Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas campaign down to the wire in ‘most important election in a generation’

Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas ended the final weekend of the race by fanning out across the city, from a Dungeons and Dragons-themed bar in Avondale to churches around the South and West sides.

With election day Tuesday, the candidates held smaller-scale events as they focused primarily on mobilizing their bases and generating turnout in the bitterly contested race.

Johnson’s weekend schedule included a stop in Humboldt Park before taking him down the north lakefront, where the mayoral candidate bit into ethnic delicacies from chutney-dipped samosas at a restaurant along Devon Avenue to an Asian carp burger in the backyard of an Uptown store.

Stumping with the Cook County commissioner Saturday was U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Chicago native who now represents parts of Boston. At the first rally, the member of “The Squad” of left-wing progressives in Congress described the crowd as “a room full of agitators and activists and disruptors and community builders and movement builders.”

“I came here today to give you a love letter in the form of a visionary leader, and the love letter only has seven words: ‘Elect Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago,’” Pressley said.

Johnson avoided mentioning Vallas by name but portrayed his rival as one lacking “love.”

“Those who do not possess that love, they start to act out,” Johnson said. “My mother would say they’re just showing out. But there are days, y’all, that are in front of us. We’re gonna bring them along too, because that’s the true essence of love. That we love our opponents too.”

Johnson visited an Indian restaurant in the 40th ward where he marveled at a comic book-style shirt depicting the candidate as a cartoon battling a shadowy, winged Vallas.

“How did I get in the air?” Johnson quipped. “I have a jump.”

He also visited two more offbeat stores in Avondale: the heavy metal record and comic book store Bucket O’ Blood, and the Dungeons & Dragons-themed bar DMen Tap. The candidate appeared at least slightly familiar with the fantasy roleplaying game, as he asked patrons, “What political style do I represent within the Dungeons & Dragons theme?”

They decided on “chaotic good,” a reference to the “alignment” within the game that represents disorganized but well-intentioned characters.

Vallas spent the last Saturday before Election Day shoring up his base by also revisiting wards that he won in the first round. Along the way, he swayed his hips with Chinese Lion Dancers and nodded his head to the songs of the Romanian-American Chicago Children’s Choir.

The former Chicago Public Schools CEO joined a group of supporters for an event at Bella Luna in the Southwest Side Hispanic community of West Lawn, where a crowd of about 150 people ate green and red tamales under mason jar chandeliers.

Ald. Silvana Tabares, 23rd, kicked off the event with an attack on Johnson, who has faced criticism for previously supporting the “defund the police” movement.

“We’re not going to let Brandon Johnson take our police officers out of our neighborhoods,” she said. Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez introduced Vallas a “true-blue Democrat!”

“Paul, are you ready to lead us?” she asked.

“I’m ready,” Vallas yelled back, as residents shouted, “Vamos, Paul Vallas!”

At the Chinatown stop, Vallas told the audience, “This election is maybe the most important election in a generation. And it’s going to be decided by who comes out to vote.”

Vallas also took shots at Johnson over recent reports that he had more than $3,000 in unpaid water bills before paying them off last week.

“I am a candidate who has balanced billion-dollar budgets and I’m running against a candidate who can’t even pay his water bill and hasn’t run anything,” Vallas said.

Johnson’s water bills also came up in church the next day. Both candidates made the rounds at South Side houses of worship, where congregants were observing Palm Sunday.

At Salem Baptist Church in Roseland, Johnson made one of his final pitches to cast the election as a crusade to “destroy this tale of two cities.” He told the audience about his former students who lived in the Cabrini Green complex and woke up every day to a view of the affluent Near North neighborhood while bulldozers razed their public housing.

“That is the essence of this really wicked economy, where our people wake up every single day chasing down an economy that’s behind us, while everything in front of us is crumbling,” Johnson said. “But that is really why I’m running to become the next mayor of the city of Chicago.”

He again nodded to the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death falling on Election Day: “We won’t just commemorate the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. It will be about the resurrection of the city of Chicago. My name is Brandon Johnson. Punch five, come alive.”

After the applause died down, pastor Charlie Dates made a playful joke.

“Yeah, so we gonna punch five,” Dates said. “I got $5 on your water bill too.”

The comment reflected the double-edged sword of Vallas’ attack: While some people may criticize Johnson for having unpaid bills, others find the circumstance familiar in a city where thousands of residents are struggling to get by.

Johnson also faced questions about a comment he made casting the election as a “battle” between “Black labor versus white wealth,” which recently was featured in the headline of a Guardian U.S. story about him.

“Well, that’s not a quote from me,” Johnson said before saying his campaign was a “multicultural” movement including Chicagoans of all races.

When a reporter pointed out he indeed made those remarks at a debate last month, Johnson incorrectly said he had been referring to how he read a book.

“No, no, I said I read a book called ‘Black Labor, White Wealth.’ That’s a book. That’s Claud Anderson and you should check it out,” Johnson said, although he did not mention that book during that debate, where he was asked whether the election was a proxy contest between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Fraternal Order of Police.

He also insinuated that pinning that characterization on him is divisive.

“I know there are individuals that want to divide the city of Chicago. We’re running to unite the city of Chicago,” Johnson said. “This is an exciting moment. So we’re not going to allow those who do not want to see us united to characterize this.”

At a campaign rally at Ann Sather in Lakeview — a restaurant owned by Vallas ally Ald. Tom Tunney — Vallas deflected, blaming Johnson for racial division and adding, “Race should not be a factor in this race and it only serves to divide our city. I’m here to unite our city.”

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