{"id":625,"date":"2011-01-12T02:00:31","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.law.harvard.edu\/journals\/hlpr\/?p=625"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:59:28","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:59:28","slug":"why-is-chicagos-mayoral-election-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2011\/01\/12\/why-is-chicagos-mayoral-election-in-february\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Chicago\u2019s Mayoral Election In February?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color: #505050\"><em>By Zack Luck<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #505050\">Here in America\u2019s\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: inherit\">Third\u00a0<\/span>Second City, Election Day is less than two months away.\u00a0 You heard that right, no primary, just straight to an election (with some unusual procedures) on the third Tuesday in February. \u00a0This is Chicago\u2019s very own way of saying \u201cyou thought just having\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/www.whytuesday.org\/challenge\/\">Elections on Tuesday<\/a>\u00a0was anti-democratic, we\u2019re going to go one further, and pick a Tuesday with literally freezing\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/www.wunderground.com\/history\/airport\/KMDW\/2010\/2\/22\/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&amp;req_state=NA&amp;req_statename=NA\">average temperatures<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #505050\">The election (rather than a primary) is in February\u00a0 for at least some good reasons. \u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/blogs.chicagotribune.com\/news_columnists_ezorn\/2010\/09\/spanky.html\">As the Chicago Tribune explained<\/a>, in the 1990s Chicago created a non-partisan run-off system, getting rid of the primaries all together. \u00a0If one candidate gets a majority in February\u2019s election, then there is no runoff; if not, then the top two candidates face off on April 5th. \u00a0Getting rid of the primaries was likely a smart move since Chicago\u2019s last Republican mayor once\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/magazine\/article\/0,9171,880930,00.html\">offered to stump for Calvin Coolidge<\/a>\u00a0and the last Republican candidate to run against Daley took home just\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/blogs.chicagotribune.com\/news_columnists_ezorn\/2010\/09\/spanky.html\">2.8 percent of the vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #505050\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #505050\">What does Chicago\u2019s runoff system mean for the election?\u00a0 The\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/blogs.chicagotribune.com\/news_columnists_ezorn\/2010\/09\/spanky.html\">Tribune<\/a>\u00a0pointed out that\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/84\/harold\">Harold\u00a0<\/a>Washington, the city\u2019s first African-American Mayor, might never have been elected if the current system was in place then.\u00a0 Washington became mayor by winning a three-way race against two white candidates. The Tribune convincingly argues that, in a run-off, white voters in 1983 might have unified to elect his top-vote-getting opponent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #505050\">\u00a0Today, Chicago has nothing close to a racial majority.\u00a0 Unlike in 1983, it will be almost impossible to win a majority in the election by appealing to only non-Hispanic Whites (about 32% of the city), African-Americans (about 40%), or Hispanics (about 28%). \u00a0\u00a0 Chicago is deeply\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/www.radicalcartography.net\/index.html?chicagodots\">divided<\/a>\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/gapersblock.com\/mechanics\/2011\/01\/03\/old-racial-games\/#more\">by race<\/a>. \u00a0For months, political leaders in the city\u2019s African-American community fought to find their \u201c<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/newsblogs.chicagotribune.com\/clout_st\/2010\/11\/african-american-group-backs-danny-davis-for-mayor.html\">consensus\u201d candidate<\/a>.\u00a0 Earlier this month\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/articles.chicagotribune.com\/2011-01-01\/news\/ct-met-mayor-race-0102-20110101_1_african-american-black-mayor-black-candidates\">insider pressure<\/a>\u00a0on one of two remaining well-known African-American candidates finally led to a single leading African-American candidate for mayor, Carol Moseley Braun. \u00a0While many see the emergence of a unity African-American candidate as\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/gapersblock.com\/mechanics\/2011\/01\/01\/davis-endorsement-of-braun-a-game-changer\/\">a game changer<\/a>, and it might be, the runoff system will force any candidate to draw support from a broad and diverse base.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #505050\">In addition to pushing candidates to seek a broad base, the runoff structure means the race, even with the initial election so soon, isn\u2019t close to over.\u00a0 Everyone knows\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/www.chicagomayoralscorecard.com\/\">Rahm Emanuel is the front-runner<\/a>, polling as much\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit;color: #3f6dcf\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110620050249\/http:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/blogs\/ward-room\/Emanuel-has-43-percent-in-new-poll-112313104.html\">as 30-plus points ahead of the field<\/a>.\u00a0 Yet, even with his dominating numbers Rahm does not poll above 50 percent.\u00a0 If Rahm doesn\u2019t reach a majority on Election Day, he might just face his biggest hurdle in April\u2019s run-off when any opposition to him could unify behind a single challenger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Zack Luck Here in America\u2019s\u00a0Third\u00a0Second City, Election Day is less than two months away.\u00a0 You heard that right, no [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-a5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}