The campaign to be the next mayor of Chicago continues to develop largely along racial lines. On Wednesday former Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley Braun said that former President Clinton betrayed minority communities by campaigning for former chief of staff to President Obama Rahm Emanuel.
“For him to come on the day following Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday to insert himself in the middle of a mayoral race,” Braun said in a statement, “is a betrayal of the people who were most loyal to him. It’s a mistake.”
“President Bill Clinton does not live or vote in Chicago,” said Braun. “He’s an outsider parachuting in to support another outsider.” Emanuel was an advisor to Clinton during his presidency.
At an event Wednesday, Braun elaborated to a local NBC affiliate.
“The African-American community if you remember when he was having Monica Lewinsky problems stuck by him,” she said, “to stay out of it, that would have been the right move.”
The mayoral election will be held February 22. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two candidates will move on to a second round of voting on April 5.
In one of the more recent polls, conducted in early January, Emanuel was supported by 42 percent of the Chicago electorate, Braun by 26 percent, Gerry Chico by ten percent, and Miguel Del Valle by seven percent.
On December 31, Rep. Danny Davis withdrew from the race and endorsed Braun. Davis hoped to unify the African American community behind one candidate.
Gerry Chico, a prominent latino candidate in the race, and is receiving increasing public support. On Wednesday Chico was endorsed by Chicago’s police union. Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez has recorded robocalls endorsing Chico’s candidacy.
