Enyia Drops Out Of Mayor's Race, Backs Fioretti
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Dr. Amara Enyia, a community activist who was one of the first candidates to announce a bid to unseat Mayor Rahm Emanuel has dropped out of the race, and thrown her support behind Ald. Bob Fioretti.
Enyia, an attorney and community organizer who once worked for two years as a public policy fellow for Mayor Richard M. Daley, said she and Fioretti share the same vision for Chicago, and she wanted to "amplify" her message about the need to unseat Emanuel.
"The major consideration that we took into account was how do we make sure that our message is amplified around the city? When I started this campaign, I started with a vision of what Chicago could and should look like, and a message that has resonated across the city," she said outside City Hall on Wednesday.
Enyia cited the cost of fighting challenges to her nominating petitions as she endorsed Fioretti.
"We overcame many challenges to get to this point, until we reached a point where we had to decide. Do we risk our message not getting out? Do we get tied up in things that serve as a distraction to a campaign? Or do we make sure that we can have a voice in determining what this election looks like, in having a voice and a say, and making sure that we can create the kind of city that we want," she said.
Fioretti said Enyia's endorsement should provide him a boost among young voters.
"It's a great step forward. It means that we're looking for one vision for one city, and with her support, we will move this forward," he said.
As the only African-American woman in the race before she dropped her bid, Enyia's support should also help Fioretti with black voters, but the alderman focused on her progressive bona fides.
"It's an addition here that is needed, I don't think just in the African-American community, but she's made a very progressive stand on issues across the board," he said. "I think, together, we will make sure that we have a vision for the city."
"She adds, across the board, a depth; and her policy aspects are important for all of us. She and I are aligned on the policy. She's going to help guide this campaign, and guide this city on policy, to make it one Chicago for everyone," he added.
Meantime, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, another candidate for mayor, was inside City Hall, promising to lobby Illinois lawmakers for an elected Chicago school board. He said, if the General Assembly won't approve an elected school board for the city, he'd file suit in federal court.
"I believe that this is about constitutional rights," he said. "The federal courts have a history of becoming involved when institutions that affect people's everyday lives fail to respond to people's needs."
Garcia said an elected school board would have blocked Emanuel's move to close nearly 50 public schools last year, but he would not pledge to reopen the shuttered schools if he's elected mayor.
With Enyia now out of the race, Emanuel faces eight challengers in the February election: Fioretti, Garcia, former alderman Robert Shaw, millionaire Willie Wilson, police officer Frederick Collins, Englewood pastor Gerald Sconyers, and perennial candidates Fenton Patterson and William "Dock" Walls.