Was Smollett FF Attack Designed by DS to Impact the Chicago Mayoral Elections 2/26?? Could Chitown vote conservative ?? The Tribune says ...maybe. Were they looking to depress the Republican turnout? Was the plan for Smollnett attack to coalese the black vote behind him and him then endorse the chosen DS candidate?  Or were they just aiming at the 2020 race and raising up a new black activist since the old one are not effective anymore? Here's the rational for a conservative getting to the runoff in April; Rahm Emmanuel polled at 34%, was deemed unelectable and isn't running.   21 candidates r on the ballot. Many of them are brown, progressive candidates. Going into the election the top 6 polling candidates were 4 brown and 2 white candidates.  The race had tightened to all candidates being within a few points of each other with 25% of voters indicated they were undecided. This gives the one outsider & more conservative candidate a real chance. The 2 highest candidates advance to a run off election in April.   Bill Daly, ex Obama Chief of Staff & commerce secretary for WJC has a corporate raised war chest of 7 million but He is seen as unelectable Rahm's successor.  He  is 1 of 2 white candidates.  He is polling at 11%. The highest polling candidate in most recent poll is Lightfoot at 18%.  A brown candidate who is injured by her association to a alderman recently brought up on corruption charges.  2 other progressive candidates are also tainted by the scandal. There is no Republican candidate running so all the progressive voters will be split among the top contenders.  Willie Brown, a black business men is the most conservative in the race.  He is polling at 12% (with 25% undecided).   The Chicago Tribune published this 2 weeks ago: But there are Republican voters in Chicago — and they make up far more than a broom-closet contingent. The March primary election of 2016, a presidential year, drew 89,540 city voters who pulled Republican ballots. In November 2016, President Donald Trump won 135,317 votes in Chicago, about 12.4 percent of the city vote. In a 14-way race for mayor, Republican voters could sway the result if they coalesce — and show up. Full text of news here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/mcqueary/ct-perspec-mcqueary-chicago-mayor-race-conservative-0212-20190211-story.html Here's a link to a nice graphic of all the polls for the candidates over the past month:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Chicago_mayoral_election A city with only 31% European whites advancing a conservative to the run off would be unheard of.   Demographics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Chicago