Emanuel, Garcia Busy Campaigning On Final Day Of Early Voting
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel and challenger Jesus 'Chuy Garcia were out campaigning hard on the final day of early voting.
CBS 2's Chris Martinez has more on the full slate of events and rallies for both candidates.
Rahm Emanuel was on the city's South Side Saturday morning, where he joined supporters and Kasim Reed, the mayor of Atlanta. The get-out-the vote event was a chance to rally volunteers in these critical final days until the April 7 election.
"I'm asking for your vote, not only for this election, more importantly I'm asking for your continued work to continue to build this great city together because we all have a stake in it," Emanuel said.
peaking to a crowd of more than 300 at the Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, Garcia said he's heard before the the odds, the money, the rich, the powerful and the elite in Chicago were against him, but he said the polls were wrong in February, when they projected that Emanuel would avoid a runoff, and said the average voter will turn out for him again on Tuesday.
He said Emanuel is not the candidate of the average Chicagoan, or those who seek change.
"This past week, he made a comment to the effect that you can't protest a problem," Garcia said. "It really flies in the face of everything that Dr. King stood for, and the civil rights movement in this country and the women's rights movement in this country and the immigrants' rights movement in this country."
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and the Rev. Jesse Jackson were among those who set the stage for Garcia. Lewis said those who don't vote shouldn't complain, and Jackson said Garcia "isn't running a campaign. He's running a crusade."
The Chicago Board of Elections says there has been a strong turnout for early voting, with 18,737 people voting on Saturday as of 5:36 p.m.