Chicago Voters School Rahm Emanuel

Voters will choose on April 7 between a blunt, sometimes abrasive first-term incumbent and a populist who says he speaks for the disenfranchised.

Residents cast their votes at a polling place on election day February 24, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Chicago voters usually get just one chance to express their preference for mayor because the incumbent almost always rolls to a big victory in February. Not this time.

With the city facing the prospect of insolvency and Mayor Rahm Emanuel failing to win a majority in Tuesday’s nonpartisan election, voters will choose on April 7 between a blunt, sometimes abrasive first-term incumbent and a populist who says he speaks for the disenfranchised.