Signatures are In

And the mayoral field is set....before the signature challenges and perhaps a lawsuit or two plays out (paywalled Tribune article):

• On the last day for 2027 candidates to turn in their nominating petitions, mayoral hopefuls lugged in their stacks of signatures Monday with some personal flair.

  Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza brought with her a red cooler of chicken and pork tamales and a spork. Cardiologist Dr. Lisa Nee and her team strolled in wearing physician white coats.

  Attorney William Quinlan came in over an hour after and took a shot at some of his rivals whom he recently sued: “To be clear … we’re just filing for one” office.

  Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and others are also running for reelection in their current posts this November, prompting a lawsuit from Quinlan that was dismissed this month. Quinlan has said he will appeal.

The Quinlan lawsuit is because Giannoulias is running for the Secretary of State office in a week, but would leave if he won the mayoral election in February, a long Chicago tradition of having a "safety net" while running for other spots.

So the field looks like this (subject to change):

• Conehead, Willie Wilson, Brewer (to divide up the black vote)
• Giannoulias (the Machine/Illinois Combine favorite)
• Cardenas (the "progressive" communist)
• Mendoza  (the Hispanic Caucus choice)
• Quigley, Pappas (the has-beens)
• Quinlan, Holberg, Kelly, Nee, Ma (the unknowns)
• Carter-Walters (Republican) 

Should be a bunch of drama upcoming.