Burris Considers Chicago Mayoral Bid
Politico reports:
Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) is considering a run for Chicago mayor after his appointed term comes to an end next week with the swearing in of Republican Sen.-elect Mark Kirk.
Though Burris has not launched an official campaign, a group of supporters filed nomination papers with Chicago’s Board of Election Commissioners ahead of Monday’s deadline.
Burris’s state director, Kenneth Sawyer, told POLITICO the paperwork, including a petition that supporters say includes nearly 20,000 signatures, was submitted by “a group of people who got together” to back Burris.
Before starting work on the petition, friends asked the senator “if he was interested, to make sure he wouldn’t have a problem with it,” Sawyer said. Burris’s answer: “Go ahead and do it, and I’ll look at it.”
The senator, Sawyer said, “is definitely considering” a run but has not made a final decision. His potential rivals include several boldface names: former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.) and Democratic state Sen. James T. Meeks, among others.
Burris has just about a month to make a decision. The last day to withdraw from the ballot ahead of the Feb. 22 election is Dec. 22, Sawyer said.
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