HYDE PARK — Cash has stopped flowing from Rahm Emanuel’s supporters to Ald. Natashia Holmes, and has also largely ground to a halt from supporters within the ward for both candidates in the heated race for 7th Ward alderman.
Holmes is fighting to hold on to the seat she was appointed to fill by Emanuel when Sandi Jackson resigned in 2013 against challenger Gregory Mitchell, who is making his second run for the position after falling to Jackson in 2011.
Holmes has raised $14,000 to keep her campaign alive since finishing Feb. 24 with 25 percent of the vote and being forced into a runoff with Mitchell.
But the support from Chicago Forward, the independent expenditure committee aligned with the mayor, has ground to a halt, leaving Holmes on her own in the runoff.
Chicago Forward spent $36,677 in support of Holmes in the runup to the Feb. 24 election. Though the group has raised nearly $1.4 million since the election, $700,000 of which came from Grosvenor Capital Management CEO Michael Sacks and his wife, Cari, nearly all of expenditures have gone to Emanuel’s campaign.
The only aldermanic campaign still benefiting from Chicago Forward’s spending is Chicago Police Lt. John Garrido, who has seen the group spend $6,435 on ads against incumbent Ald. John Arena (45th), according to records filed through March 24.
Both Holmes and Mitchell have received only one donation greater than $1,000 from within the ward during the runoff. AB Food and Liquor, 7908 S. Exchange Ave., gave Holmes’ campaign $1,000 on March 19. In and Out Food Center, 2635 E. 79th St., donated $1,000 to Mitchell’s campaign on March 24.
The candidates have looked outside the ward to fund the extra six weeks of campaigning, with Holmes finding more success than Mitchell.
Holmes has raised $13,000 from large donors outside the ward since the Feb. 24 election. The Chicago Land Operators Joint Labor-Management PAC, a prolabor group closely aligned with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 that supports both Republicans and Democrats, is her largest donor with a March 23 contribution of $5,000.
Other contributions to Holmes include $1,000 from Old Veteran Construction, a construction firm that has earned more than $50 million in contracts from the Chicago Housing Authority in the last three years, including a $3.1 million contract in January to renovate portions of Altgeld Gardens.
Mitchell has raised far less from outside the ward. His only contribution of greater than $1,000 from outside the ward came on March 20 from William Hobert, founder of WH Trading and a board member of the Academy for Urban School Leadership.
Despite the stark disparities in fundraising, both candidates’ war chests are fairly equal Estimates based on filings with the Illinois Board of Elections puts Holmes’ campaign fund at $30,581, not far off from Mitchell’s $24,238.
The runoff is April 7.
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