White voters helped propel Lori Lightfoot to the mayor’s office in 2019. Will they stick with her in February?

CHICAGO — When Willie Wilson finished his remarks before the Illinois Polish American Congress in November, the lull in the room lasted long enough for the audience to begin awkwardly fidgeting.

But then Wilson clapped his hands to the blues classic “Sweet Home Chicago,” and a row of people behind him matched his beat and swayed, producing faint ripples in a giant flag of Chicago hanging onstage. The crowd of about 100 mostly white Chicagoans danced along with Wilson, who beamed.

“Aye, you going to sing to this?” Wilson teased Michael Niedzinski, president of the local Polish organization that had just announced its endorsement of Wilson’s third bid for Chicago mayor.

The scene at the Copernicus Center on the Far Northwest Side would’ve been unfamiliar territory for Wilson, a 74-year-old Black businessman and minister, during his last two runs for mayor, when he mostly focused on campaigning in the city’s African American neighborhoods.

But with incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot and others vying for the Black vote, and the North Side up for grabs, Wilson is among the candidates looking to expand his base.

Northwest Side Ald. Nick Sposato, 38th, whose ward includes Portage Park and Dunning, said Wilson’s attempt to make inroads is working.

“I’ll tell you who’s gonna do well on the Northwest Side: Willie Wilson. People associate him with them, that he’s a genuine, nice man, hardworking guy, who’s made sacrifices,” Sposato said.

Sposato, a Lightfoot ally who has not endorsed her for reelection, said Wilson frequently shows up to events in the area, even when he isn’t invited. Once Wilson arrives, Sposato said, “Everybody wants to take a picture, shake his hand.”

In 2019′s historic 14-candidate field, then-newcomer Lightfoot