Chicago Sun-Times

Rahm adds another $ 600K to warchest

- BY FRAN SPIELMAN, CITY HALL REPORTER fspielman@ suntimes. com | @ fspielman

Mayor Rahm Emanuel dropped another $ 600,000 into his ballooning campaign warchest on Friday as his crowded field of challenger­s continue their frenzied fundraisin­g in hopes of standing out from the pack when quarterly reports are due.

The mayor’s latest money drop leaves his campaign fund with roughly $ 8 million. But it did not include nearly as many heavy- hitters as previous reports.

There were only two six- figure contributi­ons: $ 150,000 from Morningsta­r’s Joe Mansueto and $ 100,000 from the Chicago Regional Carpenters PAC.

Other heavy hitters included: $ 50,000 from Jeff Blau and Stephen Ross of Related Cos. and $ 25,000 a piece from: the Illinois HotelMotel PAC; Unite Here PAC; Finishing Trades of Chicago PAC; and Clarion Capital Partners managing partner Marc Utay.

The mayor also reported $ 10,000 contributi­ons from: the Illinois Film Political Committee; BlitzLake; Bond Capital, Superior Ambulance; Fairmont Constructi­on’s Martin Curran; John DiGregorio of Interior Creations; GoHealth; Gold Coast Tickets; Interior Realty; Skender Constructi­on and Joel Johnson, managing director of Glover Park Group.

Morningsta­r has had a contract with the Chicago Public Library.

The six- figure contributi­on from the Chicago Regional Carpenters PAC continues the heavy support from trade unions expected after Emanuel hammered out a recent contract with the building trades that guaranteed labor peace, reduced health care costs and preserved the prevailing wage paid to their counterpar­ts in private industry.

The carpenters union is part of the investment group that purchased the Chicago SunTimes.

Emanuel still has a way to go to match the $ 24.4 million he raised and spent to survive Chicago’s first mayoral run- off against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia in 2015. But he’s getting there week- by- week.

He’s also running circles around his competitor­s, who are scrambling to raise money before June 30, when quarterly fundraisin­g draws to a close.

Mayoral challenger Lori Lightfoot made a splash last month — and planted her flag as a lead competitor— by raising $ 243,000 for her campaign right out of the gate.

But she has only reported $ 58,500 in contributi­ons in June.

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