Chicago mayoral election: Candidates for mayor make last-minute push on eve of Election Day

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago voters go to the polls on Election Day Tuesday to narrow down the field of nine candidates in the race for mayor.

A new poll suggests this may be a race for second place, and one group of voters could make the difference.

The candidates are all working to get those undecided votes, and the lakefront voters who propelled Lori Lightfoot to victory four years ago are critical, but how Black women vote could determine her chance for a second term.

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia was up early, shaking hands with morning commuters on the CTA on the North Side.

“We are pretty fired up and feel quite confident that we will be in the runoff at the end of the day tomorrow and then go on to round two,” Garcia said.

RELATED: Chicago Mayoral Election: Latest poll shows Paul Vallas widening lead, no clear 2nd place candidate

Mayoral candidate Ja’Mal Green hit the Roosevelt train station to get morning commuters and undecided voters to pick him.

“We are going to shock the world tomorrow and show them that people who usually aren’t engaged, that can’t be polled, are going to turn out and say something different,” Green said.

Alderman and candidate Sophia King shook hands, created commuters and handed out fliers reminding voters to pick her in this critical election.

“Still a lot of undecided voters in a race of nine people,” King said. “I think that’s good for us. My competitors have been on TV spending millions of dollars and if people are still undecided that means they are still looking for a candidate.”

Lightfoot campaigned in Uptown Monday afternoon.

“So everyone, no excuse, if you don’t vote, you’re giving away your power, and if you don’t vote you’re letting somebody else in a different part of the city determine your destiny,” she said.

She spent the weekend courting women, particularly Black women, seeing them as voters she needs to win a second term.

“I’m reaching out to a natural constituency and base, so we are trying to motivate people all over the city,” Lightfoot said.

“Black women are the most reliable, the most loyal and the largest voting bloc there is in terms of the Democratic Party, and so that’s who you are going to rely on,” said political consultant Delmarie Cobb.

But candidates Sophia King and Brandon Johnson are also vying for support from women, and Black women.

“So you cannot say that that voting bloc is necessarily going to go to Lori, it’s going to be divided,” Cobb said.

ALSO SEE: Some candidates dismiss Lightfoot’s assertion race is down to her, Vallas

A new poll shows Paul Vallas with the best chance of making the runoff, with 26.8% of the vote. Brandon Johnson is next with 20.2%, and Lightfoot right behind him at 18.7%. Garcia is fourth with 15.6%, statistically making it a three-way race for second place. Willie Wilson is the only other candidate polling in the double figures, with 11.4%

Wilson campaigned at Manny’s Deli Monday, and dismissed the poll.

“Well I think that today, tomorrow will be the last that you’ll see of Mayor Lightfoot,” he said.

In addition to asking for votes, candidates are also stressing voter turnout and plan to campaign through Tuesday.

The election has already reported impressive numbers.

More than 109,000 early vote ballots have been cast so far in Chicago and more than 102,000 vote-by-mail ballots have been cast, surpassing the 2015 and 2019 elections.

RELATED: What’s behind Chicago’s large early voting turnout and city council change-ups?

Those election numbers showing voters age 65-to-74 years old account for over 23 percent of early voters versus 18-to-24 year-olds, who make up around 2-percent

Chicago Votes will be hosting “Parade to the Polls” Monday morning at two different high schools to educate and encourage eligible young voters to get to the polls.

While mail-in ballots are driving early voting, and there is some concern because there are so many of them that it could take several days to determine who the top two candidates are who make it to the runoff in April.