Mayoral candidates court voters at 41st Ward Democrats Forum

CHICAGO — Mayoral candidates made attempts to court voters Tuesday evening on the City’s Northwest Side.

Eight of the eleven candidates running for mayor turned out at the 41st Ward’s Democrats Forum.

“When you’re up on the Northwest part of the city, you’re talking about working class. You’re talking about police and fire,” said WGN Political Analyst Paul Lisnek. “Typically, this is a group that Lori Lightfoot did well with last time around. But other candidates think they can make some gain in that area.”

Incumbent Lori Lightfoot and challengers Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia and Frederick Collins were the three candidates not in attendance. Their opponents pounced on the opportunity to capitalize on their absence.

“The mayor has not shown up for Chicago at all in the last three and half years, so I don’t expect anything less tonight,” said Kam Buckner.

“Lori is not here because she has too much to defend,” said Paul Vallas. “Chuy is not here because he’s still trying to figure out what he’s going to say.”

While Garcia was not present at the forum Tuesday, a poll funded by Operating Engineers Local 150 found Garcia leading the field, including Lightfoot, by 7 points.

“Garcia is getting a lot of support, obviously from some unions and a lot of funding coming in,” Lisnek said. “But arguably, he might have gotten into this race just a little bit late because some of those important unions already signed on with one of his opponents — Brandon Johnson.”

The Chicago Federation of Labor declined to pick a candidate in the race Tuesday, instead favoring to remain neutral during the mayoral election cycle.