2019 Chicago mayoral election

An election for Mayor of Chicago in which the first round was held on February 26, 2019. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election will be held on April 2, 2019. Incumbent Rahm Emanuel was able to run for a third term, as there are no term limits for the office of Mayor of Chicago, but on September 4, 2018 declined to seek a third term.^[4][5]

2019 Chicago mayoral election

← 2015 February 26 and April 2, 2019 2023 →
Turnout	35.32%[1][2] 5.78 pp (first round) 31.28%[3] 4.04 pp (second round)
Candidate Lori Lightfoot Toni Preckwinkle Bill Daley First-round vote 97,330 88,998 82,019 First-round percentage 17.54% 16.04% 14.78% Second-round vote 364,965 130,327 Second-round percentage 73.69% 26.31%   Candidate Willie Wilson Susana Mendoza Amara Enyia First-round vote 58,831 50,199 44,372 First-round percentage 10.60% 9.05% 8.00%   Candidate Jerry Joyce Gery Chico Paul Vallas First-round vote 40,014 34,420 30,154 First-round percentage 7.21% 6.20% 5.44%
Lightfoot won all 50 wards in the runoff   84–88%   79–84%   74–79%   69–74%   64–69%   59–64%   54-59%
Mayor before election Rahm Emanuel Elected Mayor Lori Lightfoot

Emanuel was first elected in 2011, when he took 55.19% of the vote in a four candidate field. He was reelected in 2015, receiving 55.7% of the vote in the runoff election.

The total of fourteen candidates on the mayoral ballot is record-setting for Chicago mayoral elections.^[6]

In the first round election, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle advanced to the runoff election.^[7] Lightfoot was elected in a victory landslide, becoming the first African-American woman mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot will also be the first openly LGBT Mayor of Chicago.^[8] Lightfoot won all fifty of the city's wards.^[9]

Candidates

Second round

Name	Experience	Announced	Ref
The following candidates have advanced to the runoff election on April 2			[10][11]
Lori Lightfoot	Former President of the Chicago Police Board 2015–2018	May 10, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-17 at the Wayback Machine)	[4][12][13][14]
Toni Preckwinkle	President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners since 2010 Former Alderman from the 4th Ward 1991–2010	September 20, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-17 at the Wayback Machine)	[13][15][16][17]

Eliminated in first round

Name	Experience	Announced	Ref
The following candidates were eliminated/conceded in the first round
Gery Chico	Chair of the Illinois State Board of Education 2011–2015	September 17, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine)	[10][18][19][20][21][22]
William M. Daley	White House Chief of Staff 2011–2012 United States Secretary of Commerce 1997–2000	September 14, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-02-17 at the Wayback Machine)	[10][23][24][25][26]
Amara Enyia	Director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce	August 28, 2018 (Website)	[12][13][27][28][29]
Robert Fioretti	Former Alderman from the 2nd Ward 2007–2015	November 26, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine)	[30][31][32][33][34]
La Shawn Ford	Member of the Illinois House of Representatives since 2007	November 12, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine)	[35][36][37][38][39][40]
Neal Sáles-Griffin	CEO of CodeNow	March 11, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-17 at the Wayback Machine)	[12][41][42]
Jerry Joyce	Former Assistant States Attorney	August 29, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-17 at the Wayback Machine)	[13][15][43]
John Kozlar	Candidate for Alderman from the 11th Ward in 2011 and 2015	May 30, 2018 (Website Archived 2020-08-12 at the Wayback Machine)	[12][44]
Garry McCarthy	Former Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department 2011–2015	March 21, 2018 (Website)	[10][18][45][46]
Susana Mendoza	Illinois Comptroller since 2016 City Clerk of Chicago 2011–2016 Member of the Illinois House of Representatives 2001–2011	November 14, 2018 (Website)	[12][13][47][48][49]
Paul Vallas	Former Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools 1995–2001	March 28, 2018 (Website)	[15][50][51]
Willie Wilson	Businessman Owner of Omar Medical Supplies	March 29, 2018 (Website Archived 2019-01-17 at the Wayback Machine)	[15][52]

Rejected

• Dorothy A. Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County since 2000^{[10][53][54][55]}

Withdrawn

• Rahm Emanuel, incumbent Mayor. Withdrew on September 4, 2018^[56]
• Ja'Mal Green, Executive director of the Majostee Allstars Community Center. Withdrew on December 31, 2018^[57][58]
• John Kass, columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Withdrew on September 24, 2018^[59][60]
• Troy LaRaviere, President of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. Withdrew on November 13, 2018^{[4][18][61][62]}

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Dorothy Brown Cook	Gery Chico	Bill Daley	Amara Enyia	Bob Fioretti	La Shawn Ford	Jerry Joyce	John Kozlar	Lori Lightfoot	Garry McCarthy	Susana Mendoza	Toni Preckwinkle	Paul Vallas	Willie Wilson	Other	Undecided
2019
Global Strategy Group[63][64]	January 10-15	600	±4.0%	-	-	9%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11%	11%	-	-	-	-
2018
Tulchin Research[65]	December 10-16	600	±4.0%	-	3%	10%	6%	-	2%	-	-	3%	8%	12%	22%	10%	7%	-	19%
ALG Research[66][67][68]	December, 4-9	600	-	6%	3%	9%	5%	-	-	-	-	4%	7%	16%	21%	6%	8%	-	-
ALG Research[67]	December, 4-9	600	-	4%	4%	12%	4%	-	-	-	-	3%	6%	20%	22%	-	7%	-	-

Early polling

Mendoza vs. Preckwinkle

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Susana Mendoza	Toni Preckwinkle	Undecided
Global Strategy Group[63]	January 10–15	600	±4.0%	43%	30%
Tulchin Research[65]	December 10-16	600	±4.0%	39%	42%	19%
ALG Research[66][67][68]	December 4–9	600	-	45%	39%
ALG Research[66][67][68]	December 4–9	600	-	44%	44%	12%
Global Strategy Group[73]	November 8–11	600	+/-4.0%	47%	35%
Global Strategy Group[73]	November 8–11	600	+/-4.0%	39%	34%

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