140 people filed for Chicago's 50 Council seats. The 25th, 7th and 18th wards drew the biggest fields

When filing closed at 5 p.m. Monday, 140 people had filed to run for Chicago's 50 City Council seats, according to the Board of Election Commissioners' candidate filing report. All 47 alderpersons seeking re-election filed, and the three open seats, in the 13th, 19th and 22nd wards, drew seven candidates between them.

Why it matters: the size of the field shapes the race. With three or more candidates, a runoff on April 6 becomes likelier, because a winner needs more than half the vote. Big fields also mean more petitions for rivals to challenge before the Nov. 2 objection deadline.

How the field breaks down

By our tally of the Board's report, counting each person once:

• one candidate: 11 wards (see our story on uncontested races)
• two: 12 wards
• three: 15 wards
• four: 4 wards
• five: 5 wards (8th, 17th, 20th, 27th and 37th)
• six: 2 wards (7th and 18th)
• seven: 1 ward (25th)

25th Ward (Pilsen, Little Village, Little Italy, UIC): Aida Flores, Leonardo "Leo" Quintero, Ian Watkins, Chula C Ortiz, Ald. Byron Sigcho-López, Miguel Chacon and Nubia Batista Willman. Sigcho-López filed in the last hour.

7th Ward (South Chicago, South Shore, Calumet Heights): Ald. Gregory I. Mitchell, Nathaniel A. Pendleton, Sheila Gunn-Ward, Radyn Franc, Cher Phillips and Samuel C. Sparks.

18th Ward (Ashburn, West Lawn, Auburn Gresham): Ald. Derrick G. Curtis, Joshua Barksdale, M. Artemiza "Tammy" Chavez, Glenford Flowers Jr., Nicole Allison and Toni C. Galloway.

The last-day rush and the ballot lottery

The report lists 57 aldermanic filings on Monday, Oct. 26, and 29 of them are stamped 5 p.m. Under the Board's 2027 pamphlet, two or more petitions filed in the final hour count as filed at the same time, and so do those from people in line at 9 a.m. on the first day. The Board breaks those ties by public lottery within nine days of the close, and candidates are certified in filing order.

On the report, eight wards have two or more 5 p.m. filers, so they get a lottery for the later ballot spots: the 7th, 9th, 16th, 17th, 20th, 25th, 27th and 37th. In the 17th, four challengers to Ald. David H. Moore all filed at 5 p.m. In 17 wards, two or more candidates filed at 9 a.m. on Oct. 19 and will draw for the top line.

What our records add

Who we have counted. Our alderman candidate list is built from the Board's receipts for nominating papers and has 85 of the 140 people on Monday's report, each with our count of filled-in signature lines. Most of the 55 we don't list yet filed in the last days of the period. We add each one as the Board's receipts and petition copies arrive.

Where the cushions are thin. Among candidates we have counted, the lowest line counts are in contested wards: Ian Watkins (25th) and Jimmy Darnell "Jaye Jones" Jones (8th), each at 495 against the 473 minimum, and Michael Mogan, a new filer in the 33rd, at 535. A line count isn't a valid-signature count; the Board checks that only when someone objects.

The incumbents' records. Each ward race page puts the sitting alderperson's attendance, voting and campaign cash next to the challengers we list.

What's next

• Nov. 2: objections due, the Board said.
• By Nov. 4: ballot-position lotteries, under the Board's calendar.
• Dec. 17: last day to withdraw; ballot certified.

We'll post each objection and ruling on our objections page.