Mayoral '11 Sweepstakes: Hoffman Out

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 27, 2010 2:00PM

The giant deflating sound you heard yesterday was the hopes of many a reform-minded citizens who had their heart set on a run for mayor by former city Inspector General David Hoffman. While Hoffman had given no indications he was going to run - he just lost in that hotly contested Senate primary in February - he went ahead and took his name out of the running yesterday. Yesterday, admitting that "there was a lot of encouragement," Hoffman cited his family, saying, “It was a family thing. It is not the right time for us." Yet Fran Speilman had a different take over at the Sun-Times:

Former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman said Sunday he has decided not to run for mayor of Chicago, averting a candidacy that could have cut deeply into Rahm Emanuel’s vote if both had entered the race. Hoffman and Emanuel are both Jewish. They both would be courting the lakefront vote where Hoffman did well in his losing primary Senate campaign against Alexi Giannoulias.

Hoffman said he had talked to Emanuel - which is no surprise as Rahm seems to be feeling out all his possible opponents - and while he didn't say if he'd get involved in another's campaign, he did say of Emanuel, “If I decided not to run, he said he would love for me to join him and help him on issues important to the city."