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Chicago mayoral race latest: Lightfoot drops attack ad on Chuy; Ald. Lopez throws support behind Wilson
FOX 32 Political Editor Mike Flannery breaks down the latest headlines coming out of the Chicago mayoral race.
CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's campaign released her first attack ad and a Latino City Council member delivered a surprise endorsement of Willie Wilson Wednesday adding fuel to the fast-approaching mayoral election.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) was the first candidate to say that he would challenge Lightfoot, but he dropped out in November when U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia entered the contest.
Several voter opinion surveys since then have indicated Garcia is the clear front-runner.
On Wednesday, Lopez today called multimillionaire businessman Willie Wilson the candidate who can win and said Wilson could bring together a coalition similar to the one that twice elected Harold Washington four decades ago.
Lopez said that he and Garcia are on different political wavelengths.
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Garcia has been busy Wednesday on the House floor in Washington D.C., where the Republican majority is trying to name a new house speaker. It's not clear how long that will tie him down on Capitol Hill.
Lightfoot is not waiting for Garcia to return before airing a new attack ad, focusing on an independent expenditure of about $200,000 last year by the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Samuel Bankman-Fried.
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New poll shows Lightfoot trailing Garcia, Vallas in mayoral election
A new voter opinion survey suggests Mayor Lori Lightfoot would come in third if the Feb. 28 election were held today.
Garcia was unopposed in his bid for another House term last year and didn't really need the help last November.
The mayor's ad suggested it was all somehow shady.
"Chuy secretly talked with this crypto crook who stole his customers' life savings, then spend a fortune to reelect Garcia," the ad said. "Chuy cut deals to help himself with the since-indicted Mike Madigan, even while the disgraced speaker faced a federal corruption investigation, and Chuy took money from a red light camera company just hours before he delivered the deciding vote that made the company millions,"
FOX 32 has reached out to the Garcia campaign for comment and will be covering more on these stories later today.