On today’s Chicago Newsroom Part 2, the aldermanic runoffs, we take on Wards 2, 7, 45 an 46 with Aldertrack’s Mike Fourcher.

Ward 2: Brian Hopkins and Alyx Pattison

Fourcher describes Hopkins, former Chief of Staff to Cook County Commissioner John Daley as ” the gatekeeper to the insider’s insider.” Pattison “spent ten years or so working for Congresswoman Jan Schakowski.”  The establishment political organizations will be working”1,000 percent” for Hopkins, while Schakowski’s organization and supporters will be working an equally impressive “one thousand percent” for Pattison.

You can watch the entire discussion at about 3:00 in the video.

Ward 7: Natasha Holmes and Gregory Mitchell

Natasha Holmes was appointed to the position by Mayor Emanuel when Sandi Jackson resigned. Gregory Mitchell is an IT manager. He won second place in an 8-way race with 20%.

You can watch the entire discussion at about 8:00 in the video.

Ward 45: John Arena and John Garrido

John Arena is the incumbent Alderman. He defeated Garrido four years ago by 30 votes. In many ways, that election never ended. This re-match is so heated that the two find themselves on opposite sides of many hyper-local neighborhood squabbles. Garrido is a Police lieutenant and has support from many of the police officers who live in the ward.

You can watch the entire discussion at about 12:00 in the video.

Ward 46: James Cappleman and Amy Crawford

In 2011, the incumbent Cappleman got elected “in part because there was this thinking that, well, a gay former priest social worker must be a pretty liberal guy, and so he’ll work well for this ward…he has turned out to be in a lot of ways a very aggressive personality, and I think more than anything the problems people have with him are more about personality than policy.”  Amy Crawford, Fourcher says, has portrayed herself as a centrist voice between the supporters of former Alderman Helen Shiller and Cappleman. “She’s been somewhat successful at that, actually. The other day she got the endorsement of the third candidate in the earlier race, Danice Davis. Davis was Helen Shiller’s Chief of Staff.” Davis was the only African-American candidate in the race.

You can watch the entire discussion at about 17:00 in the video.

We end our discussion with the revelation that the Board of Elections has certified that Deb Mell won 33 by 17 votes. But it ain’t over yet. Opponent Tim Meegan has filed a suit, so there’s a small chance there could be a re-count.