Vallas, Johnson appear to be taking different campaign strategies in race for Chicago mayor

CHICAGO (WLS) — The first debate in the mayoral runoff is offering some important insights into what voters might expect from the candidates in the next few weeks.

Just as Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas are offering different visions for Chicago, they also appear to be taking different campaign strategies.

Johnson rolled out another endorsement Thursday from the Illinois Nurses Association, as he looks to keep building up union support for the runoff election.

“I’m committed to making sure we pass treatment, not trauma,” he said.

During last night’s debate, Johnson was frequently on the attack against Vallas.

RELATED: Chicago mayoral debate sees Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson clash on policing, education, taxes, more

“Brandon Johnson was clearly trying to create another media moment for coverage after the debate was over,” said Democratic political strategist Tom Bowen, who worked on Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emanuel’s campaigns.

He said negative campaigning tactics have been proven effective with voters.

“There’s a couple different ways to win in politics. Number one is to be known better than the other person number; two is to be liked better than the other person; but number three is to not be as hated as much as the other person,” Bowen said.

Vallas, for the most part, refrained from returning fire with fire during the debate.

“Vallas held back. He just kind stayed above the fray,” said ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington. “He responded to a couple things, but he’s the front runner so he doesn’t want to get, get down in the mud, he wants to refrain from alienating any of the voters he wants to win.

“It’s got me into a runoff and I’m gonna just stick to my plan to come make it about the issues rather than personalities. You know, I’ll return fire when I need needed to,” Vallas said.

Johnson was asked if he was concerned that running a negative campaign might turn off voters.

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“Who’s running a negative campaign? I mean does this look negative to y’all,” Johnson said.

Bowen said Vallas won’t be able to simply run a positive promotional campaign from now until Election Day.

“Paul Vallas is going to go negative. He’s just going to do it in commercials or allies of his will do it in paid media commercials,” Bowen said.

Vallas has launched a pair of new TV ads since advancing to the runoff, sticking to his positive messaging tactic. Johnson is expected to release new ads for his campaign soon.