Chicago mayoral election: Vallas laughs off Lightfoot's latest attack

CHICAGO - Candidate for mayor Paul Vallas is reacting after Mayor Lori Lightfoot launched an election-eve attack on him.

"Well, first of all, I really have to laugh at that!" Vallas said.

Chicago will start counting the votes Tuesday night for mayor, city council and newly-created police district councils.

Nearly a quarter million Chicagoans have already cast their vote.

Virtually every recent voter opinion survey showed Vallas as the clear frontrunner, followed by a close contest for second place and the chance to face Vallas in a likely April 4th runoff election.

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Some polling shows Willie Wilson in that battle, as well as Mayor Lightfoot, Brandon Johnson and Chuy Garcia.

"We feel that, if we get the base of voters that we are targeting out, that we will be in a runoff," Garcia said.

"I fully expect to be in the runoff against Paul Vallas and I’m gonna beat him in April," Mayor Lightfoot said.

One problem for the mayor in any runoff, though: many voters told pollsters this month that they would never support her -- 55% according to Victory Research; 61% according to M3 Consultants; both polls done this month.

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The mayor is now trying to drive up Vallas's negatives, in the process putting race at centerstage. She often notes Vallas's work for the Fraternal Order of Police union, and that a Vallas Twitter account "liked" postings making problematic points about race and one that called Lightfoot a "racist."

"At some point, Paul Vallas, you need to step up and accept responsibility for what you've done. You are giving a platform and elevating hate," Lightfoot said.

"She's just grasping at straws. She's trying to divert people's attention from her failed record. I'm going to finish this campaign -- or at least this phase of the campaign -- as I started: talking about the issues," Vallas said.

2 finalists may not be known for days as mail-in ballots are counted

The runoff campaign will formally begin Tuesday night as the nine current candidates deliver speeches either claiming victory or conceding defeat. At least some of the losers will be courted for potential endorsements by the two who do make the runoff.

There is already speculation that one or more of the losers could deliver an endorsement as they bow out. We will see.