Governor

Drake Endorses Chance the Rapper for Chicago Mayor

While being mobbed by paparazzi Tuesday night, the musician was asked if he thought Chance would "make a good mayor of Chicago"

Add Drake to the list of people who believe Chance the Rapper could run for mayor in Chicago. 

While being mobbed by paparazzi Tuesday night, TMZ reported the musician was asked if he thought Chance would "make a good mayor of Chicago." 

"Yeah I do," Drake responded. 

Chance later tweeted a "thank you" to Drake after the video clip was released.

Fans of Chance the Rapper have already called on the Chicago artist to become the city's next mayor.

A website and hashtag, #ChanoForMayor, were created in hopes Chance, whose real name is Chancelor Bennett, will consider challenging Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the next election.

"Hey Chance, we think you’d be a great mayor." a statement of the website reads. "We love your music—we’ve been following your career from the first 10 days. We also love the work you’ve done to give back to the city that raised you. You represent Chicago on the world stage, and you do us proud."

Chance is the son of Ken Bennett, who served as deputy chief of staff and director for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Office of Public Engagement. The elder Bennett also worked for former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and President Barack Obama.

Chance announced last week that the Chicago Bulls would follow in the rapper's footsteps and donate $1 million to cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools. The commitment follows the rapper's own to donate $1 million to CPS, starting with $100,000 infusions to 10 schools.

Bennett has said that as a parent and proud CPS graduate, he is dedicated to making sure students receive a quality education. He announced a new arts and literature fund and said his not-for-profit, Social Works, would accept donations on its website. For every $100,000 raised on the site, Bennett vowed to chip in an additional $10,000. Bennett also recently said he's looking for an intern.

"This isn’t about politics. This isn’t about posturing," Bennett has said. "This is about taking care of the kids."

Though Bennett's political aspirations aren't clear, the group that launched Chano4mayor.com started working on the site as soon as he announced his donation to the schools.

"We know you don’t think of yourself as a politician, and we respect that," the statement on the site reads. "But this election is an opportunity for Chicago that we don’t want to miss."

The group says it thinks Bennett would win the race and do "a good ass job" as mayor, pointing to the change they say he has already enacted. "You’d send a message that Chicago is ready for a new generation of leadership."

The site implores Chicago to consider a change in mayoral leadership. It cites the closures of public schools and mental health clinics as well as the shooting death of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer, which led the Department of Justice to find a pattern of civil rights violations by the Chicago Police Department.

Contact Us