoot was when, days before the first round of the election, her campaign manager, Scott Cisek, published a Facebook post likening Lightfoot to a Nazi, leading to his firing by the Preckwinkle campaign.

Runoff

Throughout the runoff, Lightfoot led Preckwinkle in polls.
For the runoff, Lightfoot received endorsements from seven of the twelve candidates that had been eliminated in the first round. Preckwinkle, in contrast, received no endorsements from any candidates that had been eliminated in the first round.
In what was considered a "sweep" of the city's major publications, retaining her endorsement from the Chicago Sun-Times, for the runoff Lightfoot also received the endorsements of the Chicago Tribune and Crain's Chicago Business.
Both Lightfoot and Preckwinkle positioned themselves as self-declared, "progressives".
In the runoff, Preckwinkle highlighted her depth of government experience and sought to emphasize a contrast with Lightfoot's lack of experience in elected office. Lightfoot criticized Preckwinkle's connections with controversial figures such as Ed Burke and Joseph Berrios.
The two candidates differed on rent control, with Preckwinkle seeking the repeal of a state law prohibiting local governments from imposing rent control, while Lightfoot did not advocate for rent control in Chicago. The candidates differed on prospective term limits, with Preckwinkle opposing them, and Lightfoot advocating limited mayors and Lightfoot wants mayoral tenures and City Council committee chairmanship to two terms. Preckwinkle sought to create a ban on aldermen holding outside jobs, while Lightfoot differed, instead preferring to only ban them from holding outside jobs that pose conflicts of interest with official their duties. Preckwinkle wanted the power to draw ward maps to remain in the hands of the City Council, while Lightfoot wanted a nonpartisan and independent process to be created for redistricting. Preckwinkle defended retaining the practice of "aldermanic prerogative", while Lightfoot sought to bring an end to the practice. The candidates also differed on whether they would retain incumbent Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department Eddie T. Johnson, with Preckwinkle having stating that she planned to immediately dismiss Johnson of his post, while Lightfoot stated that she planned to retain him at least through the summer of 2019.
Lightfoot ultimately won a landslide victory in the runoff.

Candidates

In order to be listed on the ballot, candidates were required to submit petitions between November 19 and 26.
in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood, December 2018|alt=
Any certified candidate may have had their nomination papers challenged up until December 1. Those candidates with properly-filed challenges against their petitions would have their candidature subjected to hearings and procedures which would assess the validity of their petitions. If any candidate failed to file a statement of economic interests within five days of having their petition certified, then their certification would be revoked.
The deadline to file a notarized declaration of intent to be a write–in candidate was December 27, 2018. An exception to the December 27 deadline for write-in candidates to file their declaration of intent existed for circumstances in which a candidate lost their certification after the December 27 deadline due to the outcome of a challenge to their petitions.
Certified candidates were permitted to have their name removed from the ballot if they officially withdrew any time before December 20, 2018. Even if they informally withdrew by ceasing to campaign, all certified candidates that did not file to formally withdraw before the December 20 deadline would have their names listed on the ballot regardless of whether they were still active contenders. However, after December 20 candidates still may have filed to officially withdraw, an action which would have instructed the Board of Elections to deem all votes cast for the candidates as invalid when tallying votes.
Due to the time needed to complete process of reviewing nearly 200 challenges to candidate petitions in the mayoral race and other municipal elections, the start of the early voting period for the first round had been delayed to January 29 from its previously scheduled January 17 date.
The total of fourteen candidates on the February mayoral ballot is record-setting for Chicago mayoral elections.

Candidates who advanced to runoff

Candidates eliminated in the first round

Write-in candidates

A full list of eligible write-ins was made available to precincts on election day.
The following candidates had been denied inclusion on the ballot following successful challenges to their petitions:
The following individuals are previously-declared candidates who had terminated their candidacies. Unless otherwise indicated, these individuals did not submit petitions:
The following are prospective and speculative candidates that declined to run:

First round

Runoff

Fundraising

First round

Runoff

Note that runoff totals include the amount raised in both rounds of the election

Polling

Runoff

;Ward poll
The following are runoff polls limited to voters in a single ward:
WardPoll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Lori
Lightfoot		Toni
Preckwinkle		Undecided
2ndPoll for Brian K. Hopkins aldermanic campaignMid-March68%20%–


Hypothetical runoff polling		------

;If Rahm Emanuel were running for re-election, would you vote for him?

First round


Early polling		---------------------
Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Dorothy
Brown Cook		Bill
Daley		Rahm
Emanuel		Bridget
Gainer		Chuy
Garcia		Luis
Gutierrez		Valerie
Jarrett		Jerry
Joyce		Lori
Lightfoot		Garry
McCarthy		Susana
Mendoza		Rick
Munoz		Toni
Preckwinkle		Kurt
Summers		Paul
Vallas		Willie
Wilson		OtherUndecided
Raba ResearchSeptember 104%––––– 21%––10%18%––16%4%10%–7%15%
PPP, Toni Preckwinkle September 96004.9%–––––––––13%––25%–16%10%–19%
We Ask AmericaSeptember 41,1283.0%–1.8%––3.9%–6.6%3.2%9.6%16.8%1.4%1.4%4.6%–10.1%15.1%8.7%16.8%
PPPAugust7225.0%––24%––––––11%––––10%–––
Global Strategy GroupJuly 22–296004.0%6%–32%1%––––8%13%––––9%8%––
Lori Lightfoot July 7–98000%15%–34%–––––3%16%––––9%–––

Results

First round

Results by ward

Seven candidates each had pluralities in at least one of the city's fifty wards.
  • Wilson had pluralities in thirteen wards
  • Lightfoot had pluralities in eleven wards
  • Daley had pluralities in eight wards
  • Mendoza had pluralities in seven wards
  • Preckwinkle had pluralities in six wards
  • Joyce had pluralities in four wards
  • Chico had a plurality in a single ward
Of the city's eighteen wards that are predominantly black, Wilson carried a plurality of the vote in thirteen with Preckwinkle carrying a plurality of the vote in the remaining five. In the combined vote of the city's predominately black wards, Wilson placed first, Preckwinkle placed second, Lightfoot placed third, Daley placed fourth, and Enyia placed fifth.

