Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's main rivals in the race to succeed Chicago Mayor Richard Daley spent Monday doing some last-minute campaigning and scratching for every vote they could find in the hopes of forcing an April runoff.
Former Chicago schools president Gery Chico and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun both predicted they would receive the votes necessary to deny Emanuel an outright victory on Tuesday and force a two-person runoff.
The fourth major candidate, City Clerk Miguel del Valle, also has pleaded with voters throughout the campaign to send the race to a runoff so they have more time to decide.
"We expect a runoff and I think you’ll see that tomorrow and then we can get the race on and going right away," said Chico, who spent much of Monday riding Chicago Transit Authority trains and telling commuters what he plans to do if elected.
There will be an April 5 runoff between the top two vote-getters unless someone receives more than 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday. Recent polls showed Emanuel nearing that margin with Chico, Braun and del Valle fighting for second place. Two other candidates — William "Dock" Walls and Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins — are also running.
"It’s probably going to wind up in a runoff, but that’s OK, we can handle that," Braun said during a fiery South Side news conference attended by some of her most powerful backers, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis.
For his part, Emanuel said he wasn’t concerned about the prospect of a runoff.
"What I’m concerned about and what I think is the major concern is about making sure that we have policies for our future, that we have also a mayor that has the determination, the resilience and the vision to see the changes through. That’s what concerns me and I think that’s what’s on the mind of the people that are going to vote," he said during a stop at a northwest side retirement community with two of his three children.
