Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Willie Wilson top campaign cash for Chicago mayor

Seven months before she must face voters for reelection as Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot has nearly $2.6 million in her campaign funds — more than any of her opponents except one but still not enough to secure an overwhelming advantage or scare off new candidates from joining the field, campaign finance records show.

Businessman Willie Wilson has more than $4.5 million in the bank, but nearly all of it comes from the largest loan Wilson has ever given himself as he makes his third bid for mayor.

Third in fundraising is former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who raised $886,000 and spent only about $36,000 of it last quarter, leaving him with $850,000 on hand. The haul — most of which came from a single contributor — was a boost for Vallas, who has had trouble raising money during his previous bids for public office and finished a distant ninth in the 2019 mayoral race.

Setting aside Wilson’s loan, Lightfoot raised more money overall than any of her declared opponents, according to the latest campaign finance records released late Friday. Her main campaign committee, Lightfoot for Chicago, took in more than $1.2 million between April and June and she spent one-third of that, $426,000, much of it on strategists and consultants. She started the quarter with $1.7 million in the bank.

Lightfoot also spent another $167,000 out of her second campaign fund, Light PAC, leaving that campaign fund with only about $42,000 in the bank, records show.

At this same point in the election cycle, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel — a voracious fundraiser — had $8.3 million on hand on his way to winning a second term in 2015 in a runoff against Cook County Board member Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who is now a congressman. Four years ago, Emanuel had more than $7.5 million in the bank before he decided not to seek a third term. Before Emanuel, former Mayor Richard M. Daley was also able to build a massive campaign war chest to discourage challengers from entering the race.

So far, though, only Vallas and Wilson have amassed as much as Lightfoot did at this point in the 2019 mayoral cycle, when she reported raking in more than $500,000.

Wilson’s campaign fund is the largest at this point among those who have announced their intention to run against Lightfoot, though campaign records show he only raised $33,000 from others in the second quarter of 2022. In April, Wilson contributed $5 million of his own money to the Willie Wilson for Mayor campaign fund. His previously largest loan to the fund was $200,000 in 2018. A wealthy businessman, Wilson has doled out millions of dollars in recent months paying for gasoline in an attention-grabbing effort as prices at the pump have surged.

Wilson reported spending $480,000, including on television and radio advertisements on broadcast channels as well as Polish radio stations.

The money Vallas raised came largely from a trio of big contributions. More than half of the money Vallas reported receiving came from a single $500,000 contribution from Michael Keiser, a prominent Republican contributor, and it remains to be seen whether Vallas is able to continue raking in big donations.

Vallas also took in money from private equity executives John Canning — who was a supporter of Emanuel when he was mayor but who backed Lightfoot in the 2019 runoff election against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle — and James Perry Jr., who works at the private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners.

Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, reported taking in $192,000 and spending less than $10,000, leaving him with $201,000 on hand. Much of the money he raised came from Chicago Wolves owner Donald Levin, who gave Lopez $100,000, and a $40,000 loan from the 15th Ward Regular Democratic Organization that Lopez controls.

State Rep. Kam Buckner reported taking in $73,000 and spending nearly $25,000, leaving him with about $48,000 in the bank. Ald. Roderick Sawyer’s mayoral committee did not file its report by the deadline but a previous record showed he had raised $5,000 from the 6th ward organization’s political committee, that Sawyer controls.

Activist Ja’Mal Green’s campaign committee took in nearly $31,000 but spent more than $23,000 and he ended the period with $7,521.

In addition to spending significantly from her main campaign fund, records show, Lightfoot also returned more than $6,000 to Mark Aistrope, the CEO of Chicago-based Meeting Tomorrow, who contributed nearly $30,000 to Lightfoot’s mayoral bid four years ago. The Better Government Association and Chalkbeat Chicago disclosed in 2020 that Meeting Tomorrow won a $1.6 million no-bid deal to sell used computers to Chicago Public Schools after Lightfoot vouched for him. The CPS inspector general later said it was reviewing that deal.

The candidates who have so far announced their intent to challenge Lightfoot in the February 2023 election come as the first-term incumbent finds herself on the defensive. During her three-plus years in office, Lightfoot has faced spikes in crime, hasn’t run as transparent an administration as promised, and she’s engaged in constant fights with unions representing Chicago teachers and police — all while struggling to forge good relationships with politicians or leaders in the city’s business community.

Still, she can’t be easily dismissed.

She’s earmarked roughly $3 billion in federal funds for city projects and she’s launched a series of programs aimed at reversing one of the biggest criticism’s of Emanuel’s tenure — disinvestment in Chicago’s neighborhoods, especially on its South and West sides. Lightfoot also can argue she deserves more time to finish the job after having faced the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and some of the city’s most significant civil unrest since the 1960s.

Lightfoot critics and allies generally agree she is polling better with Black voters than others, but that is potentially threatened by Wilson’s entry into the race. He won most of the Black wards in 2019 and helped boost her campaign on the South and West sides with his endorsement.

Reflecting her new position, Lightfoot has largely campaigned alongside Black aldermen and other elected officials. Only one white alderman, Scott Waguespack, 32nd, and one Latino alderman, George Cardenas, 12th, have endorsed her so far.

gpratt@chicagotribune.com

Tribune reporters Alice Yin and A.D. Quig contributed.