Rev. Jesse Jackson talks with Carol Moseley Braun, as Senator James Meeks (left) addresses the public ande Congressman Danny Davis (right) listens in today. (Abel Uribe/ Chicago Tribune)
African-American political leaders New Year's Day lauded Carol Moseley Braun as a unity candidate who is the best choice to replace retiring Mayor Richard Daley during a rally just hours after she became the only major black politician left in the campaign.
Flanked by prominent elected black politicians who dropped out to endorse her bid, the former U.S. senator told a crowd at the weekly Rainbow PUSH meeting she has “the most credentials and the most qualifications and experience of all of the candidates running.
"And so they just chose the most qualified candidate for the job,” said Braun, who largely dropped out of elected politics after losing her bid for re-election to the Senate in 1998.
She stood alongside state Sen. James Meeks and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, both of whom dropped out to endorse her, as well as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who held meetings aimed at getting the major African-American contenders to unite behind one candidate to improve the chances of a black contender winning the mayoral election.
"We need one African-American candidate running for mayor of the city of Chicago. One African-American candidate," Meeks said.
The event, which began with Jackson and his son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., touting job creation and reducing unemployment, turned into a pep rally for Braun.
“This is beginning to build,” Braun said. “This is getting our bandwagon going … getting the people together all over Chicago who have supported and are willing to support this message, this candidacy.”
"The realities are that when our community comes together, as the song says, ain't no stopping us now," Davis said. "Because we are on the move."
But the candidates also tried to hit a note of inclusion, saying issues of jobs and unemployment are important around the city, not just for African-American neighborhoods they contend have been underrepresented.
"Dr. King has got to be smiling on this day because we're getting the coalition together again," Braun said. "We're going to bring black, white, brown, one side of town to the other back together again to create jobs."
When Davis dropped out Friday evening, he acknowledged that with multiple black candidates on the Feb. 22 ballot, there was a risk that supporters and campaign money would be split.
"I want to make sure at least one of us has what is needed," said Davis, who called Braun "the best candidate."
The latest shake-up in the contest to succeed the long-serving Daley came after a series of meetings and phone calls among African-American leaders attempting to field a single contender who could improve the odds of electing the city's first black mayor since the late 1980s.
The late pressure from the Braun campaign included a letter of endorsement and fundraising from several well-known black businessmen, including ComEd CEO Frank Clark, who had been backing state Sen. James T. Meeks for mayor.
The strategy resulted in two of three top black mayoral contenders bowing out in about a week.
Braun said she is emboldened by the endorsements from Davis and Meeks, who dropped out last week. Braun called it a "great way to start the new year."
"I'm so pleased to have their support," she said. "Their endorsements ... bring us closer to winning this election."
Meeks said the three are defying critics who didn't think they could unify behind a single candidate. The pastor of a South Side megachurch added that it is important to address problems hurting the black community.
Davis' departure leaves the mayoral contest with only four major candidates.
In a city where race and ethnicity play major roles in local politics, the contest now features former Chicago Board of Education President Gery Chico and City Clerk Miguel del Valle as the only major Latino candidates facing off against Braun and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
Chico instantly tried to portray both Braun and Emanuel as " Washington, D.C., politicians" while saying he has worked for years in Chicago, serving on boards and as Daley's chief of staff.
"I succeeded in every public service position I held because I built coalitions across ethnic and racial lines," Chico said in a statement.
Emanuel's campaign, though, isn't expected to cede any ground on African-American voters. Emanuel has pointed out that he was chief of staff to President Barack Obama. The nation's first black president heaped praise on Emanuel this fall when he left to run for mayor.
"With all of the challenges we face, we must come together to work on behalf of all Chicagoans and address the needs of every neighborhood," Emanuel said in a statement.
Left unspoken amid the consensus efforts is the blunt assessment by many political players that black and white voters are still focused on race more than two decades after Harold Washington was elected the city's first African-American mayor. Washington was the only black candidate on the ballot when he won his first term in 1983. Black leaders also registered tens of thousands of new voters before that election.
Davis insisted he isn't backing Braun simply because she is African-American.
"I just want to unify behind the best candidate," Davis said. "Everybody I know thinks Carol is the best candidate."
At first, Davis said he wasn't so much dropping out of the contest as "dropping into victory" by endorsing Braun. He later clarified that he is indeed ending his campaign.
"I am totally dropping out of the race. I am supporting Carol Moseley Braun with every ounce of fervor that I have," Davis said Friday at a hastily-called news conference at his West Loop headquarters. "I am even going to give her some money. I am going to try to get every person who thought that they might support Danny Davis to switch their support to Carol Moseley Braun. In fact, I will start tonight."
Davis and Braun both insisted Thursday that they would keep running for mayor. Then they met again Friday, leading to Davis' decision with just hours left before the new year.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson brokered a roughly four-hour meeting Wednesday night with Davis and Braun at his Rainbow PUSH headquarters that was also attended by several ministers, business leaders and politicians. Among them was Rep. Bobby Rush, who is backing Braun, and state Sen. Rickey Hendon, a Davis supporter.
Jackson said he talked with the candidates about who has the best chance in the election as well as where they stand on myriad issues facing the city.
Other African-Americans still on the ballot include activist Patricia Van Pelt Watkins and perennial candidate William "Dock" Walls.
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