Sources: Danny Davis May Still Run For Mayor
CHICAGO (CBS) - CBS 2 is learning that U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), fresh off a major re-election effort Tuesday, is re-considering and may enter the race for mayor.
Davis showed his West Side strength Tuesday in getting re-elected to an eighth term in Congress. Some wards voted 80 percent for Davis, and his workers used the opportunity to gather thousands of new mayoral ballot signatures on election day.
The workers claim they are up to 20,000 signatures. Only 12,500 are needed.
Meanwhile, CBS 2 has learned, the Chicago Coalition For Mayor will meet again Friday morning to hear a second time from Davis and Illinois State Sen. Rev. James Meeks (D-Chicago.)
The Chicago Coalition for Mayor – an organization of more than 20 African-American businesses and interest groups – has been in the process of selecting a consensus candidate, so as not to have two African-American candidates splitting the vote.
Earlier, Davis told CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine that he would not enter the mayoral race without the backing of the Coalition. But now, sources tell CBS 2 Davis has lost faith in the Coalition and may run anyway.
Last week, the coalition picked former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and attorney Larry Rogers Jr. as its finalists for a consensus candidate. But negative feedback from Coalition members this week forced the Coalition to re-start the process.
Davis served as alderman of Chicago's 29th Ward from 1979 to 1990 and as a Cook County commissioner from 1990 to 1997, before going to Congress.
He has also run for mayor previously. In 1991, he lost to Mayor Richard M. Daley for the Democratic nomination.
CBS 2 Political Producer Ed Marshall contributed to this report.
