Have you decided who you are voting for in Chicago's Mayoral election?
The election for Chicago's next Mayor is less than a week away. After eight long years, we are finally done with Rahm.
There are fourteen candidates running to lead the city. According to the latest Telemundo Chicago/NBC 5 poll, here are the leaders: Toni Preckwinkle-14 percent Bill Daley-13 percent Susana Mendoza-12 percent Lori Lightfoot-10 percent Gery Chico-9 percent
But the actual leader of the pack is Undecided with 19 percent. With six days left to go until election day, almost one fifth of Chicago's voting population is still unsure of their choice.
I'm part of the undecided. I've gone from anyone to replace Rahm, to who do I think can do the least amount of damage? I'm still working on that one.
While I haven't decided on who is getting my vote, I have decided on who isn't. I hear that's a common view among us undecideds. A few of the favorites were eliminated early: Sorry Toni-I'm not into you taxing everything. Sorry Bill-I've had enough Daley's as Mayor in my lifetime. Sorry Gery-You're too much associated with the Chicago machine for me. Sorry Willie Wilson-I like your sense of humor but that's not the characteristic I'm looking for in my next Mayor. I'm also eliminating anyone polling at less than five percent. They don't have a chance to win. Why waste your vote?
So now we're down to three. The problem whenever you think you've have it figured out, there's a story about your candidate that puts them in a bad light....or maybe you'll watch a forum and it makes you re-access your choice. I'm telling you, it's confusing.
The odd thing about this is if you asked me who I would be voting for a few months ago, I would have told you I was all-in for Susana Mendoza. Yeah, I know she's part of that Chicago machine thing, too, but I liked her energy, her youth and that as state comptroller, she was able to get people and companies paid while there wasn't a budget. I may be giving her too much credit for this, but someone had to be an adult in Springfield. I was even thinking of working phones or knocking on doors for TeamSusana. But then came all the stories about her relationship with the Burke's and I took a big step back. I haven't decided one way or the other on her. Susana still has hope of getting my vote.
The next bandwagon I jumped on belonged to Amara Enyia. I watched her carefully at a couple of the early forums. She had some great ideas about running the city and spoke well about them. Plus she's endorsed by Chance the Rapper. Bonus points for that. But, and have you noticed there's a but about everyone in this race, some stories came out about her personal and campaign finances. I'm not making judgments, but it made me take a second look at her. I haven't made a decision one way or the other on her. Amara still has hope of getting my vote.
Finally, there's Lori Lightfoot. I'm thinking I should really like her. I would really like to like her, but every time I see her at an appearance or a forum, I walk away with a blah feeling. It's nothing bad but it's also nothing great. She's like going to a chain restaurant where you know the food you'll be getting is average but acceptable. You know you can do better. You know you can do much worse. I haven't made a decision on her, either. Lori still has hope of getting my vote.
So that's my undecided story. That's my undecided conundrum. Honestly, I can live with any of the fourteen candidates except Toni and Bill. If they are in the run-off election, I'm going to have to move to the suburbs. No one wants that. Do any of you in the burbs have a Mayor you like?
Related Post: Sometimes you have to vote for the lessor of two evils
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