(The Center Square) – Early voting for 50 Chicago Wards opened Tuesday, and the candidates are pushing for more votes.
The race for Chicago mayor is coming down to the wire with U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia, Paul Vallas, and incumbent Lori Lightfoot as the top three candidates, according to several polls. Polling by NBC Chicago shows Garcia has 20% support, while Vallas has 18% and Lightfoot has 17%.
Before the polls open across Chicago neighborhoods on Tuesday, seven of the nine candidates met for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Forum and discussed issues affecting Black and brown neighborhoods. Lightfoot and Willie Willson did not attend.
The candidates were asked what things could be done to improve the quality of life in some of these neighborhoods. Garcia said his focus is on improving housing.
“Building new housing in Chicago is a top priority,” Garcia said. “We can not rebuild Chicago, grow its population or stabilize its property tax base if we do not do that.”
Vallas said he wants to fix the city’s water, which is contaminated with lead in some areas.
“The first thing we need to do is make sure every single family has a water filtration system,” Vallas said. “It’s going to take 50 years, 40 years. I don’t care if it takes five years to fix all of these pipes. The rate they are going, it’s going to take 500 years.”
The two front runners also were asked how to fix the Chicago Police Department and get rid of officers who may be prejudiced.
Vallas said he vows to remove any officers that are involved in any racist groups.
“There should be no associations with any of these groups and we should bar them,” Vallas said. “If they are members of these organizations, then through a legal process we should remove them and retire them and move them out of the system.”
Garcia said officers involved in far-right groups are their greatest threat.
“Far-right domestic terrorism is the greatest threat to democracy in America today,” Garcia said. “We saw what they did on January 6. They coordinated with the Trump administration and tried to overturn an election. We can not have that in the Chicago Police Department.”
Ja’mal Green, state Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, Alderman Rodrick Sawyer, and Alderman Sophia King were all in attendance for the forum.
The primary election is on Feb. 28. Early voting has begun in all 50 Chicago Wards.
