The latest poll shows Brandon Johnson has closed to within two points of Paul Vallas in the Chicago mayoral runoff race. Both candidates are making their final pitch to voters, but the result itself would appear too close to call.
The latest poll shows Brandon Johnson has closed to within two points of Paul Vallas in the Chicago mayoral runoff race.
Jason DeSanto: Well, I think they both have reasons to be feeling good about things. I think Vallas has reason to feel good about things. Let’s assume that at least maybe directionally that latest public polling is in the neighborhood without committing to whether it’s 100% accurate. Directionally, Vallas post-runoff has managed not to get wiped out with Black and Latino voters. And I think there was some question about that.
As far as Johnson goes, he’s been deft in shifting his focus a little bit and handling a number of attacks on his previous positions on defund. And once we’ve gotten into this portion of the race, you’re seeing both candidates continue to talk about particular crime issues, for example, but do it in slightly different ways than they were doing it before the runoff.
On the flip side, Vallas is using education to demonstrate that he has run large enterprises and that he has a public service ethic. And that, in contrast, Johnson won’t be independent because he’s tied to the teachers union. So they’re both using it as a litmus test on their own leadership abilities.
And for Vallas, it’s really just reinforcing what got him here in terms of a sensible approach on public safety and also not overstating that approach so much that he appears to be scary to some voters. And he’s done a reasonably good job of that over the past few weeks in shifting his crime message away from simply accountability for crime and accountability to people and to communities and to building trust and for the police to be accountable to them. So it’s a little difference in emphasis.
What’s your take on the value of endorsements these days? Do you think voters really pay much attention to them?
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