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Five Candidates Jump Into 4th Ward Race To Replace Ald. Will Burns

By Sam Cholke | November 21, 2016 2:42pm | Updated on November 25, 2016 10:24am
 So far five candidates have jumped into the 4th Ward aldermanic special election, including clockwise from top left, Sophia King, Ebony Lucas, Marcellus Moore, Jack Taylor and Gregory Livingston.
So far five candidates have jumped into the 4th Ward aldermanic special election, including clockwise from top left, Sophia King, Ebony Lucas, Marcellus Moore, Jack Taylor and Gregory Livingston.
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KENWOOD — It’s clear on the first day to file nominating petitions that 4th Ward voters will have at least five choices in the special election to replace Will Burns.

The first candidate to turn in the 473 voter signatures required gets the top spot on the ballot, and four candidates filed their petitions simultaneously Monday morning to get the ballot spot that allegedly gives a candidate a leg up.

Sophia King, who was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to take over Burns' aldermanic seat until the special election can be held on Feb. 28, will now find out how much benefit her short incumbency conveys against four challengers.

Rev. Gregory Livingston and attorneys Marcellus Moore and Ebony Lucas will all be in a lottery with King to determine who gets the top ballot slot.

Jack Taylor will get the bottom slot on the ballot unless more candidates jump in the race before the Nov. 28 deadline to file nominating petitions.

That currently seems unlikely as the field of potential successors to Burns has been whittled down from 10 candidates to five in recent months and those who had been eyeing a run cash out their campaign funds.

Going into the election, King would appear to have the strongest fundraising lead, with $74,127 on hand at the end of the last quarter on Sept. 30. Major fundraisers also appear to be early backers of Emanuel’s pick to lead the ward, with $5,000 coming from former Chicago Board of Education President David Vitale and $1,000 from the Chicago Teachers Union.

But if the course of the election is dictated by an ability to out-raise and outspend opponents, Lucas would seem to be a serious competitor. Although she had just a tenth of the cash on hand as King on Sept. 30 with $7,270, she has major backers, with property management firm TLC Management contributing $10,000 to her campaign, with an additional $5,000 coming from the firm CEO Stuart Handler.

Moore also has seen support amongst small donors, particularly those pledging around $250, and has been able to $15,693 among just those smaller donors in the third quarter from July 25 to Sept. 30.

The last aldermanic election showed that fundraising is not everything though, particularly on the South Side, where 7th Ward challenger Gregory Mitchell defeated the better-funded Natashia Holmes with an army of volunteers that attempted to personally visit every voter in the ward.

Livingston is the most experienced of the organizers currently on the ballot, with a hand in organizing the large protests Downtown after the shooting death of Laquan McDonald by police.

But he will likely need more than the $27 he had in his campaign fund as of June 30. He has also failed to file third quarter fundraising reports with the state, so it’s unclear whether his fundraising has rebounded.

Taylor is currently the farthest behind in setting up the machinery of a campaign. He has not set up a campaign committee yet with the state, and a GoFundMe effort started on Aug. 30 to raise $30,000 had not received any donations as of Monday afternoon.

All are new to running for elected office in the 4th Ward and King more than the others is spending her way through the shaky first steps of an inaugural campaign. She is the first to bring on a raft of expensive consultants, putting a greater burden on her campaign funds than her competitors.

Even before Kim Foxx’s election to Cook County state’s attorney was secure on Nov. 8, King brought on Foxx’s campaign manager Brian Sleet. King is also spending early on consultants like the Paladin Political Group, which does phone-banking and ads for campaigns, and Fluidity Political Consulting, which does similar work with more of a focus on online engagement.

It seems now unlikely that other strong candidates will jump into the race.

Tracey Bey, who challenged Burns during the last election, initially said she would run, but has emptied her campaign reserves and has not filed nominating petitions.

Kimberly duBuclet, who was rumored to be considering a run, has also emptied her campaign reserves and will likely stay at her position at the Chicago Park District.

Burns is also unlikely to suddenly reappear on the political scene anytime soon either having closed down his campaign fund permanently.

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