Wilson: Lightfoot, Preckwinkle Asked For My Support
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The candidate who won the most wards the first round of Chicago's mayoral election didn't make the runoff.
But CBS 2 political reporter Derrick Blakley explains why Willie Wilson thinks he can determine who wins it.
Meet the man who would be kingmaker: Willie Wilson believes his backing will be key. And both candidates, Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot have already contacted him.
"Both of them asked for my support as an endorsement," he said.
And it's not hard to see why. Wilson won 14 wards, the most of any candidate, concentrated on the south and west sides. In other words, African American wards.
"They're asking for my lead. They'll go whichever way I say go," Wilson said.
Both Preckwinkle and Lightfoot call themselves progressives. But Wilson is pro-business, concerned about jobs, taxes and petty fees. He wants to hear the finalists' ideas about that.
"If you raise taxes, you run jobs and businesses out of Chicago. Jobs, contracts, these red light cameras, bag taxes, those are the keys to my campaign that I've been talking about."
And before he decides he is polling his supporters on his Facebook page. Supporters who are mostly black and socially conservative. When asked if his supporters would object to an endorsement of Lori Lightfoot, who is openly gay, Wilson said that issue is nothing new.
"I'm going to encourage the people who are church-based to to look at the social economic issue. People got to eat. People going to die losing their homes. Let's look at those issues."
Wilson's Facebook poll for his supporters is up and running. He expects to meet with Lightfoot Friday and with Preckwinkle soon.
