From “The role race played in Emanuel’s victory” by Angela Caputo
“For months, speculation has run high over how voters from communities of color would swing with Mayor Richard M. Daley sitting out the first mayoral election in more than two decades. Would a black consensus candidate peel away enough votes to push front runners Rahm Emanuel and Gery Chico into a runoff? Would Latinos finally flex their political muscle at the ballot box? In the end, voters from both black and Latino wards threw more support behind the candidate that most resembled Daley — Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel — than any other candidate in the race, a Chicago Reporter analysis of preliminary election returns found.”
Questions for consideration
How important were race-based voting blocks in this recent mayoral election? What is your vision for Chicago with Emanuel slated to be the next mayor? Why do you think most Chicago voters (more than 800,000 Chicagoans) stayed home rather than going to the polls? What can we do to better engage and mobilize the public for local elections? How will or won’t Emanuel’s mayorship mirror the statewide and national influence of the Daley administration?
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