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Two candidates representing opposite ends of the Democratic party are on the ballot in the highly-watched Chicago mayoral runoff on Tuesday.

Paul Vallas, the former CEO of the Chicago school system, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, a former teacher who is heavily backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, were the top two vote-getters in the February general election. Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot came in third, so she will not be on the ballot on Tuesday.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.

"In general, the race is too close to call," said Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "It depends on turnout that each candidate is able to produce their voters the voters are literally torn."

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Vallas, who is White, has focused his campaign mainly on crime while Johnson, who is Black, has focused on education.

Vallas led in the general election, taking 32.9% of the vote, and Johnson came in second with 21.6%, but Johnson has closed the gap since then. A recent poll from Northwestern University's Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy (CSDD) and various nonprofit organizations found the race in a dead heat, with both Vallas and Johnson having 44% of the vote.

Despite that Vallas formerly has described himself as "more Republican than Democrat," he has received the backing from several high-profile Illinois Democrats. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois, has backed him, as well as former President Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He also has the support of Republican donor Kenneth Griffin, who has previously backed divisive former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Johnson, meanwhile, has received the backing of influential national Democrats like Sens. Bernie Sanders who held a rally with Johnson last week and Elizabeth Warren, Jesse Jackson and Rep. Jim Clyburn. At the rally for Johnson, Sanders categorized the race as being between the interest of the "powerful and greedy" and "the son of the working class," according to the Chicago Tribune.

Despite the national interest in the race Chicago is, after all, America's third largest city Christopher Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, noted the biggest issues are local issues crime and education and not broader cultural war issues.

"The culture war issues and the weird national polarization that we've got now and Donald Trump those culture wars and Donald Trump, those things are irrelevant in the city of Chicago," Mooney said.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the candidates brought in about $17 million in the month between the general election and the end of March. Vallas brought in just under $11 million and Johnson brought in $5.8 million, according to the Tribune.

More than half of Johnson's fundraising haul has come from the Chicago Teachers Union, where he was once an organizer. Since he announced his candidacy, he has also received support from other influential teachers' unions, including the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

Education has become one of the driving local issues in this race. While Vallas served as CEO of Chicago Public Schools under former Mayor Richard Daley from 1995-2001 and later in similar positions in other cities around the country, he was a strong proponent of charter schools.

As Mooney noted, the teachers union and charter schools have "conflicting interests," but Vallas appeals to people who think that Johnson is too controlled by the CTU.

Although Vallas has received significant funding from charter school advocates, he has not highlighted it as an issue in this campaign. Rather, Vallas has focused heavily on being tough on crime.

Vallas has campaigned on adding police officers on patrol and on public transit, Johnson has taken a more progressive route of tackling the root causes of crime.

In big cities throughout the country, tough-on-crime messaging has proven popular for Democrats. In New York, former cop-turned-politician and more conservative Democrat in the race Eric Adams won the mayor's race in 2021 and progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin was successfully recalled in San Francisco in 2022.

Vallas has received significant support both financial and personal from the Fraternal Order of Police, the police union. Chicago FOP president John Catanzara said last week that 800 to 1,000 police officers would resign if Johnson was elected, predicting that there would be "blood in the streets as a result."

At a debate last week, Johnson blasted Catanzara, saying "has said a lot of disturbing, ridiculous things," highlighting Catanzara's comments supporting the rioters at the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, criticizing Black Lives Matter and other controversial statements.

"It actually speaks to the type of candidacy that my opponent is running," Johnson said of Vallas' ties to the FOP and Catanzara. Vallas, for his part, said he would not be beholden to the FOP.

Most of the city's Black community appeared to be lining up behind Johnson, according to recent polls. Vallas has also tried to reach more conservative Black voters as well as assembling a coalition of Republicans, wealthier residents and Latinos. The Latino community has so far remained split, which could be a huge deciding factor in the race.

Lightfoot, meanwhile, the first incumbent Chicago mayor to lose reelection in over 40 years has not endorsed a candidate, although it's unlikely either candidate would welcome it. Her leadership style amid the COVID-19 pandemic, crime surges and clashes with the teachers' union has left her with high unpopularity both within the city and nationally.

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Chicago mayor's race runoff: Voters go to the polls in race that highlights Democrats' divide - CBS News

The Baltimore County Democratic Party on Monday called on the Maryland attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate reports of squalid conditions for minors held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

The Democratic Partys statement followed accusations from the Maryland Public Defenders Office that the Towson jail is violating state and federal laws by holding children under 18 in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day in rodent-infested, flood-prone cells; by failing to separate them from adult inmates; and by not providing them with adequate schooling or medical care.

