Johnson, Vallas in the home stretch before April 4 mayoral runoff
CHICAGO (CBS) – With just 11 days to go until the runoff election, a former presidential candidate is throwing his support behind one of Chicago's mayoral candidates.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will be holding a rally for Brandon Johnson at the UIC Forum next week. CBS 2's Asal Rezaei caught up with both candidates on Friday.
With less than two weeks left to the election, both candidates for mayor were making lots of stops on the campaign trail.
On the South Side of the city, Johnson met with seniors. He said it's a generation of voters that is critical to his campaign.
"I'm here because of this generation, the generation that raised me," he said.
Johnson took a quick jab at his opponent Paul Vallas' approach to the senior community.
"It's unfortunate that our opponent worked to take retirement security from the very seniors who rely on them," Johnson said. "So this is just a full culmination of a multicultural, multigenerational movement that has come together in a very critical time in our city's history."
In River North, Vallas was looking for support from the Latino community.
"I encourage every Latino to vote for Mr. Paul Vallas," said Jaime di Paulo, president of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
A number of elected Latino officials and the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorsed Vallas. It's support Vallas said comes from his years of working for the city.
"This is a track record that is there. This is a body of work that is there," said Vallas. "I believe it is that body of work that has given this organization and its members confidence that the promises I make during the campaign will be the promises that I keep."
And reinforcing his message that Johnson lacks the experience to be mayor, Vallas added, "I'm effectively running against a candidate who has never had any experience managing anything and whose public safety strategy consists of cutting the police budget."
Both candidates have packed schedules heading into the weekend hoping to sway votes in their favor.
Next Tuesday, CBS 2 Chicago, along with our partners, the Business Leadership Council, Chicago Urban League, the National Association of Black Journalists Chicago and WVON will host a forum with Johnson and Vallas.
It's scheduled for March 28 at 6 p.m. You can also stream it on all of our platforms as well as on TV.
CBS 2's Irika Sargent will be joined by WVON's Rufus Williams and Danielle Sanders from the Chicago News Weekly to ask questions.