Charles Thomas | People Who Play By The Rules PAC
Charles Thomas | People Who Play By The Rules PAC
Former ABC 7 reporter Charles Thomas said mayoral candidate Willie Wilson has an opportunity to appeal to a large pool of Chicagoans.
"Willie is the only one with any real conservative bona fides. I mean, let’s face it – he’s a former Trump voter," Thomas said recently on Chicago's Morning Answer radio program. "He supported Republican candidates for governor. He’s a business person, a free enterprise guy. The language thing, of course, is a problem. But if you go past all that, I mean, I think he can appeal to the moderate conservative people in this city now."
Thomas discussed how he thought the candidates will perform on Election Day.
“I think that Paul Vallas clearly will win a plurality of the vote, probably the high 20%. The real dogfight will be over who can finish second and can face Vallas in the runoff," Thomas said. "And believe me, that person who finishes second could very well emerge as the favorite in the runoff. But that could be, you name it, that could be Chuy Garcia, that could be Brandon Johnson. It could be, of course, the incumbent (Lori Lightfoot), although I think she’s in real trouble. Or it could be Willie Wilson, depending on how well he’s able to appeal to voters outside the Black community. And I’m sensing that he might be doing better at that lately."
Thomas said the choice between Wilson and Vallas is clear but that Wilson needs to cast a broader net for allies in the greater political ecosystem in order to be successful. “He needs a Northwest sider or a 19th Warder of the southwest sider. Somebody like that to say 'I’m voting Wilson, because Willie is going to be the guy that’s going to get the city back under control,'” Thomas said. “And the other thing, too, is that as a Black man, I am interested in Willie Wilson, because I know that Willie Wilson can do what needs to be done."
As Election Day gets closer, Chicago's mayoral candidates remain divided in the polls. "Chicago mayoral race poll from Get Stuff Done PAC, the brainchild of Rahm-amaniacs Ruemmler & Sacks: Vallas 31%, Johnson 17%, Lightfoot 16%, Chuy 12% , Willie 11%, Lightfoot fav-unfav: 29-68," Dan Proft, host of Chicago's Morning Answer, wrote in a tweet on Feb. 17.
Wilson, a businessman who was born in Louisiana, came to Chicago in the 1960s. He has previously ran for mayor on two separate occasions, for president in 2016, and for U.S. Senate in 2020.
When Axios asked him how he would get people back on The Loop, Wilson replied, "I would make our city safer, cut taxes on businesses and our citizens. Also, I would improve our public transit system."
According to the Chicago-Sun Times, Wilson said he would scrap the police hiring exam and temporarily increase the retirement age for Chicago police officers from 63 to 67 in order to fill the 2,000 police openings and replenish the city's 22 diminished police districts.
In addition, Wilson proposed to divide Chicago into four separate areas, each with its own police superintendent, a plan that has been discussed before. He also suggested relaxing policies on vehicular and foot chases, increasing police salaries and reverse merit promotions, restoring police morale by differentiating between mistakes and misconduct, and placing armed officers on CTA trains and buses to encourage riders who have abandoned the transit system to return, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Alerts Sign-up