'Blowing the ultimate dog whistle': Chicago mayor slams opponent's rhetoric

Chicago's tense race for mayor has now taken race into consideration as current Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot accused her Democratic opponent and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas of "blowing the ultimate dog whistle" during a campaign event when he said, "his whole campaign is about taking back our city, pure and simple."

Chicago's election day is Feb. 28. If none of the nine candidates receive at least 50 percent of the vote there will be a runoff election on April 4.

Despite being called out for race-baiting, Vallas' spokesperson said in an interview with WTTW that his opposition against Lightfoot is based on performance.

"Four years of failure are catching up to Lori Lightfoot and she's desperately lashing out in every direction to cling to a spot in the runoff, even going as far as to suppress the vote if it helps her politcally."

Lightfoot has compared Vallas' comments to the 1983 city election when Republican candidate Bernie Epton used comments with racial undertones in his race against Democratic candidate Harold Washington, who eventually won the election and became Chicago's first African-American mayor.