[We are] steadfast in our commitment to the protection of the children of Baltimore County and recognize that it is a moral imperative to safeguard our youngest residents from harm, Baltimore County Democratic Party chairperson Jason Garber wrote in the statement. We condemn the cruel practice of housing children in adult facilities with full knowledge of these conditions.

The statement called for Baltimore County States Attorney Scott Shellenberger, also a Democrat, to immediately transfer the youth inmates to a juvenile facility and to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Maryland Public Defender to hold all youth inmates who are charged as adults in juvenile facilities.

[Youth at Baltimore County jail kept in cells for 23 hours a day in poor conditions, state public defender says]

Last month, Deborah St. Jean, the director of the public defenders juvenile protection division, made those accusations public in a letter to Shellenberger, Democratic County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. and state lawmakers. The county Department of Corrections is investigating the jail, according to a March 16 letter to St. Jean from Director Walt Pesterfield.

As of Monday, the jail held five boys, according to county spokesperson Erica Palmisano.

Minors who commit crimes and are automatically charged as adults under Maryland law can be held in youth facilities, according to Maryland law, though judges can send them to adult facilities.

The Baltimore County States Attorneys Office reviews every case that is subject to a bail review and makes recommendations to assure Baltimore County residents are safe, Shellenberger said. If that means a 17-year-old charged with murder stays in an adult facility because theyre charged as an adult, then thats the appropriate place for them to be housed.

It really strikes a chord of how concerned and disturbed the Democratic Party grassroots [base] is, said Ian Miller, a Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee member who was speaking as an individual. Miller said the committee passed the statement unanimously at a March 28 meeting.

The county executives office has been Democratically controlled since December 1994, when Dutch Ruppersberger won the election against then-County Executive Roger Hayden, a Republican.

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As our administration has consistently said, BCDC houses juvenile offenders charged as adults who are ordered by the Court to be held there. While the county conducts an evaluation of the facility, officials have noted that it appears that in many cases, conditions were not found to be as described; however, the county is identifying areas for improvement and will provide a response following completion of their investigation, Palmisano said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the county continues to explore opportunities to work with partners to identify alternative options for housing juveniles charged as adults.

The Democratic Party statement also called on the U.S. Department of Justice and Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown to investigate the policies, practices and conditions of the county Department of Corrections and Shellenbergers office.

A spokesperson for the DOJ did not immediately have a comment Monday.

Aleithea Warmack, a spokesperson for Browns office, declined to comment, citing a policy of neither confirming nor denying the existence of any ongoing investigations.

Pesterfield said in meetings with the Baltimore County Council and Baltimore County legislative delegation that some of the accusations were inaccurate or only partially true.

Public Defender Natasha Dartigue and members of her office reiterated the claims of squalid conditions in a briefing last Friday with lawmakers and asked Pesterfield to enter into an agreement with the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections that would send youth inmates charged as adults to the Youth Detention Center on Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore City instead of the Towson adult detention center.

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Baltimore County Democrats call for state and federal investigation ... - Baltimore Sun

Almost all political donations from University of Maryland salaried employees in 2021 and 2022 went to Democrats, according to a Diamondback analysis of federal and state data.

Of the more than 7,200 donations made in the two years, just 55 went to Republican candidates and groups.

Some Democratic donations came from this universitys highest ranking employees. University President Darryll Pines donated $1,300 over the two years, with $1,000 going toward Maryland Gov. Wes Moores campaign. Maryland football coach Mike Locksley donated $500 to a Democrat running for Maryland lieutenant governor, and Gregory Ball, the former dean of this universitys behavioral and social sciences college and current research vice president, gave $675 to top Democratic groups.

The data, which included more than 43,000 donations since 2013, indicates employees are becoming more politically active and lean heavily Democratic. Last year marked the second most amount of money donated for a midterm election year, only behind 2018. 2020 saw the most money donated of any year, surpassing 2018 by more than $600,000.

Since 2013, employees have donated more than $715,000 to ActBlue, a main Democratic Party fundraising organization. WinRed, a key GOP fundraising platform, received just more than $7,100.

Employees donated more than $290,000 in 2021 and 2022, with just more than $7,000 going toward Republican candidates and groups.

That any location in the country is that lopsided in terms of the engaged, contributing, electorate, is quite eye-opening, James Gimpel, a professor in the government and politics department, wrote in an email.

