FROM NBC Chicago
A former Chicago police officer’s fight against a rapper with two arrests on his record appears to be over.
With just two percent of precincts left to report, 20th Ward Ald. Willie Cochran on Tuesday claimed victory in holding onto his seat, beating Che “Rhymefest” Smith.
But Smith wasn’t as quick to call it quits.
“This election will not be decided tonight,” Smith spokeswoman Kitty Kurth said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The rapper’s campaign said it believes there were voting irregularities at some precincts, including a senior citizen building.
Cochran had a strong showing in February’s primary but failed to garner 50 percent of the vote in the crowded five-candidate field. While he still finished more than 25 percentage points ahead of Smith, Cochran expressed disappointment at the time that his campaign “didn’t finish it off.”
“We’re going to make sure there will be no question in the future,” he said back in February.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday, Cochran targeted the rapper’s lyrics as a bad influence, saying the obscenities and racial and homophobic slurs Rhymefest uses in his songs aren’t the kinds of things a public official wants to be known for within his community.
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