Runoff

Results by ward

Lightfoot won all fifty of the city's wards. Additionally, Lightfoot won 2,049 of the city's 2,069 voting precincts, a victory for Lightfoot in more than 99.03% of precincts.

Voter turnout

First round

Turnout in the first round of the election was 35.20%. The low turnout was attributed to poor youth turnout and a drop off in voter turnout from the 2018 midterms.
The 35.32% turnout was higher than that of the first round of the 2015 election, but was lower than that of the 2015 runoff. Turnout was lower than in the previous open race in 2011.
Turnout was reported to be lowest among the millennial age demographic, with a lower turnout among those under 35 than the previous lowest under-35 turnout in 2007.

Runoff

Runoff turnout was 32.89%.

Portrayal in media

The Steve James four-part documentary series City So Real, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, centers on the mayoral election.

Timeline

2017

  • June: The organization Take Charge Chicago begins circulating petitions to place a referendum on the November 2018 ballot which, if approved by voters, would have prohibited Chicago mayors from serving more than two consecutive terms. If approved by voters, this would have prevented incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel from being eligible for reelection
  • October 19: Rahm Emanuel declares his intention to seek reelection
  • November 17: Troy LaRiviere announces candidacy

    2018

;March
  • March 21: Garry McCarthy announces candidacy
  • March 29: Willie Wilson announces candidacy
;April
  • April 19: Dorothy A. Brown Cook announces candidacy
  • April 20: Ja'Mal Green announces candidacy
  • April 22: Neal Sáles-Griffin announces candidacy
;May
  • May 2: Paul Vallas announces candidacy
  • May 8: John Kozlar announces candidacy
  • May 10: Lori Lightfoot announces candidacy
;August
  • August 6: Take Charge Chicago formally submits to the Chicago Board of Election its petition for a term-limits referendum question to be included on the November 2018 ballot
  • August 24: Trudy Leong announces candidacy
  • August 29: Amara Enyia and Jerry Joyce announce candidacies
  • August 31: Chicago Board of Elections rules that the term-limits referendum question petitioned by Take Charge Chicago had collected a sufficient number of valid signatures to preliminary qualify for inclusion on the November 2018 ballot
;September
  • September 4: Rahm Emanuel withdraws
  • September 11: Antoine Members and Charles Minor announce candidacies
  • September 12: Chicago Board of Elections rules that the term-limits referendum question petitioned by Take Charge Chicago is ineligible for inclusion on the November 2018 ballot due to improper phrasing
  • September 17: William M. Daley announces candidacy
  • September 18: Gery Chico and William J. Kelly announce candidacies
  • September 20: Toni Preckwinkle announces candidacy
  • September 27: LaShawn Ford announces candidacy
;November
  • November 13: Troy LaRiviere withdraws
  • November 14: Susana Mendoza announces candidacy
  • November 19: First day of petition filing
  • *Catherine Brown D'Tycoon, Jerry Joyce, Toni Preckwinkle, and Paul Vallas file petitions
  • November 23: Conrien Hykes Clark files petition
  • November 26: Final day of petition filing
  • *Dorothy A. Brown Cook, Gery Chico, William M. Daley, Amara Enyia, Robert Fioretti, La Shawn K. Ford, Ja'Mal Green, John Kozlar, Lori Lightfoot, Sandra L. Mallory, Richard Mayers, Garry McCarthy, Susana Mendoza, Neal Sáles-Griffin, Roger L. Washington submit petitions
  • *William J. Kelly withdraws
  • November 27: William "Dock" Walls withdraws
;December
  • December 3: Deadline for challenges to be filed
  • *Chico, Enyia, Fioretti, Joyce, Kozlar, Mallory, Preckwinkle, Vallas, and Wilson were not challenged, and were therefore certified as candidates and granted ballot status
  • *Challenges were filed against the petitions of Brown Cook, Brown D'Tycoon, Daley, Ford, Green, Hykes Clark, Lightfoot, Mayers, McCarthy, Mendoza, Sáles-Griffin, and Washington.
  • December 20: Daley and McCarthy are both officially granted ballot status
  • December 27: Deadline to declare intent to run as a write-in candidates
  • *Mendoza is officially granted ballot status
  • *The petitions of Hykes Clark, Mallory, and Mayers are rejected, effectively removing these candidates' names from the ballot
  • *Ja'Mal Green files to withdraw his name from the ballot and instead run as a write-in
  • December 31: Ja'Mal Green withdraws

    2019

;January
  • January 2:
  • *Lightfoot is officially granted ballot status
  • *The petitions of Brown D'Tycoon and Washington are rejected, effectively removing their names from the ballot
  • January 12: Ford is officially granted ballot status
  • January 22:
  • *Sáles-Griffin is officially granted ballot status
  • *The petition of Brown Cook is rejected, effectively removing her name from the ballot
  • January 29: Early voting begins for first round of election
;February
  • February 26: First round of election is held
;March
  • March 15: Early voting begins for the runoff election
;April
  • April 2: Runoff election is held
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