[Key takeaways from UMDs salaries report]

Few university departments donated in large numbers to Republican causes. Employees in the public policy school gave $3,900 to Republican candidates and groups in 2021 and 2022, the only department that donated more than $500 to GOP groups.

We live in such a blue bubble, Gimpel said.

Four colleges made up more than half of all the donations since 2013: the arts and humanities college, computer, mathematical and natural sciences college, engineering school and behavioral and social sciences college.

Sixteen employees have each donated more than $20,000 in the past decade. Norbert Hornstein, a professor emeritus in the linguistics department, donated more than $284,000 the most of any university employee.

The strong Democratic lean surprised political science professors at this university. Political contributions nationwide are generally even between the two parties. In the 2021-22 cycle, Democrats received 51.5 percent of federal political donations from individuals, while Republicans received 48 percent. Other parties received just 0.5 percent of donations from individuals.

Stella Rouse, a government and politics professor at this university, said she thinks the gap could be due to the GOPs rightward shift in recent years.

Youre talking about conservatives in Maryland. Most of them are likely not MAGA conservatives, Rouse said. That distribution there kind of shows me that there is likely not something that the Republican Party is presenting to more moderate or traditional Republicans that they see as a value in contributing their money to support.

[UMD sees record high in sexual misconduct reports during 2021-2022]

The analysis included donors who listed this university as their employer and whose names matched in university records and their donation. The Diamondback has obtained the universitys list of all salaried employees since 2013 for its annual salary guides.

Matt Johnson, the president of this universitys College Republicans, thinks there is more political diversity among students than employees.

I dont think thats good for a college campus, the senior finance major said. A college campus should have political diversity, not just in terms of its student body but in terms of its faculty and staff. Its a shame.

In an interview last month, Pines said he found the data somewhat surprising, but that the university does not seek out any political ideology among its employees.

We look for the best hires for all positions, Pines said. So were inclusive of all people who think in many different ways politically.

Learn more about The Diamondbacks analysis here.

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More than 99% of UMD employee political donations went to ... - The Diamondback

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie didnt say much during Sunshine Week, a yearly commemoration each March of open government and freedom of information.

New Yorkers deserve a government that works for them and does so in an open and transparent fashion, the Brooklyn Democrat said in a news release.

Thats more than he said in defense of a three-year-old Assembly policy limiting reporters access to the state Assembly chambers and the areas surrounding the chambers which used to be a good place for reporters to get information from Assembly members and their staff.

Heastie and his fellow Democrats were silent after voting down a Republican effort to restore press access to pre-pandenic levels. Not one Democrat gave a reason why access should be limited. The silence was, in our opinion, deafening.

For years reporters had access to legislators in the state Capitol chambers as long as they didnt interrupt the work of the Senate or Assembly. Often, that meant impromptu queston-and-answer sessions outside some influential legislators offices because that was the best way for reporters to be able to ask questions when those legislators didnt return phone calls. Of course, Heasties office was a popular place for the press since that was the best way to ask questions of the Assembly speaker.

When COVID-19 hit, access was limited. That made some sense at a time when the full Assembly or Senate couldnt be in the chamber at one time under rules meant to allow lawmakers to be socially distant from each other. When the Assembly chamber reopened to the public, reporters have been limited to seats in the back of the chamber and in front of its rostrum. But now, with natural immunity and vaccines available, there is no reason for COVID-19 limitations on the press to remain. But remain they do, Republicans recently introduced changes to the Assemblys rules that would have restored reporters access to the Assembly chamber and areas near the chamber, but they were defeated in a party line vote.

His actions, and those of his fellow Democrats, show its easier to pay lip service to open government than it is to actually provide open government.

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Assembly Democrats Pay Lip Service To Open Government And ... - Jamestown Post Journal

Former Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza. (WJAR File Photo){}

Former Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza will lead Democrats for Education Reform, a national political advocacy group.

The group backs candidates who are committed to changing the public education system.

Elorza will serve as their new CEO and also lead it's affiliate non-partisan think-tank, Education Reform Now.

The group announced Elorza's appointment Monday, pointing to Elorza's work in Providence where he backed school building repairs and expanded charter schools.

"What I admire most about Jorge is his unwavering commitment to put the interest of students above adult politics, DFER Interim CEO Shakira Petit wrote in a statement. There is a tremendous opportunity right now for leaders to utilize historic investments in education to advance the innovative approaches that we know work for students."

Elorza served two terms as mayor of Providence. He is the co-founder of the Latino Policy Institute Roger Williams University School of Law, where he previously worked as a law professor.

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Former Mayor Jorge Elorza to head up Democrats for Education Reform - WJAR